That's Not Food: Less Preachy, but Still Important

Between the scrum of last election and the hormonal chaos of a hysterectomy, I seem to have misplaced some of my obnoxious opinionatedness. I miss it a little. I'm sure you won't. On the subject of food, for instance, wherein I have scrawled many a manifesto, I had come to be a little freaked about about pretty much everything.

MSG is still evil, it doesn't mean I don't eat it. I know how to eat well, it doesn't mean I do it. Still, there are some things that just shouldn't be allowed to be called "food." One of those things is Sodium Benzoate.

I'll make it short and quote my latest issue of Martha Stewart Food:

"Sodium benzoate is a preservative used to inhibit the growth of bacteria in acidic
foods. On ingredient labels, it is occasionally listed as "E211." The substance also occurs naturally (albeit in very low levels) in many foods, such as cranberries, prunes, and plums. The USDA considers it to be harmless in small doses. [Sorry, I can't help myself here--the main thing the USDA "considers" is the demands of big agribusiness.]

So much for less opinionated. Going on:

"You will find sodium benzoate on the ingredient list of salad dressings,
sodas, sports drinks, fruit-flavored juices, pickles, condiments and even some
cough syrups."

OK. So what?

"Sodium benzoate has been connected to two health risks. One study
linked products containing the additive to hyperactivity in children, and others
have pointed out that combining sodium benzoate wtih vitamin C produces benzene, a known carcinogen [emphasis added]. You may want to avoid this pairing, which is common in some sodas and flavored beverages."

"A known carcinogen." Seriously, people.

All I'm saying is, just because it's on the market shelf, please don't assume the government wouldn't allow it there if it wasn't safe.

Just sayin'.

In conclusion, to make up for that moment of food preachiness, I leave you with this hilarious transcript of the 4/11/2009 episode of Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me on NPR, wherein my quasi-hero Michael Pollan loses a food debate with my longtime favorite funnygirl, Paula Poundstone.

Peter Sagal: What should we be eating?

Michael Pollan: Food.

Paula Poundstone: How thick is your book?

Michael Pollan: It's very hard now for us to know what food is. Because there are all these edible food-like substances now that compete with food in the supermarket. So a lot of the book is helping people distinguish between the edible food-like substances and the real food.

Paula Poundstone: But let me ask you something. One of the things that has made my live worth living is Ring Dings. And I feel that it is food. Are you going to tell me that's not food?

Michael Pollan: There's a few simple tests to figure out if a Ring Ding is food or not. How many ingredients does a Ring Ding have?

Paula Poundstone: Devil's Food Cake -- one. A creamy filling -- two. And a rich chocolate outer coating. What's the matter with you?

Michael Pollan: I would look at the package next time, that creamy -- CREAMY -- is not cream.

Paula Poundstone: C-R-E-A-M-E-Y. Creamy. What the hell's the matter with you?

Michael Pollan: But...but but but but...There are special occasion foods.

Paula Poundstone: What do you mean special occasion? I said it's what makes my life worth living. Are you suggesting I save it for one day a year?

Michael Pollan: I wouldn't want to deprive you of your...

Paula Poundstone: You know, you may know a lot about food, but you don't know the first thing about living, buddy.

I love you, Paula!

I'm back among the living (and the heavily sedated)

Hi all. I'm home. I swapped out my phone with one David wasn't using so my normal number is working--apparently phones are very unforgiving of herbal tea.



It's gone back and forth, but I AM on a low-dose estrogen pill, we're going to wait on menopause and see how the pain is from the implants that are left on my other innards. The intestines and the wall of the abdomen have growths they couldn't get off in this surgery. The surgery lasted 3 1/2 hours and recovery was long because my blood pressure wasn't coming back up (60/30!). But I'm home now and am on some narcotics and horse-pill ibuprofen. Every now and then I get a wild hair to come off the percaset (?) because I feel dopey and have crazy evil nightmares, but then get uncomfortable enough to go back on.



We had some incision issues last night where the outer layer opened up about an inch in length. David took a picture for me to see, which I will kindly not post here (I can't bend over very well to see it myself). After a call to my doctor, David flushed it with saline and peroxide and retaped it like a pro, it's staying closed and dry today.



Life involves a lot of sleep and lying there and reading. Reading can be tricky because focusing can be hard with the drugs, but I did manage to finish Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma. I've been widely recommending this book for a long time based on my reading of several of his articles that went into the book and reading the first few chapters, but now can more authentically and fervently recommend it. As I've said before, it is required reading for people who eat. I wish I could distill it down for you, but short of periodically typing in some of the huge sections I highlighted, it deserves a good reading.



It is written by a journalist who truly loves food (and no, is not a vegetarian) who really wants to know where all our food comes from. He doesn't just discover the (apalling) problems, but reports on some people trying other, viable solutions. You really understand why things are the way they are, why otherwise intelligent people continue to support a sick system, and why it is so hard to change. You also realize why and how your family likely should "opt out." It really is the only thing individual families can do to protect their own health and hopefully move the needle toward a safer, saner food supply for our grandkids.



Put simply, if we really knew where our industrial food came from, we simply wouldn't eat it. As Pollan says, the whole system is built on the assumption that eaters will "look away." If the walls of the processing plants were glass (not just those of the slaughterhouses, but even the plant-based factories) things just simply wouldn't happen the way they do--none of us would tolerate it.



If we knew, we'd demand other choices, and those choices would become more available and affordable. "I don't want to know," is simply not an okay stance for parents in an age of rampant food-borne illness, children beginning adolescence before ten and the appallingly costly burden on our health, the economy, the environment and our moral standing when we buy "cheap food"--which (as in the storyofstuff.com and most industrialized products) looks cheap because it doesn't fold in the greater costs to the consumer in other forms--it is actually much more expensive on a greater scale.



Please read it. You can instead (or in addition) read Animal Vegetable Miracle (now just $10 in paperback) and get a good synopsis of Omnivore as well as lots of practical, interesting and family-level ideas on how to fix our food problems without becoming a "food freak." A lot less anthropological/philosophical stuff, which I like, but you may not be into.



I have come to see the problem as a very spiritual issue with a spiritual solution and it is uncanny how the prophets have guided us toward a better way long, long before it came to this.

As Kimball said, it is important that we do not lose contact with the soil, it brings us humility and opens our eyes to how the Lord provides for us. Needless to say, I am very excited for planting season this year and am ordering my seeds today (maybe after a nap). I'm ready to be off and hoeing--except for the pain and incoherence.



Anyway, I'm back to my usual tirades, so that's a good sign. Now they are just drug-fueled.



Well, thanks for all your prayers and support. Hopefully recovery will be swift.



PS: No worries, Megan, the problems were with the BMW. Thanks for the sweet card! xoxoxox

Good things come in ugly packages

I admit this is not generally true, but true in this case. After reading this article in the LA Times about analysts' projections of life when oil hits $200/barrel (in the next 6-12 months--that's $7 gas) I can see first how crippling it will be to lose something our daily life is so dependent on as well as why more extreme environmentalists are applauding the higher prices.

Oh no! Without cheap oil we will have to:

• Bring manufacturing back to the United States from China!
• Start to keep our money in our own communities by buying goods and services locally!
• Be unable to cheaply eat oil-derived food additives and preservatives (see coal: fun and yummy)
• Have to pay more for our inane practice of moving our food around the world and country!
• Have to eat foods in season!
• Pay more for the oil-derived chemicals we use to pollute our products and homes!
• Over the next few years, adjust from sprawling, anonymous commuter towns to more insular communities!

Oh no!

This is all overly-simplistic, of course. This process could be very ugly and devastating on a personal level, especially to those required to do long commutes to support their families. Maybe we can't do it and it will be irreversibly crippling. But whatever steps we can take to lower our dependence on cheap, imported products, processed oil-based food, food shipped from far-flung places, etc. etc., the easier this forced change will be for our family.

Read the article--it's an interesting mental exercise, and apparently is becoming quickly an actual fact of life.

Drink no liquor and we eat-- but a very little meat

Only in times of winter or famine? I know I'm not one of those Mormons (although I have been for stints), nor do I know any. Still, meat is expensive and this article is a rational guide to simply cutting back a bit, not necessarily throwing out the whole hog.

The Minimalist: Putting Meat Back in Its Place

Guess what, I'm trendy!

Check this!
When Money Is Tight, Banking on Gardening

12 Food Additives to Avoid

A quick lesson in the what and why without my smarmy remarks.


http://health.msn.com/nutrition/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=100204508&imageindex=1


My comments on the election I've posted in my sidebar for your long-term consideration. ;)