Big Yawn Burgers

Recently I wrote about lab meat, a product that uses bovine fetal serum (BFS)–blood extracted from living fetal calves–to feed meat protein molecules grown in a laboratory.

Now let’s turn our attention to two other imitation meat products new to the market, which the press has heralded as breakthroughs in fake meat: the Beyond Burger and the Impossible Burger. Will these new products overcome the observation that veggie burgers are “tasteless pucks?”

Supplements: A Better Way

In my last post, I discussed Dr. Roizen’s recommended supplement plan, noting the drawbacks of each product. The discussion provides a natural segue into a look at the subject of vitamin products in general.

Dr. Roizen’s Vitamin Plan

In my last post, I discussed the dietary suggestions of Dr. Mike Roizen, chief wellness officer at the Cleveland Clinic. The doctor admits that even though he was eating a “good” diet, full of colorful fruits and vegetables, he still found that he was missing a lot of vitamins and minerals.

Do Cows Cause Global Warming?

One popular argument for avoiding meat is the premise that cows emit methane in their burps and farts and for this reason are contributing to global warming.

EAT-Lancet Meets Rev. Malthus

The rhetoric for plant-based diets has ratcheted up to a shrill pitch in the EAT-Lancet report, released with much fanfare a couple of weeks ago. The document is the result of “more than two years of collaboration between thirty-seven ‘experts’ from sixteen countries,” lots of frowny faces telling us that we need to eat lentils because the earth is getting warmer and we are running out of everything.

Lab Meat: Big Hype, Bad Investment

Laboratory-produced meat or lab meat—sometimes called “cultured meat” or even “clean meat”–is in the news these days, with gushing articles in the Washington Post, the New York Times and many magazines. The publicity machines are whirring at high speed, and all the chic arguments are on display. “Save the planet bite by bite,” is one of the slogans. If we eat lab meat instead of real meat, we’ll save the land from the desecration by cattle, cut down on water use, protect the air from cow farts containing methane and forestall global warming. Lab meat would be kinder also, because no animals would be killed.

Diet For A Large Planet

Recently I participated in the 2018 Long Island Food Conference, the lone meat eater in a lineup of speakers espousing “plant-based” diets. The keynote speaker was Francis Moore Lappé, whom you will recognize as the author of the very influential Diet for a Small Planet, the 1971 book that convinced many to embrace a diet of grains and beans.

Flavored Milks: How Low Can You Go?

Flavored milks are highly sweetened beverages made with powdered skim milk—they are actually the dairy industry’s way of getting rid of all the skim milk left over from the production of butter and cream, mostly for ice cream. Since Americans are huge ice cream eaters (and since Americans are eating more butter these days), there’s an enormous amount of this waste product that the industry needs to get rid of.

The 2018 Global Food Forum

Recently I attended the 2018 Global Food Forum, organized by the Wall Street Journal, held in the Intercontinental Hotel in New York, and sponsored by Pratt Industries (maker of recyclable packaging), the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, US Soy and The Australian (news coverage).

Food in Switzerland

Earlier this year I made a trip to Switzerland to give two talks on raw milk and to visit one of my boys, who lives in Geneva. Of course, the food in Switzerland received my special attention.

MSG and Free Glutamate: Lurking Everywhere

A few weeks ago, on a trip to British Columbia, I ate in a local restaurant. When eating out, I always try to order something simple, without a gravy or sauce, since these sauces are bound to contain MSG. So I ordered a plain crab cake with rice and vegetables—no sauce, no mayo. Boy, did that crab cake taste good! About midnight I knew why. I woke up with a dry mouth, a terrible thirst and a headache. The next day I felt sore all over, like I’d been in a fight. My hands felt like they had arthritis.

Nutella Riots

Most Americans have never heard of Nutella even though world wide it is one of the most popular processed foods, with sales of eleven million jars annually in one hundred sixty countries.

An article in the Washington Post (January 27, 2018) describes riots at the French Intermarche supermarket chain when the retailer slashed the price of a 35-ounce jar by 70 percent.

Cooking The Whole Fish

My mother and I both loved Paris and several times had the pleasure of being there together—either meeting there or traveling there. However we met up, we never let the opportunity go by without a visit to our favorite restaurant, La Boule D’Or, in the 7th arrondisement.

All Those New Oils

I often get questions about all these new—even new-fangled—oils like grape seed oil, rice bran oil, hemp seed oil and argan oil. Other oils new to the scene include avocado oil and camelina oil. Do they have any health benefits, and should we use them in cooking and food preparation?