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How we're scammed into eating phony food

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Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#121

Post by mac01021 »

Dutchie wrote: post #83
thaumasiotes wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Greek Yoghurt has to be made in Greece and nowhere else. This is a really stupid regulation though. It's just protectionism for Greece, like the regulation that you can't call it "champagne" unless the grapes were grown in Champagne, France. There is no reason to expect this; consider Cheddar cheese, Peking duck, French toast, and Hamburgers.

No it's not just protectionism. If I buy Bleu d'Auvergne (it's a French cheese) in the Netherlands, I want to be sure I get the real deal, as a consumer.

But what if someone outside France is able to produce equivalent cheese using the same formula? Why do you care where it's from?

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#122

Post by nitwit005 »

dagw wrote: post #42
mavelikara wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not certain about this, but I think Sri Lanka is one of the largest exporters of Darjeeling Tea.

Darjeeling is a region in India. So darjeeling tea is like champagne in that if it isn't from that region it isn't actually Darjeeling.

Pretty much only the EU has this attitude toward food names, and only selectively.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#123

Post by bprieto »

mikekchar wrote: post #61
derefr wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the cheapest way to get guaranteed-real EV olive oil? Are there known-good brands (perhaps ones produced entirely outside of Italy?) Or, if you cared about "authentic Italian" olive oil, perhaps for personal or restaurant use (i.e. not for resale): how much would it cost (in the US) to just buy bulk Italian olives , and then press them yourself?

I know this is crazy, but you can taste it :-) Of course, most people don't know what olive oil should taste like, but it really has a wide flavour range. Buy a selection of small bottles and simply taste them (possibly with some nice bread and a little salt if you don't like drinking oil straight up). I highly recommend trying olive oil from other countries as well. It's really an eye opener. Once you get some exper…

It isn't. It's a sugary contraption that makes your salad sweet and brownish, which is attractive to the eye.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#124

Post by Dolores12 »

ptaipale wrote: post #89
Dolores12 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In USA you need not label GMO food as GMO. [1] Because "The FDA has determined that the fish is as safe and nutritious as nongenetically modified fish, and will therefore not require the company or retailers to label the fish as genetically engineered." [1] http://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/19/fda-approves-genetically-modi...

Which is fine (I say as European). Requiring GMO labeling is is about as sensible as requiring DHMO labeling - it's scaremongering not based on science.

No, it is not fine with me. I have to have ability to make informed decision.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#125

Post by alxv »

bloaf wrote: post #24
lucaspiller wrote: post #9

Not quite the same, but earlier this year I was working in Italy for a few months. I went back to the UK last week and it really surprised me how poor the quality of food is there. I don't mean in restaurants, but the actual ingredients you get in supermarkets. In Italy you can go into even the cheapest supermarkets and get tomatoes that smell like actual tomatoes, where as in the UK they just have no smell. Even tom…

Speaking of Italy, I was a little surprised the article mentioned olive oil, but not basalmic vinegar http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/09/balsamic-vinegar-fr...

On the other hand, the bland stuff doesn't poison you as much with lead.

http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org/ehs/news/lead-in-vine...

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#126

Post by saiya-jin »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #82
gambiting wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see it as stupid at all! To me, Greek Yoghurt has to come from greece, that's what I expect as a customer. Any non-Greek Greek yoghurt is simply labeled as "Greek-style Yoghurt" and that's easy enough, when I go to the shop I know exactly what I'm getting.

> To me, Greek Yoghurt has to come from greece, that's what I expect as a customer. Why do you expect that? It can't be based on the name, since virtually all foods with an origin name were not actually made there. I'm pretty sure you don't expect Cheddar cheese to have come from Cheddar? Would you accept ordinary yoghurt that was imported from Greece being sold as "Greek Yoghurt"? If I imported Camembert cheese from…

in many, many cases quality of original vs copy is really not the same, cheeses which require very long and specific processes to mature are a good example (ie I've yet to taste Gruyere that would be equal to original Swiss one with AOC stamp, French copies are pretty bland in comparison and not cheaper either). Same can go for virtually any type of food. And yes I would prefer original cheddar compared to some done by some john doe in next town 'following original recipes' and I would vote with my wallet for it.

it might be a strange concept for non-europeans, but for us, this is one of the best things that came from EU integration. if I buy a copy, I want to know it's a copy and not original. simple as that.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#127

Post by mickronome »

ptaipale wrote: post #89
Dolores12 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In USA you need not label GMO food as GMO. [1] Because "The FDA has determined that the fish is as safe and nutritious as nongenetically modified fish, and will therefore not require the company or retailers to label the fish as genetically engineered." [1] http://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/19/fda-approves-genetically-modi...

Which is fine (I say as European). Requiring GMO labeling is is about as sensible as requiring DHMO labeling - it's scaremongering not based on science.

While I tend to agree that the actual food is probably safe , there are several valid ideological justifications for such labeling. I would also support seed variety labeling wherever it is reasomably practical, as consumer choice can only be choice if fact are available. The history should also have taught us that if the industry tries to avoid labeling, they should generally be required labeling. They are likely not afraid of ink expenditures, rather they want to sell me one thing and tell me it is something slightly different, for profit.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#128

Post by adrr »

gambiting wrote: post #43
foota wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry, but that doesn't make sense to me, why would the quality of food there decrease?

Because in the EU there are laws that say that if something is labeled as virgin olive oil, it has to be olive oil and nothing else. Greek Yoghurt has to be made in Greece and nowhere else. Lobster meat has to be lobster meat, and Kobe beef absolutely has to be Kobe beef. TTIP basically(in extreme simplification) says that if something is allowed in US it should be allowed in any other signatory country - which would…

EU laws aren't being enforced. All the fake olive oil is coming out of Italy. If you want real virgin olive oil in the US, you have to buy the California ones. It was also reported that Kobe beef was being sold at European restaurants even when Europe had a ban on Japanese meats during the Mad Cow Scare. Those are things just off the top of my head, i bet if you actually dug in, Europe has many examples of where fake products are sold.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2016/02/10/the-...

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#129

Post by CalRobert »

ptaipale wrote: post #89
Dolores12 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In USA you need not label GMO food as GMO. [1] Because "The FDA has determined that the fish is as safe and nutritious as nongenetically modified fish, and will therefore not require the company or retailers to label the fish as genetically engineered." [1] http://www.cnbc.com/2015/11/19/fda-approves-genetically-modi...

Which is fine (I say as European). Requiring GMO labeling is is about as sensible as requiring DHMO labeling - it's scaremongering not based on science.

Perhaps I choose not to buy GMO's because I find the notion of patenting the mechanics of life philosophically troubling.

We're not all a bunch of anti-science luddites, you know.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#130

Post by RcouF1uZ4gsC »

This article is so over the top that it borders on parody.

Start with the title: "Everything we love to eat is a scam". I can provide lots of counter examples to that statement.

Other statements with my comments

"After reading it you’ll want to be fed intravenously for the rest of your life." - Look up total intraparenteral nutrition and see if you would prefer that to eating.

"Escolar is so toxic that it’s been banned in Japan for 40 years, but not in the US, where the profit motive dominates public safety. In fact, escolar is secretly one of the top-selling fish in America.". - By toxic the author means causes diarrhea due to unabsorbed oils/waxes. Also when we you hear that a lot of people are eating a lot of very toxic food, the food either is not very toxic or else not widely consumed.

"These fake foods produce shallow, flat, one-dimensional tastes, while the real things are akin to discovering other galaxies, other universes — taste levels most of us have never experienced." - I can imagine Galileo realizing that discovering the moons of Jupiter pailed in comparison to eating real Parmigiano cheese.

"Imagine if half the time you pulled into a gas station, you were filling your tank with dirty water instead of gasoline,” Olmsted writes. “That’s the story with seafood.”" - Zero calorie seafood, I never knew?

"Perhaps most surprising of all: discount big-box stores such as Costco, Trader Joe’s, BJ’s Wholesale Club and Walmart are as stringent with their standards as Whole Foods." - In my opinion, the more "hipster" a food establishment is, the less likely that they are really taking care of the food basics. When was the last time you heard of a large-scale McDonalds food poisoning incident? How about Chipotle?

This is one of those genres where books try to convince people that the sky is falling. In reality, we have never had such abundant, safe food in the history of humanity. Other than the people who truly have food allergies, the vast majority of people are really unaffected by any of these "revelations". In addition, especially for seafood, the substitutions are probably more ecologically sustainable.

Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/915/

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