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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

#411

Post by whamlastxmas »

teolemon wrote: post #202
jjcm wrote: post #15

Is there an app or a site that tracks brands and tests their claims of what's in their food? I'm always curious especially when buying olive oil if what I'm buying is actually real. I think the biggest issue is consumers have no way of knowing what's actually in the food they eat. If the information were readily available it'd be much harder to push food substitutes.

YES :-) Open Food Facts is an open, collaborative effort to try to make more sense of food and food packagings. A bit like Wikipedia, but for food. Using smartphones, you can scan any food item and get detailed info about what you're about to buy/eat. If it's not yet in the database, you can help by taking a picture Since we collect all claims and labels, and nutrition info, we can see if your cheese is actually low…

Is there a way to sign in to my account on the Android app, take a bunch of pictures of my food, then sit at my computer to do all the typing while looking at the photos I just took?

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#412

Post by klipt »

wtbob wrote: post #289
coldtea wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In what ways? Where in the world do they care for British cuisine?

> Where in the world do they care for British cuisine? Ever eaten pot roast? That's British food. Ever eaten a roast potato? That's British food. Ever eaten cheese, mushrooms, roast beef or rabbit? Those are all British foods. British food, properly done (i.e., not the result of WWII rationing or Victorian institutionalisation) is savoury and earthy: roasts, onions, cheeses, mushrooms, potatoes, carrots, turnips. It…

Reminds me of the food descriptions in the Redwall books :-)

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#413

Post by leroy_masochist »

gautamdivgi wrote: post #395
leroy_masochist wrote: post #309

My family raises grass-fed beef and sadly, this article is spot-on when it comes to the lack of consistency with that product. We know of farmers who go to cattle auctions and buy the cheapest steers they can find -- often sick and/or emaciated ones coming from farms in financial distress -- then fatten them up on grain while giving them pasture to forage, and sell it as grass-fed at farmer's markets. Just install a…

Not a farmer - but the wife does a fair bit of reading on animal welfare and organic produce. We've quite often thought of sourcing our meat & poultry from the neighborhood farm as opposed to the stock "organic" that you get at the supermarkets. This article and several I read probably just helps me make that decision faster. I generally use whole foods today - level 4 rating on the chicken & 100% grass fed on my mea…

Eatwild is a great resource, we know them well.

You absolutely need a deep freezer if you want to buy local meat. Most producers, us included, sell frozen cuts only -- managing inventory of non-frozen meat would be way too hectic.

Deep freezers are only like 200 bucks at Costco. Assuming you have space for one in your home, they're also great for making sauces and whatnot in bulk. Also highly recommend a cryovac kit. Cryovac'ed frozen veggies keep more or less forever, and you can also prepare foods (eg, meatballs) at scale on a Sunday afternoon and then just defrost stuff for the rest of the week.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#414

Post by chris_7 »

kwhitefoot wrote: post #240
venomsnake wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A nation of 300 000 000, spanning 4-5 time-zones, 5-6 climate ones and not a single person with functioning taste buds ... what a tragedy /s The blandification and sugarification in the supermarket isles does not represent everything a territory has to offer in the culinary department.

But does have a tremendous effect on the food. Of course you can get good food in the US I have been to many restaurants that were both good in an absolute sense and good value. But you know that there is something wrong when children say "I can't eat this it's too sweet" which is what happened to me when I took my family with me to North Carolina for an extended business trip. In the supermarkets almost everything y…

You need to shop around the outside of the store - that's where the vegetables, fish, milk, yogurt (unsweetened greek/skyr), and eggs typically are, with a stop-by in the flour/sugar/etc. aisle when you run out of those.

Alternatively, speciality stores - vegetable markets or farmer's markets, Asian/Mexican markets, etc., buy bread from a bakery, not a supermarket aisle.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#415

Post by ethbro »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #368
ethbro wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, a lack of standards and enforcement removes the ability of consumers to knowledgeably choose their food. If organic / grass fed / 100% / fish species meant something, then consumers could decide whether they wanted to spend more for quality or save money on alternatives. With a lack of differentiation, race to the bottom prevails. PS: The shenanigans from international importers are criminal. Trade pac…

That's hard because each country has different standards. Why should Spain have special customs/inspections for goods destined for America? Makes it very hard to export. Simpler by far to inspect inbound with a uniform policy.

As the proportion of international:domestic trade continues to increase, I'm pessimistic it's ever going to be effective to inspect inbound shipments.

Aka blacklist vs whitelist computer security policies

It's too easy for a willful infringer to cloak their goods in the sheer volume of imports. The vast majority of which, by economic necessity, will never be searched in a thorough manner.

Furthermore, if you do detect counterfeit/dangerous goods on the inbound, what can you do without cooperation of the exporting country? About the only option you have available is "ban all X from Y" until the other party does something.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#416

Post by xtian »

cylinder wrote: post #328
true_religion wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why eggs in Denmark (as of my last visit) cost approximately 1.5x to 2.0x as much as eggs in the USA. There is a cost to having free-range eggs. There's a cost to controlling egg-quality so they can remain unwashed, and unrefrigerated for days. Now in the US, you can choose if you want to pay that cost and thus shop at different supermarkets that cater to your tastes. In the EU countries, you must pay the cos…

I buy Pasture Raised eggs from Whole Foods, about $6-$8 per dozen. Expensive but the only eggs I've found in the US with actual orange yolks like I found overseas. Even the farmers markets here disappoint. Pale yellow yolks are a very bad sign.

The better indicator of quality is how well the yolk and white hold together. A low quality egg will have a runny white and the yolk will break very easily.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#417

Post by teolemon »

whamlastxmas wrote: post #411
teolemon wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

YES :-) Open Food Facts is an open, collaborative effort to try to make more sense of food and food packagings. A bit like Wikipedia, but for food. Using smartphones, you can scan any food item and get detailed info about what you're about to buy/eat. If it's not yet in the database, you can help by taking a picture Since we collect all claims and labels, and nutrition info, we can see if your cheese is actually low…

Is there a way to sign in to my account on the Android app, take a bunch of pictures of my food, then sit at my computer to do all the typing while looking at the photos I just took?

Yes, there's a login button in the Android app. We also have OCR and autocompletion to help with the typing.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#418

Post by dboreham »

derefr wrote: post #48
Jerry2 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another scam is extra virgin olive oil. Almost all of the ev-olive oils that you buy at supermarkets in the US are fake [0]. It's basically lower-grade olive or vegetable oil with some added green chlorophyl for color. UK supermarkets aren't faring much better [1]. It's all due to mafia control of the oil markets in Italy. 60 Minutes did a report on it recently and they even tested oils for fakes [2]. It's extremely…

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?

Costco?

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#419

Post by ascagnel_ »

coldtea wrote: post #261
orf wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For UK of course it's even worse, they're actively known for the bad taste and cuisine. As someone from the UK I take offense at that, sure we might not be on the same level as Italy or France (but really, who is?) but we have some great traditional food. Pies of all kinds, fish 'n' chips, traditional sausages, good old roast dinners, chicken tikka masala and of course the healthiest breakfast in the world. Tasty s…

> Pies of all kinds, fish 'n' chips, traditional sausages, good old roast dinners, chicken tikka masala Sort of makes my point. None of these have anybody (of statistically significant percentage) outside the UK salivating, or have ever created something like a "British restaurant" to be found abroad (like there are French or Italian restaurants everywhere). And even the best of this list was invented by taking from…

> Sort of makes my point. None of these have anybody (of statistically significant percentage) outside the UK salivating, or have ever created something like a "British restaurant" to be found abroad (like there are French or Italian restaurants everywhere).

British-style pubs that serve those exact dishes are very popular in Canada.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#420

Post by joshontheweb »

cylinder wrote: post #333
leroy_masochist wrote: post #309

My family raises grass-fed beef and sadly, this article is spot-on when it comes to the lack of consistency with that product. We know of farmers who go to cattle auctions and buy the cheapest steers they can find -- often sick and/or emaciated ones coming from farms in financial distress -- then fatten them up on grain while giving them pasture to forage, and sell it as grass-fed at farmer's markets. Just install a…

I only buy grass fed beef from Australia, and lamb from New Zealand.

The best steak I've ever had in my life was at Rockpool in Melbourne. It has ruined me. I can't really order steak and enjoy it anywhere else anymore.
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