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The Dorito Effect

nytimes.com

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Re: The Dorito Effect

#11

Post by rectangletangle »

dantheman wrote: post #10
speeder wrote: post #2

I am from Brazil, here our economy depends greatly on commodity exports (meat, soybeans, iron, coal, and whatnot). Producers of commodities, tend to export the best stuff, and sell the crap internally... It has an interesting result: the flavour (or quality, for non-edible products) of some stuff, is drastically different, for example two famous cases is chicken, and oranges, it happened once to each industry to be u…

Since it costs the same to ship a mediocre product as the best products, it makes sense to ship the nicest stuff since a premium can be charged for it.

Happens in the US too, for the same reasons. Our export avocados tend to be larger an nicer looking than the domestically circulated equivalents. However, they both taste the same.

Re: The Dorito Effect

#12

Post by luso_brazilian »

speeder wrote: post #2

I am from Brazil, here our economy depends greatly on commodity exports (meat, soybeans, iron, coal, and whatnot). Producers of commodities, tend to export the best stuff, and sell the crap internally... It has an interesting result: the flavour (or quality, for non-edible products) of some stuff, is drastically different, for example two famous cases is chicken, and oranges, it happened once to each industry to be u…

The tragedy is that when those exports arrive on their destination (take mangos arriving in Portugal, for instance), due to necessity to prevent the fruit to get ripe in transit they alter it somehow and not for the best.

I'm used to the taste of fresh picked mango (and guava, banana and other tropical fruits) and it is a world of difference from the fruits that we get in the supermarket. They all taste like they were picked way before they properly matured and then when they reach their destination they add some ripening substance making the fruit look ripe but without the right taste and the aroma.

It's a tragedy, they pick the best fruits, mangle them to survive travel and deprive both the locals and the foreigners of the best produce.

Re: The Dorito Effect

#13

Post by comrade1 »

I had to spend a good amount of mental effort trying to explain to my German teacher, in German, why American pork tastes so bad (or, rather, has no flavor). When I said, 'Schwein, das andere weisse Fleisch, wie poulet' (I'm in Switzerland), she figured it out immediately and was as disturbed as anyone should be.

Re: The Dorito Effect

#14

Post by nostromo »

luso_brazilian wrote: post #12
speeder wrote: post #2

I am from Brazil, here our economy depends greatly on commodity exports (meat, soybeans, iron, coal, and whatnot). Producers of commodities, tend to export the best stuff, and sell the crap internally... It has an interesting result: the flavour (or quality, for non-edible products) of some stuff, is drastically different, for example two famous cases is chicken, and oranges, it happened once to each industry to be u…

The tragedy is that when those exports arrive on their destination (take mangos arriving in Portugal, for instance), due to necessity to prevent the fruit to get ripe in transit they alter it somehow and not for the best. I'm used to the taste of fresh picked mango (and guava, banana and other tropical fruits) and it is a world of difference from the fruits that we get in the supermarket. They all taste like they wer…

Even much of the domestic food you eat in the US is quite old.

The average supermarket apple in the US is over a year old.[1] According to Martin Lindstrom in "Brandwashed" it's an average of 14 months old.

Food preservation is great and allows us to eat domestic apples year-round, but taste and texture suffers immensely.

1: http://www.today.com/food/apple-you-just-bought-might-be-yea...

Re: The Dorito Effect

#15

Post by Frozenlock »

vsync wrote: post #4

A great talk touching on this topic is "Law of the locust: a tale of swarms, cannibals, ageing and human obesity" " rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rV7zAGdbyA> (though I saw Dr. Simpson speak at Harvard, rather). He mentioned how the body craves protein and will over-consume carbohydrates to get enough; less so the reverse. It really messes things up when you have a starchy food laced with MSG so your…

Very nice video.

It explains a lot about the low-carb (high protein) diet.

Thank you for sharing it.

Re: The Dorito Effect

#16

Post by shalmanese »

speeder wrote: post #2

I am from Brazil, here our economy depends greatly on commodity exports (meat, soybeans, iron, coal, and whatnot). Producers of commodities, tend to export the best stuff, and sell the crap internally... It has an interesting result: the flavour (or quality, for non-edible products) of some stuff, is drastically different, for example two famous cases is chicken, and oranges, it happened once to each industry to be u…

The same happens for American fruit & Japan. It was weird wandering around Japanese marketplaces and seeing Product of Oregon and Product of California signs on produce that were vastly superior to what I was able to buy in the US.

Re: The Dorito Effect

#17

Post by hueving »

Retric wrote: post #7
ricw wrote: post #5

We have "badges" for all kinds of things, ie free range eggs, organic produce, electricity usage etc. why does something equivalent not exist for flavour? might be a tad subjective, but certainly doable. Might be because a lot of people actually confuse organic produce for a flavour badge?! never been convinced by it though..

Free range chickens for example seem to taste much better, but I don't see you could have a pure flavor badge. However, you could probably just create a new flavor(s) and only apply it to nutritious foods.

I'm guessing the difference you think you taste is mostly psychological. Free range only means that the chickens had access to the outside. That means they could still be raised in a warehouse that just has one small door that leads to a tiny outside area.

Re: The Dorito Effect

#18

Post by pmorici »

ricw wrote: post #5

We have "badges" for all kinds of things, ie free range eggs, organic produce, electricity usage etc. why does something equivalent not exist for flavour? might be a tad subjective, but certainly doable. Might be because a lot of people actually confuse organic produce for a flavour badge?! never been convinced by it though..

It's not straight forward that people will like traditionally produced food products better. In the case of beef for example most people prefer the taste of corn fed beef to grass fed even though corn is horrible for cows and grass is their natural food.

Re: The Dorito Effect

#19

Post by speeder »

Frozenlock wrote: post #15
vsync wrote: post #4

A great talk touching on this topic is "Law of the locust: a tale of swarms, cannibals, ageing and human obesity" " rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rV7zAGdbyA> (though I saw Dr. Simpson speak at Harvard, rather). He mentioned how the body craves protein and will over-consume carbohydrates to get enough; less so the reverse. It really messes things up when you have a starchy food laced with MSG so your…

Very nice video. It explains a lot about the low-carb (high protein) diet. Thank you for sharing it.

I always ate food in not much large amounts, but one thing that impressed me is that when I switched my diet (when I could afford it...) to salad + cheese and meat, the amount of food I ate dropped a lot, even in unrelated meals.

It was great to go to a restaurant, eat a third of what other people were eating (it was a weight-based restaurant, so I could see that I ate a third of what other people ate, in weight of the food terms), and feel completely satisfied.

Even better, I could get back to work right away, or even go do something that require physical exertion (for example once I was late for something, and could eat, and then immediately run toward the place where I was supposed to go).

Re: The Dorito Effect

#20

Post by Retric »

hueving wrote: post #17
Retric wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Free range chickens for example seem to taste much better, but I don't see you could have a pure flavor badge. However, you could probably just create a new flavor(s) and only apply it to nutritious foods.

I'm guessing the difference you think you taste is mostly psychological. Free range only means that the chickens had access to the outside. That means they could still be raised in a warehouse that just has one small door that leads to a tiny outside area.

That's only the case if you don't actually know the farmer producing the chickens. The ones I am thinking about live out side most of the day and eat a lot of insects. They are often non standard breeds so it's a significant age, diet, exercise, and genetic difference and not just a meaningless 'feel good' label.

PS: IMO, there is alot of good things about cooking with factory farm chickens, but novelty is also nice.

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