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A street snack that has baffled botanists

atlasobscura.com

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Re: A street snack that has baffled botanists

#191

Post by goldenkey »

djur wrote: post #183
goldenkey wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know much about the wellness scammer but that's a poor way to support your stance. Azodicarbonamide has been banned in quite a few countries. It's only listed as safe at 40 parts per million. It has possible carcinogenic products in the form of other carbazides. It doesn't have a large amount of research/testing on it. It is a known lung irritant and caused respiratory issues in factory workers who produce it…

I don't know why you thought that personal attacks were merited here, but the fact remains that Subway removed azodicarbonamide from their bread years ago, as did many other fast food chains. https://www.eater.com/2016/8/8/12403338/subway-yoga-mat-chem...

That doesn't make a difference. You called azodicarbonamide harmless. Companies have a culture. Their history reflects that.

Re: A street snack that has baffled botanists

#192

Post by sombremesa »

girishso wrote: post #10

I have eaten it many times, vendors say it's a root. But the last time I ate it, it was little more fibrous and hard and I ate little more than the usual. For the next couple of days my tongue was itching and I had little difficulty speaking. Then I googled it and read somewhere that it's not edible. It's surprising experts don't know what the thing is given it's so commonly available.

Usually I don't bother with nits but in this case:

> had little difficulty speaking

Has exactly the opposite meaning of what you intend unless you turn it into:

> had a little difficulty speaking

Not too confusing in this particular comment, but I could see this causing problems down the line for you.

Re: A street snack that has baffled botanists

#193

Post by sombremesa »

crooked-v wrote: post #85
simonh wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not if it’s actually toxic. In that case revealing the source could get them in serious trouble and wouldn’t be worth it at any price.

For a year's income the person involved could show them, get the money, and book it to a different part of the city where they'll be impossible to find again.

> impossible to find again

Except, apparently, for people who are offering

> a year's income

To informants

Re: A street snack that has baffled botanists

#194

Post by goldenkey »

djur wrote: post #161
spoonjim wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What on earth is in a Cheeto? Far more mysterious than this snack, which is clearly some plant matter with some salt and spices that other people eat regularly without falling over dead.

Corn meal, powdered cheese, oil, and salt, mostly.

The powder is a cheese-like seasoning. It is not cheese. First ingredient of the seasoning: whey. Whey is not cheese; it’s the leftover product you get while making cheese.

Re: A street snack that has baffled botanists

#195

Post by daxfohl »

andi999 wrote: post #131
mPReDiToR wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov this exact meme is lampooned. A character describes how they went to the library, read all the old books, wrote a paper and called it new research. Dr Asimov may have seen the bleak future of academia, what with it being his other trade. Mayhap we need more Dr Indiana Jones types with tenure?

Indiana Jones wouldn't get tenure, yes he found the ark of the covenant, but what did he find afterwards (which was delivered to the gov/museum?)

Indiana Jones and the Street Snack of Bangalore. Kid getting ready to take bite of snack, then, "This belongs in a museum." Cue theme song.

Re: A street snack that has baffled botanists

#197

Post by [deleted] »

darkerside wrote: post #179
mekoka wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 2010, after a long anatomical study, they performed DNA barcoding on a slice of the snack and found it to match that of agave’s by 89 percent [narrowed] down to Agave Sisalana. [...] Next, they chopped off its leaves and there it was: the fat, white, watery trunk familiar to millions of Indians from food carts. They ate a slice from it, and it was tasteless and crunchy just like Ram Kand. The findings were publish…

The source code for two applications might match 89% and yield completely different results

[deleted]

Re: A street snack that has baffled botanists

#198

Post by renewiltord »

amelius wrote: post #120
dandelany wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yikes. Your symptoms were likely caused by calcium oxalate raphides, little mineral needles present in raw agave (and several other plants). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raphide

Your linked article says at the bottom that these things are also present in spinach, beets and pineapple.

This has been enlightening. I've sometimes definitely had this feeling when eating some pineapple but not other pineapple. Interesting.

Re: A street snack that has baffled botanists

#199

Post by noduerme »

mdorazio wrote: post #144
noduerme wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know, I thought that was funny. But does anyone really know what's in a Dodger dog?

Sure do - you could even buy them yourself with ingredients list and everything until they switched vendors this year: https://www.amazon.com/Farmer-John-Dodger-Wieners-Package/dp...

Best worst stadium left in the country. Just a great mix of fans. And I never skip a Dodger dog. I'm amused but not surprised (guess I knew) that Farmer John is retailing the contents of that long, succulent piece of head cheese street meat around the country. It really always was special dog. But what sort of sick lunatic would order a pack of that shit off Amazon? If you ever catch me eating a dodger dog outside of chavez ravine, please just take me to the hospital and have me committed.

Re: A street snack that has baffled botanists

#200

Post by blntechie »

abhi_kr wrote: post #96

Oh, I've eaten this thing once while visiting Dongargarh, a Temple town located in central India. It was the only time I had seen this thing. There were dozens of vendors selling this lined up on the stairs to the temple. It seems the snack has gone popular now. It's quite tasteless, felt like eating soft wood. Never expected to find this on Hackernews!

This snack has started appearing in Chennai as well. Pretty sure I have never seen it before 2-3 years here. I always was interested about the curiosity around it as a YouTube food reviewer asked some very specific questions and the vendor refused to answer.

Also pretty much everyone say it has no taste and only the lemon, salt and chili powder adds any taste but makes me wonder why it’s a profitable business if so.

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