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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

#41

Post by gambiting »

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…

As someone who came from Poland to the UK, I was amazed by the quality of the ingredients in the UK. Tomatoes that smell like actual tomatoes, beautiful, tasty, sweet and crunchy carrots, onions, wealth and abundance of any fruit you can imagine. Cherries and watermelon in January?! What's this madness?!

My point is - it all depends on your perspective. To me, quality and variety of ingredients available in the UK is just stunning. To you, it's poorer than italy. Depends how you look at it.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#42

Post by dagw »

mavelikara wrote: post #23
Tomte wrote: post #3

According to https://www.teekampagne.de/en/tea/darjeeling-tea/only-accept... the Tea Board of India estimates that about 40000 tons of Darjeeling are sold all over the world. But only 10000 tons of tea are produced in Darjeeling.

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.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#43

Post by gambiting »

foota wrote: post #40
polskibus wrote: post #38

That's why EU people are protesting against TTIP. We're worried that the lower standards that are common in USA, will prevail, and any resistance will be trampled in private arbitrage courts.

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 obviously lower our standards as they are much higher than those in US.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#44

Post by eatbitseveryday »

blowski wrote: post #36
misja111 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem with tomatoes and many other vegetables and fruits is, that they don't grow in the UK so they have to be imported. If they would be imported only when they were as ripe and tasty as the ones you saw in Italy, they would be rotten by the time they arrived in your supermarket in the UK. So, they are harvested when they are not quite ripe. They will ripen a bit more during transport but they will never have…

> The problem with tomatoes and many other vegetables and fruits is, that they don't grow in the UK so they have to be imported. Tomatoes do grow in the UK (my Dad has lots of them in his garden) but only for a short season.

> but only for a short season.

I think that was the point being made, that for the majority of the year (if there are even any tomato farms), all are imported.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#45

Post by venomsnake »

ctphipps wrote: post #35
venomsnake wrote: post #26

> That Kobe is probably Wagyu, a cheaper, passable cut, Olmsted says. I am not sure if something is lost in translation between the article and the books' authors, but that is rubbish. Kobe beef is PDO (which US is not participating internationally), so you can cure ham at home, and call it "best original prosciutto". Wagyu is a breed of cattle. And depending on the produces/sourcing it may even surpass the beef from…

I'm always surprised the Japanese (or more specifically the Japan National Wagyu Registration Association) don't kick up a fuss about the name 'Wagyu' being used for the name of the breed (no matter where it is raised) and not the origin of the meat. 'Wagyu' in Japanese literally means 'Japanese Cow'. I wonder what it would take to name an existing cattle breed 'US Beef', send breeding stock to somewhere with lots of…

I think that trademark dilution is in place. Also it is tricky - if it comes to mean Japanese (as the territory), I will just put some third rate cattle on the disputed islands under Russian administration and it will become as Wagyu as they come.

Personally I think they decided to take smaller slice of much bigger pie - if the world gets a taste for Wagyu - there will be a lot of money in the business. And as long as they make sure they are providing among the best stuff - they will always be able to sell everything with a premium.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#46

Post by Jerry2 »

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…

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 difficult to tell if your ev-olive oil is fake without chromatography/spectroscopy equipment but some people try [3].

[0] http://time.com/money/4326354/fake-olive-oil-food-fraud/

[1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/11988...

[2] http://www.oliveoiltimes.com/olive-oil-basics/mafia-olive-oi...

[3] http://www.foodrenegade.com/how-tell-if-your-olive-oil-fake/

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#47

Post by alphabetam »

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.

In Italy, a bottle of proper extra-virgin olive oil is roughly 10 euros per liter. If you're paying less than that, it's not real.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#48

Post by derefr »

Jerry2 wrote: post #46
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…

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?

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#49

Post by voltagex_ »

internaut wrote: post #37
coreyp_1 wrote: post #2

Wow! Can I blame this for my obesity?

Sometimes it really could be a conspiracy. http://imgur.com/W7AcUDV Medieval peasants ate 4000 - 5000 calories per day. As late as the 40s, it was recommended that people eat 3000 calories per day and many men ate 4000 calories per day. Now it is recommended we eat 2250 calories per day. Neither of the first two groups are known for being fat. Actually the opposite. They look amazing in photos, all of them. This is d…

>Medieval peasants ate 4000 - 5000 calories per day. As late as the 40s, it was recommended that people eat 3000 calories per day and many men ate 4000 calories per day.

That's the input, but what's the output? If your hypothetical peasant was burning 6000 cal a day, that's very different if they were burning only 1000 cal.

Re: How we're scammed into eating phony food

#50

Post by kbart »

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?

I buy Greek olive oil. I didn't do any serious research, but it tastes much better than Italian or Spanish counterparts bought locally. I've been to Greece and what I tasted there, wasn't much different from what I buy back home, so I suppose it's a real deal.

EDIT: I live in Europe, so it might be different in USA.

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