I feel the underlying cause of this is the continuing stupidification of Western Societies. It ties in well with the fact that most people just aren't well equipped to navigate complex issues and are easy prey for unscrupulous marketers. Companies take advantage of that fact just as much as politicians do. It's easy to tell people to be afraid of complex sounding ingredients just as much as it's easy to tell voters t…
Things are improving though, not getting worse. The evidence is that people on average are more intelligent, and educational attainment has increased (maybe completing a particular grade has been watered down, but it wasn't so long ago that lots of people stopped school at 6th grade...).
Food Scientists Are Getting Fed Up with Picky Eaters
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Re: Food Scientists Are Getting Fed Up with Picky Eaters
#42From Albania here, (2nd world European country, aka still developing). Due to its mediterranean weather (1), everything raised locally tastes better. Local food is full of flavor, and things made artisan-ally and locally are still good. Even something simple like a 'Tiramisu' tastes better there, most likely because things are still made to be consumed within a day, and not last for ages. Other countries are similar…
> The more north you go, the blander/crappier the food gets, mostly due to the weather. It's more complicated than that. Cultural reasons are a huge factor in why Western food is so bland: > Serving richly spiced stews was no longer a status symbol for Europe's wealthiest families — even the middle classes could afford to spice up their grub. "So the elite recoiled from the increasing popularity of spices," Ray says.…
I do believe the parent did mean specifically the base taste is less bland, independent of cultural factors. For someone who hasn’t experienced the taste difference one might think ‘really, how much better can a tomato taste?’- but no the difference really is substantial, esp when comparing, say, a North American tomato and one from southern Europe.
Re: Food Scientists Are Getting Fed Up with Picky Eaters
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes and no. MSG is what gives food that amazing umami flavor. It's in more foods than we realize. It's the same as adding any other spice. It's important to revert to a scientific approach to understanding why something shouldn't be in food.
A guy at work thought msg was a neurotoxin. I'm like, "uh, no, it's an amino acid,a normal constituent of every protein you eat..." This is a guy with a master's in a technical field. I honestly don't know how we got here.
I've learned that being an expert in any field does not shield you from being very very stupid in many other fields. Critical thinking skills are hard to learn and maintain. It's a constant battle against our own biases and misinformation we are ingesting. Especially when you consider the memories that are strongest are the ones we tie to emotions. That particular fact alone makes it easy to feed misinformation based on things they might fear.
Re: Food Scientists Are Getting Fed Up with Picky Eaters
#44This might be an unpopular opinion, but I think it’s great that processed food manufacturers are trying to replace synthetic ingredients with actual food. I don’t see a problem here.
What exactly is the benefit of replacing Red #40 with red cabbage extract?
There are also people allergic to yellow food dyes (for example, tartrazine).
Of course, there could be a downside if there are more people that are allergic to the replacement. But the replacement is still a benefit to people allergic to the original ingredient.
Re: Food Scientists Are Getting Fed Up with Picky Eaters
#45I wonder if there are different levels of picky eaters. For me, there are some things I like better than other things, but I will eat or try something if nothing better is around.
For some people it is an extremely strong aversion -- something that they can't really control, and that would not be influenced by food science or rational arguments.
Re: Food Scientists Are Getting Fed Up with Picky Eaters
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Things are improving though, not getting worse. The evidence is that people on average are more intelligent, and educational attainment has increased (maybe completing a particular grade has been watered down, but it wasn't so long ago that lots of people stopped school at 6th grade...).
Hmm, really? https://www.newscientist.com/article/2146752-we-seem-to-be-g...
It suggests an increase of ~20 to 30 points and a decrease of 3 to 6.
So yeah, really. Or do you think the other poster meant to establish 1970 as the baseline?
Re: Food Scientists Are Getting Fed Up with Picky Eaters
#47Could this be a food industry backed opinion piece? The lobbyist could then say: Look, people misunderstand things like dihydrogen monoxide. What should we do with the ingredient list? Perhaps we should have the freedom not to mention scary sounding ingredients?
I'm all for conspiracy theories, but we have to use some reasoning here. I don't doubt the food industry does this, but the reality is there's a happy middle ground. Maybe that middle ground could be using common names for things. Food science has made food cheaper and more accessible and that's a good thing. Our food isn't killing us. We are healthier and living longer than ever in history. I do think people who are…
Look at what Monsanto did with bribes to scientists to say GMO is ok
Re: Food Scientists Are Getting Fed Up with Picky Eaters
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it's a cognitive reaction to safety. Fear is certainly there due to the unknown. People will retreat to what they feel is safe and easy to understand i.e. "natural" food. Little do they know natural food is GMO! The crops that survived today did so by natural genetic mutations for the crops that had the best ability to survive. Humans just took advantage of that fact and sped up the process a bit to our advan…
Of course humans also took it upon themselves to define what "best ability to survive" is. Not saying that that's necessarily a bad thing, but it's certainly a difference between GMO and regular evolved food. Edit: Well, thinking about it a bit more, of course selective breeding is humans picking what "best ability to survive" is as well...
I don't doubt what we decide should survive isn't necessarily what "nature" will decide should survive. If we get to a point where we are in too much conflict with "nature" we will lose most likely. Earth's evolution of life is much longer and stronger than we as a species are. But why not try? It's our imperative as a species to continue doing what's best for our survival.
Re: Food Scientists Are Getting Fed Up with Picky Eaters
#49I freely admit to being a picky eater. And I even understand why I became that way. It doesn't change the fact that I rarely sample things I have never had before.
Growing up we were constantly told to eat everything on our plates because there were kids starving somewhere else. And I was forced to sit at a table and stare at food I absolutely hated the taste or texture of for hours. Watched it get cold. Get even worse tasting. And still I sat. As I became an adult I was able to eat what I wanted and refuse things that I didn't. I developed a taste for things I like, and constantly work to refine those flavors. I cook all the time, I use smokers, grills and ovens, we hand raise our own cows, pigs, birds and fish along with a large garden that I eat very little out of but my wife loves. I love looking for the ultimate version of the particular food that I enjoy eating.
But I still have no desire to try anything "new" not out of ignorance, but because I don't have to.
Re: Food Scientists Are Getting Fed Up with Picky Eaters
#50Access: https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wsj.com%2Fa...
If you don't want to be tracked by Facebook, there's https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/read-ft-wsj/ which fakes the referrer.