Traditions in how foods have been grown, harvested, stored, processed, cooked and consumed have developed over time. Thousands of years. Literally, I mean thousands. Archaeologically we see the dawn of humans cultivating food about 12,000 years ago with remote evidence of neo-lithic humans eating grains about 115.000 years in the past. I don't have any recipes from either of those eras, I doubt anyone does. Lots of barbecue, lots of unleavened flat breads. With the advent of pottery and then the ability to work metals came the introduction of soups and stews. Most people never stopped to think that the modern day Crock Pot is actually about ten thousand years old. And just having safe, fire-proof vessels opened up a whole new world to the cooks of the day back at the dawn of civilization. That then really, is where so many of the traditions for preparing foods began. When humans were able to contain water in a vessel and do differing techniques to the foods that were rapidly becoming available as staples; civilization advanced. The reason, tradition. Well, and trial and error. Those simple things that our ancestors did to grains, seeds and legumes over time and with many trials, became techniques that those ancient peoples adopted into their very culture. Simple stuff, like soaking dried corn in lime and water not only made it easier to grind, but it made it more digestible, and more nutritious. And every culture on the planet discovered the tradition of soaking and sprouting. Grains and legumes when soaked or sprouted, became better. And of course the big one, wheat. When it was ground, mixed with water and allowed to sour, it made way way better breads.
So, what happened?
We all know the answer, we just don't want to take the time to admit it. The answer is money. And in the preparation of food, time is money. And tradition, well, let's just say that business and science can imitate tradition, but never rival it. My ex used to love to go out to eat. And she liked to go to the chain restaurants and get ribs. She loved them. Tender, sweet sauced and fire grilled, all the chain places have them. Strange though, she never knew the secret that I knew, that they cooked them in huge 15 gallon pressure smokers. Load them up with about a dozen racks of ribs and poof, in 20 minutes they were cooked and had a smoky flavor to them. Certainly not like real overnight smoked ribs at the real Texas BBQ joints, but since they all put sticky sweet sauce on them, it was pretty hard to tell the difference. Boy, don't the old cavemen wish they had one of those things back in the day? (pressure smoker)
The thing is, tradition, the long slow smoke cooking of meats is a tradition. Chain restaurants cut the process down in order to save time, and money. The same thing happens with virtually every processed food product out there on the shelves and served in restaurants in the Industrialized world. If it can be made quicker and cheaper with greater profits, then that's how it's done. Everyone my age knows that if you want to make beans then you soak the beans overnight. Then rinse them and cook them. The resultant cooked beans are less gassy, more easily digestible. That soaking step, takes time, money. Canned beans are made using water and beans sealed in a can and then autoclaved to cook them. Your local chain Taco restaurant doesn't take the time to soak pinto beans for refries. They use industrial processed precooked beans. Made in as little time and therefore unsoaked and as far from traditional methods of preparation as money and time can get. But then the big Taco chain serves up their beans by adding three kinds of sugar, two types of MSG, TBHQ (the known endocrine disruptor) and up to 2% silicon dioxide. Which basically is ground up sand. That is a tradition of sorts, just not a tradition developed by real humans. Science rules the making of their food-like products. Not humans. But then the big Taco chain readily admits that their taco meat is only 88% meat and 12% secret ingredients.
Anyway, this whole blog posting began when I learned about a new process for making corn masa and ultimately that gets made into chips, tortillas and the traditional basis of all Hispanic foods. Corn, for thousands and thousands of years traditional peoples in the Americas learned that if you took wood ashes, (lime) and soaked their corn in a mix, rinsed it, then ground it and made stuff out of the resultant masa, it was easily digestible, and more nutritious. The process itself took a lot of water, and there was the waste water problem, and it took time. Lots of time. And we all know, especially in the food industry, time is money. So, a new company has created a huge machine that will take dry corn, make it into wet masa in twenty minutes. With no soaking, no waste water, no lengthy and costly unneeded traditions. (Masa-Maker)
The reasons for all of the traditions that have developed over the last 12,000 years are actually easily explainable by science. Plants, and even animals themselves, all have molecules in them that we call lectins and phytates (lectins) (Phytates) Each of these evolved as a means to store nutrients and as a defense for the plant or animal. The lectins are toxic, and if eaten, made the animal eating the lectins, sick. In some cases, like soy or castor beans, possibly could kill them. The traditions discovered over millennia rendered these molecules inactive. Simple things, soaking, sprouting and let's throw in there, steaming, all made real natural foods BETTER.
Science, and the quest, no sorry, the NEED to make profit, have all overridden the time honored traditions with techniques that no one knows whether or not they will sustain the human race.
Money trumps tradition, humans lose.
I pretty much only eat things that I myself cook. The dead areas in my bones have regrowth, I feel better, I am losing weight, I believe now that I just might live a little longer than what the doctors told me. It just takes time.
I think it might be worth it though.
Yep
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Monday, April 18, 2016
A small piece of leftover bread dough, and a whole lot of imagination
So I was baking some bread, like I do most every week. I decided on loaves this time as have a few people to give some loaves to as promised. And just a nicety for giving me cigars or beer or... So anyway, I made loaves. And I had a
chunk leftover that would just make the loaves too big. So I stretched it out on the bottom of my cast iron and let it rest
and rise a bit. Then I sliced a bit red onion and a quarter of a red pepper. Then took thin slices off a block of Asiago. In another cast iron with low sides (to facilitate flipping the thing) I melted some real organic grass fed butter. Tossed in the veggies and let cook until soft. Added a bit of sherry and stirred it all around until the sherry was
evaporated. Added a bit more butter, stirred all the stuff together and then cracked in three real pasture raised fresh eggs. These eggs came from my friends Richard and Danuta who are at the markets next to me each week. They make fantastic Polish goodies, in fact that's the name of their business, Polish Goodies. They sell at the
market and make their stuff at their little 3 table Bistro on 7th Street just south of Dunlap. And Richard has a few chickens, and I get some of the eggs. So, I sort of smeared the eggs about, then pulled the round bread dough circle out of the one pan and tossed it onto the eggs. I covered it with another pan and let it cook on low for about
ten minutes. Then I slid it off onto a plate and inverted that back onto the same cast iron. Topped it with the cheese, then added the lid/skillet to cover. After another ten minutes the cheese was melted, the bottom crust was crisp and it was un-freakin-delicious.
And the top picture shows the ingredients on the board ready to assemble and cook the thing. Not sure what to call it, it is like an upside down pizza. In fact there really is not any reason in the world why you couldn't do exactly that, make it into a pizza. Veggies, mushrooms. Heaven forbid, meat, and when sauteed, add some pizza sauce to it, then the bread round and cook like that. And sheesh, you could do the same with Taco Seasoned garbanzo beans (using my Chef Roy the
Great Food Guy Taco Seasoning) and if you must, meat flavored with my seasonings. Then when you flip it over, add grated Co-Jack cheese for a taco pizza that was Upside Down.
Could be fun, it's just using the old noodle for more than playing games on FaceBook or pining away for a lost love who has a higher opinion of themselves than you or the rest of the world. Jeez, that never happens to me though. I date the Froot Loop section from internet dating sites. In fact unless you pay for the upgraded membership, I'm pretty sure that's where my profile is hidden. Anyway, simple, easy, and pretty darn cool.
Yep
And the top picture shows the ingredients on the board ready to assemble and cook the thing. Not sure what to call it, it is like an upside down pizza. In fact there really is not any reason in the world why you couldn't do exactly that, make it into a pizza. Veggies, mushrooms. Heaven forbid, meat, and when sauteed, add some pizza sauce to it, then the bread round and cook like that. And sheesh, you could do the same with Taco Seasoned garbanzo beans (using my Chef Roy the
Could be fun, it's just using the old noodle for more than playing games on FaceBook or pining away for a lost love who has a higher opinion of themselves than you or the rest of the world. Jeez, that never happens to me though. I date the Froot Loop section from internet dating sites. In fact unless you pay for the upgraded membership, I'm pretty sure that's where my profile is hidden. Anyway, simple, easy, and pretty darn cool.
Yep
New food products, where do they all go
I'm not the person to understand why these things disappear. I understand why they are created. That one is pretty simple. People, ordinary people, either working for themselves or for big food industry giants, have great and not so great ideas about new food products. And new food-like products. They want to be the next Henry Reese and develop a new food product and become a household name. Think Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. So every year, new stuff gets introduced to the marketplace. The last year for which the USDA has numbers, is 2010. Near the bottom are the websites to go to, and the charts showing the numbers and categories from which I retrieved all this information.
In 2010, there were 21,528 new products introduced to stores and the unsuspecting public. I say unsuspecting for several reasons. One, if it doesn't sell well, someone somewhere might still have fallen in love with it and it won't be available to them anymore. And two, well, most of the stuff introduced into the food system every year are FOOD-LIKE products. They're not real food. They contain the standard tricks of the agrigiant food industry, cheap semi-toxic chemicals that enhance the taste experience and perceived flavor all the while they increase salt, fat, sugar and lots and lots of fillers, refined glutamates and preservatives. Don't believe me, well, think about it. Real food isn't new, it doesn't need new SKU numbers to go onto grocery store shelves. And even though the largest category of product introduction are categorized as "NATURAL", the FDA has no definition for the advertising word "Natural". Any one can use it, and it means nothing. NOTHING!!!!!!! A much smaller portion of the new products were Organic. So that means that the vast majority of new products have been, well, crap.
Where do they go? If no one buys them, they are removed from the product lines of the food manufacturers and they disappear into oblivion. The scary thing though is, not too many of them make it. Granted I don't pay much attention to the crap on the shelves at the store, but I recently took a trip there just to see what's what. Aisles and aisles of processed food and when you stop anywhere and pick up any item, chances are it will contain a huge list of additives. But most of the stuff on the shelves I recognize. They have been there for decades. A few things I had never seen, but certainly not 20 thousand new products for every single year for the past decade.
The organic food industry has grown by leaps and bounds. 24 billion dollars in 2012. (ERS on organic) There has been double digit growth in the food AND the non-food organic products since 2000. DOUBLE DIGIT growth. The only traditional chemical packed product to ever achieve double digit growth and sustain it over several years has been Spaghetti-O's shaped like dinosaurs. However Annie's product, Bernie's O's organic pasta product for kids has outpaced the growth of Spaghetti-O's every year.
Maybe this trend in people looking at what's in their food instead of just buying what's convenient and tasty is, growing. Maybe.
I hope so. That's why I write this blog
http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-markets-prices/processing-marketing/new-products.aspx
http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/us-food-imports.aspx
In 2010, there were 21,528 new products introduced to stores and the unsuspecting public. I say unsuspecting for several reasons. One, if it doesn't sell well, someone somewhere might still have fallen in love with it and it won't be available to them anymore. And two, well, most of the stuff introduced into the food system every year are FOOD-LIKE products. They're not real food. They contain the standard tricks of the agrigiant food industry, cheap semi-toxic chemicals that enhance the taste experience and perceived flavor all the while they increase salt, fat, sugar and lots and lots of fillers, refined glutamates and preservatives. Don't believe me, well, think about it. Real food isn't new, it doesn't need new SKU numbers to go onto grocery store shelves. And even though the largest category of product introduction are categorized as "NATURAL", the FDA has no definition for the advertising word "Natural". Any one can use it, and it means nothing. NOTHING!!!!!!! A much smaller portion of the new products were Organic. So that means that the vast majority of new products have been, well, crap.
Where do they go? If no one buys them, they are removed from the product lines of the food manufacturers and they disappear into oblivion. The scary thing though is, not too many of them make it. Granted I don't pay much attention to the crap on the shelves at the store, but I recently took a trip there just to see what's what. Aisles and aisles of processed food and when you stop anywhere and pick up any item, chances are it will contain a huge list of additives. But most of the stuff on the shelves I recognize. They have been there for decades. A few things I had never seen, but certainly not 20 thousand new products for every single year for the past decade.
The organic food industry has grown by leaps and bounds. 24 billion dollars in 2012. (ERS on organic) There has been double digit growth in the food AND the non-food organic products since 2000. DOUBLE DIGIT growth. The only traditional chemical packed product to ever achieve double digit growth and sustain it over several years has been Spaghetti-O's shaped like dinosaurs. However Annie's product, Bernie's O's organic pasta product for kids has outpaced the growth of Spaghetti-O's every year.
Maybe this trend in people looking at what's in their food instead of just buying what's convenient and tasty is, growing. Maybe.
I hope so. That's why I write this blog
http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-markets-prices/processing-marketing/new-products.aspx
http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/us-food-imports.aspx
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New products (number) | 19,883 | 23,838 | 22,561 | 19,029 | 21,528 | |||
| Candy, gum, and snacks | 29.7 | 29.3 | 26.6 | 25.5 | 25.8 | |||
| Beverages | 24.7 | 18.9 | 23.1 | 21.3 | 21.0 | |||
| Condiments | 7.5 | 11.2 | 8.7 | 9.7 | 8.8 | |||
| Processed meat | 7.9 | 8.7 | 8.5 | 7.2 | 7.8 | |||
| Fruit and vegetables | 5.1 | 4.9 | 5.1 | 6.5 | 6.9 | |||
| Meals and entrees | 5.3 | 6.4 | 6.6 | 6.7 | 6.2 | |||
| Dairy | 5.4 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 5.9 | |||
| Bakery foods | 3.7 | 3.5 | 3.9 | 4.5 | 4.4 | |||
| Pasta and rice | 3.1 | 3.8 | 4.0 | 4.2 | 4.2 | |||
| Baking ingredients | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.0 | 3.1 | |||
| Cereals | 1.8 | 1.7 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 2.0 | |||
| Desserts | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 1.6 | 1.2 | |||
| Baby food | 0.4 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.0 | |||
| Soups | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.0 | |||
| Meal replacements and special diet foods | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | |||
| *Percent of total. Source: Datamonitor. | ||||||||
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Friday, April 1, 2016
Easter Meaty Fare, some stuff I do well, I just don't eat
So this past Easter, I was asked to prepare dinner for the traditional family gathering. Sounded good, I mean I like to cook, and I do some interesting things. My sister wanted ham, bacon scalloped potatoes, beans with bacon, you know, traditional pork products utilized in various ways is an iconic cultural practice for celebrating the resurrection of a Jew. Right? So I won't do anything with a ham, I refuse to in any way shape or form to endorse what the food manufacturers do to pork haunches and then call it food. Commercial ham is pretty nasty, just packed full of chemicals. The days of yore when ham was salt cured, smoked and preserved using nature's goodness are long long long gone. Time to do it the right way costs money and modern food manufacturers use chemicals to speed the process and in so doing, have created food-like products, not really food at all. Time is money, chemicals are cheap. Long term health of customers is not of any importance, all the agrigiants use them so no single company can be blamed for deaths, cancers, or any health problems of any consumer.
Anyway, we agreed to baby back pork ribs. And probably because I just do them so well. Four racks, two plain and two with my rub on them. The plain ones, just rubbed a bit of salt and fresh ground black pepper. The other two, I took a half cup paprika, a quarter cup ground roasted cumin, a quarter cup ground Italian spices (my own recipe) a half cup of mild chili powder and a tablespoon of cayenne, a half cup of sea salt and mixed it all up. Rubbed the stuff onto both sides of the ribs, after removing the silver membrane on the inside curve. Put them all into a tray and covered with plastic wrap then put in the fridge overnight. Sunday at 6 am I light a fire in the smoker and put a bunch of mesquite chunks on the coals. Put the ribs in and added mesquite briquets and chunks as needed. Took them out about 1:30 and they were falling apart tender.
Then I took some Yukon Gold potatoes and sliced into thick slices. Brushed with olive oil and put some long cut chives
between each slice as I reassembled them. Then wrapped each with a piece of nitrite free bacon. Held them together with a toothpick and roasted in a hot oven at 400 for an hour. The bacon was crisp, the potatoes soft and all delicious.
Then I took three big bunches asparagus. Washed and
snapped the hard ends off. Then I took about twenty Medjool dates, cut them in half lengthwise and removed the pit. Then each half I cut into thirds. I melted some butter in a hot skillet and added the date sections.
Tossed a bit then sprinkled all with a mix of cayenne, cardamon, cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon. Careful not to melt the dates too much, they will make a big lump if you don't keep tossing and keep over a low to low medium heat. Added a quarter cup of white wine and then let that cook off into thick syrup. Let them cool. I did buy some imported Italian pancetta and I used that to make these goodies. Lay a slice of pancetta on the cutting board, put down two
asparagus spears, put two or three date parts, a third asparagus and wrap it up. Place on a wire rack inside a sheet pan and roast until the pancetta begins to crisp up. These things are unbelievable, spicy, sweet, fragrant with the cardamon and spices. Oh man, but they are incredible. See here's the thing, I have a problem with American meat products. American meat producers, beef, pork and turkey all use a product called ractopamine in the manufacture of the animals. America is the only country in the world that allows that horrific chemical to be added to the animal's feed. It is nasty stuff. I don't have a problem with eating pancetta made from pigs raised in Italy. So I ate
them. I took the leftovers home and ate those too.
Anyway, my sister made the other stuff, mustard cole slaw. ( I know, weird, but she thinks it's grand) dip and chips, some cut up veggies on a plate from Fry's and two pies from the freezer section. With ice cream. I ate a lot of asparagus and a potato without the bacon. No dessert for me. Nor would I even look at the dishes full of Easter candy treats. I do like chocolate,
just not anything from Hershey, Nestle or Godiva because of the child slavery issues in the cacao industry. (Child slavery in cacao industry) Here again I will push for anyone wanting to eat chocolate, to buy Free Trade if you can find it or go to your local farmers market and buy the artisinal chocolate from those people there. Great stuff, and all Free Trade. Consumers keep the industry alive by buying the crap made using child slaves because most people don't know, don't care or think their small purchase of chocolate bars can't be the reason the big corporations have no respect for human rights. Scary, but think about it, what do the leaders of the food industry think about YOU, they fill your food with tons of nasty chemicals, many are known carcinogens, fillers, and cheap cheap ingredients. And the use of SLAVES!!! And use the protection offered under the guise of "it ain't their fault African countries use children as slaves" They just use the system to make tons of money. Yeah, that's what they think of you too. Thinly veiled disgust.
Yep
Anyway, we agreed to baby back pork ribs. And probably because I just do them so well. Four racks, two plain and two with my rub on them. The plain ones, just rubbed a bit of salt and fresh ground black pepper. The other two, I took a half cup paprika, a quarter cup ground roasted cumin, a quarter cup ground Italian spices (my own recipe) a half cup of mild chili powder and a tablespoon of cayenne, a half cup of sea salt and mixed it all up. Rubbed the stuff onto both sides of the ribs, after removing the silver membrane on the inside curve. Put them all into a tray and covered with plastic wrap then put in the fridge overnight. Sunday at 6 am I light a fire in the smoker and put a bunch of mesquite chunks on the coals. Put the ribs in and added mesquite briquets and chunks as needed. Took them out about 1:30 and they were falling apart tender.
Then I took some Yukon Gold potatoes and sliced into thick slices. Brushed with olive oil and put some long cut chives
Then I took three big bunches asparagus. Washed and
Anyway, my sister made the other stuff, mustard cole slaw. ( I know, weird, but she thinks it's grand) dip and chips, some cut up veggies on a plate from Fry's and two pies from the freezer section. With ice cream. I ate a lot of asparagus and a potato without the bacon. No dessert for me. Nor would I even look at the dishes full of Easter candy treats. I do like chocolate,
Yep
Monday, March 14, 2016
Calculating the Actual Costs of Food
Americans live in an insulated system of lies and fabricated realities. Every time an American consumer goes to their favorite purveyor of fast food, be it burgers, chicken parts cooked in a variety of ways, subs, pizza and well, pretty much the multitude of various foods out there; they are deluded into thinking that the cost they pay the cashier or delivery guy is what that food actually costs. It isn't. We live in an environment where our government actually pays for the costs to produce the foods you eat. The subsidizing of American food encompasses a wide variety of services that most people never consider. And is far more convoluted than most could ever imagine. Subsidies go far beyond the scope of the government paying the major costs of growing animal feeds like corn, soy, canola and cotton. Not just paying the giant agricultural corporations outright to grow these crops but to actually subsidizing crop insurance for them as well. Hard to believe but it's true, the Feds pay around 15 billion dollars a year just for insurance on crops being grown by major corporate farming cooperatives. That's on top of the pricing subsidy guaranteeing that the crops are brought in at a profit. Think about that for a minute, do the Feds pay for your insurance in case you get sick and can't work. Do the Feds guarantee that you will make a minimum amount of money each year. Big corporate agricultural companies have those guarantees. Nice hunh? American taxpayers front the costs of production of meat to the tune of Billions of dollars each and every year. And here we get differing amounts from our government overlords, they tell us they pay 20 billion out as subsidies. The EWG tracks 322 billion annually in direct benefit payments to large corporate agrigiant businesses.
Then there is the truly horrendous costs to the environment that Americans, and well, all citizens of the world, must pay dearly. The costs of waste products. That encompasses not just the costs of the removal of the huge huge piles of animal feces and urine, but the much larger problem of atmospheric carbon release. Methane and the breakdown of the feces into carbon dioxide that would, and does in sustainable systems, sequester the carbon back into the soil, are totally absent in modern Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. The most common method of handling waste on modern meat production facilities is to dump the feces and urine into holding ponds and allow it to breakdown thus releasing the carbon into the atmosphere. And there is the added danger of the release of those holding pond waters with the sludge to overflow into local waterways, neighboring agricultural fields and local community water systems during heavy rainfall. I love this link, it shows the disdain the Feds have for ordinary human citizens (2nd Circuit Court Decision) The World Health Organization has determined that right now, at this time, 55% of all greenhouse gas emissions are a result of the production of meat for human consumption. This one is difficult to calculate, what is the cost of greenhouse emissions, the costs of cleanup from catastrophic mass releases into the environment of raw animal wastes, and the costs of contamination of agricultural products resulting from modern meat production methodology that has never developed an actual process for dealing with waste products. Allowing it to rot in ponds and hopefully get washed away in storms or in arid areas like Arizona, allowing it to dry and waiting for dust storms to blow it out into the desert, are not actual plans.
Probably the largest cost to not just consumers of modern meat, but every single person on the planet, is the cost of antibiotic resistance. CAFO production methods for beef and pork as well as turkeys (Chickens are exempt and not feed prophylactic antibiotics) ((but they are fed arsenic)) is to feed large doses of antibiotics to animals that live breathe eat lie down in move sit and exist in piles of their own wastes as a way to keep diseases manageable. The lessons of sanitation in human settlements seems to be lost. When cities grew, sanitation became an issue and cities where human and animal feces existed everywhere, diseases spread. Why would that same reasoning not apply to animals living in their own filth not be of primary importance to those making money on meat production? Well, the answer is simple, it's cheaper to feed antibiotics than it is to allow for humane and reasonable sanitary conditions. And the big one, governmental regulations allow for the slaughter of diseased sick deformed animals. ( Downer's Decision) Please note that it was a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court to overturn the California law that stopped the slaughter of cows that were too sick crazed deformed or whatever to walk. Yeah, the Feds love American consumers and do what they can to protect them. Even allow them to eat diseased meat.
The result of the huge amounts of antibiotics being fed to animals has resulted in the growth of antibiotic resistant bacteria that are pretty much everywhere in our society now. They coat the meats in stores, in fast food joints and home kitchens. They are everywhere in hospitals and doctor's offices, and the CDC now estimates that antibiotic resistant bacterial infections result in 22,000 deaths each year. And the number will grow EXPONENTIALLY in the coming years as the numbers, varieties and possible methods of infection rise. How do you calculate the cost to society of the death rate, the illnesses and loss of work time and family time of the horrific diseases being bred in meat production facilities simply because they can do such things.
The last thing here is the degradation of the quality of the nutritive benefits of modern meat. Modern methods of raising pork, beef and poultry involve the feeding of the animals corn, soy, canola meal and cotton meal. All are unnatural foods for each of the animals. Their systems are not designed to exist on those products and although they may grow and add the much desirable fat (not unlike humans drinking their caloric intake in the form of High Fructose Corn Syrup) but they don't thrive on that type of diet. But then, they don't need to thrive on those food sources, they only need to grow to saleable weight to be slaughtered. Now each of those main food sources are of course drenched in Glyphosate, the EPA two years ago raised the allowable limit of Glyphosate on animal feed to 200 ppm. That was of course a year and a half before the World Health Organization declared Glyphosate to be a carcinogen. At this time, there is no definitive research as to what happens when humans consume a diet primarily consisting of meat that contains Glyphosate residues. But we do have research that shows us that the composition of modern meat is very different from meat raised using traditional sustainable methods. Grass fed beef has much higher levels of Omega 3 fatty acids, higher levels of beta-carotene, Vitamin C and, well, the stuff is just way way way better for humans than modern CAFO raised meat. (Study on Beef composition) How do we place a dollar value on the lack of nutritive value of modern meats as well as the speculative and probable destruction of tissues and cancers from the Glyphosate issue. It's there, we know it, we see the effects directly, it's just that no one will fund a study on the secondary effects from consumption of Glyphosate via animal sources.
So go out, eat that 99 cent burger, that cheap chicken sandwich, those all you can eat buffet ribs and fried chicken in a bucket of canola oil. Everytime you do, you cost me money, your neighbor money, and every citizen on this planet pays in one way or another for you to get that cheap cheap and probably toxic meat. Enjoy!
Yep
Ractopamine info (Ractopamine)
Gross out about meat (MEAT)
Feceiation (Feces in Meat)
Modern Meat (Modern meat again)
Meat of the Matter (MEat Matter)
Then there is the truly horrendous costs to the environment that Americans, and well, all citizens of the world, must pay dearly. The costs of waste products. That encompasses not just the costs of the removal of the huge huge piles of animal feces and urine, but the much larger problem of atmospheric carbon release. Methane and the breakdown of the feces into carbon dioxide that would, and does in sustainable systems, sequester the carbon back into the soil, are totally absent in modern Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. The most common method of handling waste on modern meat production facilities is to dump the feces and urine into holding ponds and allow it to breakdown thus releasing the carbon into the atmosphere. And there is the added danger of the release of those holding pond waters with the sludge to overflow into local waterways, neighboring agricultural fields and local community water systems during heavy rainfall. I love this link, it shows the disdain the Feds have for ordinary human citizens (2nd Circuit Court Decision) The World Health Organization has determined that right now, at this time, 55% of all greenhouse gas emissions are a result of the production of meat for human consumption. This one is difficult to calculate, what is the cost of greenhouse emissions, the costs of cleanup from catastrophic mass releases into the environment of raw animal wastes, and the costs of contamination of agricultural products resulting from modern meat production methodology that has never developed an actual process for dealing with waste products. Allowing it to rot in ponds and hopefully get washed away in storms or in arid areas like Arizona, allowing it to dry and waiting for dust storms to blow it out into the desert, are not actual plans.
Probably the largest cost to not just consumers of modern meat, but every single person on the planet, is the cost of antibiotic resistance. CAFO production methods for beef and pork as well as turkeys (Chickens are exempt and not feed prophylactic antibiotics) ((but they are fed arsenic)) is to feed large doses of antibiotics to animals that live breathe eat lie down in move sit and exist in piles of their own wastes as a way to keep diseases manageable. The lessons of sanitation in human settlements seems to be lost. When cities grew, sanitation became an issue and cities where human and animal feces existed everywhere, diseases spread. Why would that same reasoning not apply to animals living in their own filth not be of primary importance to those making money on meat production? Well, the answer is simple, it's cheaper to feed antibiotics than it is to allow for humane and reasonable sanitary conditions. And the big one, governmental regulations allow for the slaughter of diseased sick deformed animals. ( Downer's Decision) Please note that it was a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court to overturn the California law that stopped the slaughter of cows that were too sick crazed deformed or whatever to walk. Yeah, the Feds love American consumers and do what they can to protect them. Even allow them to eat diseased meat.
The result of the huge amounts of antibiotics being fed to animals has resulted in the growth of antibiotic resistant bacteria that are pretty much everywhere in our society now. They coat the meats in stores, in fast food joints and home kitchens. They are everywhere in hospitals and doctor's offices, and the CDC now estimates that antibiotic resistant bacterial infections result in 22,000 deaths each year. And the number will grow EXPONENTIALLY in the coming years as the numbers, varieties and possible methods of infection rise. How do you calculate the cost to society of the death rate, the illnesses and loss of work time and family time of the horrific diseases being bred in meat production facilities simply because they can do such things.
The last thing here is the degradation of the quality of the nutritive benefits of modern meat. Modern methods of raising pork, beef and poultry involve the feeding of the animals corn, soy, canola meal and cotton meal. All are unnatural foods for each of the animals. Their systems are not designed to exist on those products and although they may grow and add the much desirable fat (not unlike humans drinking their caloric intake in the form of High Fructose Corn Syrup) but they don't thrive on that type of diet. But then, they don't need to thrive on those food sources, they only need to grow to saleable weight to be slaughtered. Now each of those main food sources are of course drenched in Glyphosate, the EPA two years ago raised the allowable limit of Glyphosate on animal feed to 200 ppm. That was of course a year and a half before the World Health Organization declared Glyphosate to be a carcinogen. At this time, there is no definitive research as to what happens when humans consume a diet primarily consisting of meat that contains Glyphosate residues. But we do have research that shows us that the composition of modern meat is very different from meat raised using traditional sustainable methods. Grass fed beef has much higher levels of Omega 3 fatty acids, higher levels of beta-carotene, Vitamin C and, well, the stuff is just way way way better for humans than modern CAFO raised meat. (Study on Beef composition) How do we place a dollar value on the lack of nutritive value of modern meats as well as the speculative and probable destruction of tissues and cancers from the Glyphosate issue. It's there, we know it, we see the effects directly, it's just that no one will fund a study on the secondary effects from consumption of Glyphosate via animal sources.
So go out, eat that 99 cent burger, that cheap chicken sandwich, those all you can eat buffet ribs and fried chicken in a bucket of canola oil. Everytime you do, you cost me money, your neighbor money, and every citizen on this planet pays in one way or another for you to get that cheap cheap and probably toxic meat. Enjoy!
Yep
Ractopamine info (Ractopamine)
Gross out about meat (MEAT)
Feceiation (Feces in Meat)
Modern Meat (Modern meat again)
Meat of the Matter (MEat Matter)
Friday, March 4, 2016
Vegetarian Tacos, kinda cool actually
So I started making my taco seasonings a while back and I think most know, I don't eat meat. But that doesn't mean I can't have tacos. I love tacos. Tacos don't necessarily mean meat. Tacos means tasty bites of wondrous spicy (at times) stuff that will tantalize and satisfy on a primal level. Me, I ate a lot of fish tacos in my day. So tonight I thought I would try something different.
I made some humus the other day and cooked some extra garbanzo beans just for doing this. As I have talked about
here in the past, there are techniques that can be done when preparing food that will make healthy foods, healthier. Simple things. I take my garbanzo beans and soak overnight with a bit of liquid from some of my fermented kim chee style fermented cabbage. Drained them the next day and cooked in a pressure cooker until semi soft. Most went into humus, the rest in the fridge for tacos. Place them in the bowl of the food processor and chop, sort of rough. Dice a half an onion and saute a couple minutes
in a skillet and then dump in the chopped garbanzos. Stir well and add a half a pack of my taco seasoning. Here I used the Garlic Taco Mix, sort of didn't feel like really hot tonight. So the mild one. Then stir it in well and add a quarter cup of the cooking liquid from the garbanzos. Stir it in well and cook until the liquid is
absorbed and thickened. Then make your tacos.
This night I didn't feel like corn shells, nor flour tortillas. So I did the weird thing. I used butter lettuce leaves and topped with shredded red leaf lettuce and a bit of shredded cheese. Not exactly a taco, more like a Chinese Lettuce Wrap. Only better.
Yep
I made some humus the other day and cooked some extra garbanzo beans just for doing this. As I have talked about
This night I didn't feel like corn shells, nor flour tortillas. So I did the weird thing. I used butter lettuce leaves and topped with shredded red leaf lettuce and a bit of shredded cheese. Not exactly a taco, more like a Chinese Lettuce Wrap. Only better.
Yep
Aluminum Adjuvants. Theory, practice, reality
Since the birth of modern vaccination development in the mid 1920's, aluminum has been added to the vaccine production with the concept that the heavy metal compounds when injected into human bodies will increase the human immune response and thus increase the effectiveness of the vaccine as the human body works diligently to offset the introduction of foreign viruses along with all the other ingredients in the vaccine by creating antibodies. Aluminum salts were believed to aid in this effect. That belief came about because of the human body's natural response when foreign substances are injected, swallowed, attached topically or in any other way introduced into or onto a human person. The human system will fight to reject the foreign substance.
It's called autoimmune response. When you get a sliver in your finger, and you don't remove it; the skin around the sliver swells and pus forms in preparation to expel the invading foreign body. That's how it works. The same thing happens when substances are injected into the bloodstream, the human immune system works to alter the foreign bodies in a number of ways. The most common, and the one in which the entire vaccine industry is founded on is that the human immune system creates specific antibodies that are specific to each strain of virus. Those antibodies, for the most part, destroy those specific viruses that caused the immune system to create them. And, here, the cool thing is, for most virus antibodies, they remain in the human system throughout the lifetime of the host human and continue to provide natural real protection against those same viruses should they be reintroduced into the human body again.
Well, that's supposed to be how it works. For many pathogens, that's how it does in fact work. When I was a child, I contracted chicken pox and measles. It has generally been accepted in ALL medical texts and throughout the entire medical profession, that I will NEVER contract measles or chicken pox throughout my life ever again. My body has produced antibodies for those two diseases and they will remain in my body and protect me as long as I live. Or as long as those two viruses don't alter dramatically through the process of adaption and evolution. Which realistically if you are Christian, those processes aren't real so they are discounted as arbitrary and unimportant. And that lifetime immunity is the goal of the vaccine industry, to be able to on demand, create synthetic, artificial immunity to the diseases that inflict havoc, death and mutilation upon humanity.
Since the inception of the industry, the belief has been that anything that furthers the human body's natural ability to create those antibodies within the human system; is a good thing. And that's how aluminum adjuvants were introduced into the manufacture of vaccines. If you inject aluminum salts into your skin, your body reacts, it swells, it forms pus around the injection site, and the body responds in a wide variety of ways in an attempt to rid the body of the foreign substance. Again, that's called the Autoimmune Response. At some point some one some where some how thought that you could create a greater autoimmune response artificially by adding adjuvants to dead viruses. The reasoning is the body would create a greater number of antibodies against those viruses. And it does work, there is proof that the numbers of specific antigens is greater when adjuvants are present in the vaccine. The questions arise however as to just how harmless the adjuvants are to the human system and in fact, does the entire process actually work.
The thing is, aluminum salts are not the only adjuvants added to vaccines. They are just one of a host of additives. And the one that has been in continuous use the longest. If you want to view what the ingredients actually are in vaccines in use today, you can go here (VACCINE INGREDIENTS) where the CDC actually lists all them for everyone to see. Just take a look at the first vaccine on the list. It contains MSG, Coal tar dye Yellow Number 6, four different types of sugar, acetone and, aluminum salts. Adjuvants. Not harmful, as described by the manufacturers. Now the reasoning behind adding aluminum to vaccines is upheld by the regulatory agency that determines whether or not any specific ingredient added is in fact, or could possibly determined to be, dangerous. The FDA. If you go here, (FDA and Aluminum) you will find the FDA website page that specifically tells us the reasoning used by scientists as to why they in 2011 once again approved the use of aluminum salts in all vaccines as a safe adjuvant. The reasoning is very convoluted. It was based on absolutely no research into what happens when human babies are injected with aluminum salts. The reasoning however, is believed to be sound. It's simple, since aluminum is present in the environment, baby formula contains trace aluminum, water contains trace aluminum, pretty much aluminum is everywhere; therefore the small amounts added to vaccines do not pose a significant risk factor for additional neurotoxic effects by direct injection into the bloodstream.
That's pretty sound reasoning, for government workers.
I'm sorry, I can't get this entire article to be available to the general public, but the abstract is really all one needs to look at and see that there is some dissension in the ranks of scientists out there. So look at this one paragraph and see a very different point of view in regards to aluminum. (PUBMed Abstract) The reasoning behind the usage of aluminum, and well any other adjuvants, is being called to question. Realistically one must consider some of the basic operational procedures within the medical community, the entire concept that vaccination will enhance the life of the recipient. And conversely, that the concept is even viable. As I stated above, I contracted measles as a child. I have immunity. The CDC now specifically states that children that get the measles vaccine need to have three doses before the age of 2. And subsequently there is a need for additional doses of the vaccine before the child enters school. Up to 3 more vaccinations for the same virus. And as we discovered last year at the highly publicized measles outbreak, it was discovered that 43% of those that contracted measles, had already been vaccinated against the disease. I did discuss this very issue a year ago, go here to read about it (MEASLES)
Now I know, I'm not an expert on scientific research into the causes of childhood diseases, vaccinations, governmental policies or anything else other than my field of study, which was the propagation of mushrooms and food technology; and I don't have a PhD after my name. An MS is no where near as impressive. (Well that's what Sheldon says of poor old Wolowitz) But no one needs any initials after their name to understand that there is controversy in this field. There are scientists on both sides of the issues. There are shortcuts being taken that cannot be justified by governmental regulators setting a policy based on the reasoning that aluminum exists everywhere, a little bit more injected directly into your blood won't hurt. And finally, given studies showing the benefits of childhood illnesses and the benefits to the human immune system through the natural cycle of contracting certain childhood diseases such as measles, chicken pox and others, the recommended procedures for vaccinations should be looked at with suspect.
Yep
It's called autoimmune response. When you get a sliver in your finger, and you don't remove it; the skin around the sliver swells and pus forms in preparation to expel the invading foreign body. That's how it works. The same thing happens when substances are injected into the bloodstream, the human immune system works to alter the foreign bodies in a number of ways. The most common, and the one in which the entire vaccine industry is founded on is that the human immune system creates specific antibodies that are specific to each strain of virus. Those antibodies, for the most part, destroy those specific viruses that caused the immune system to create them. And, here, the cool thing is, for most virus antibodies, they remain in the human system throughout the lifetime of the host human and continue to provide natural real protection against those same viruses should they be reintroduced into the human body again.
Well, that's supposed to be how it works. For many pathogens, that's how it does in fact work. When I was a child, I contracted chicken pox and measles. It has generally been accepted in ALL medical texts and throughout the entire medical profession, that I will NEVER contract measles or chicken pox throughout my life ever again. My body has produced antibodies for those two diseases and they will remain in my body and protect me as long as I live. Or as long as those two viruses don't alter dramatically through the process of adaption and evolution. Which realistically if you are Christian, those processes aren't real so they are discounted as arbitrary and unimportant. And that lifetime immunity is the goal of the vaccine industry, to be able to on demand, create synthetic, artificial immunity to the diseases that inflict havoc, death and mutilation upon humanity.
Since the inception of the industry, the belief has been that anything that furthers the human body's natural ability to create those antibodies within the human system; is a good thing. And that's how aluminum adjuvants were introduced into the manufacture of vaccines. If you inject aluminum salts into your skin, your body reacts, it swells, it forms pus around the injection site, and the body responds in a wide variety of ways in an attempt to rid the body of the foreign substance. Again, that's called the Autoimmune Response. At some point some one some where some how thought that you could create a greater autoimmune response artificially by adding adjuvants to dead viruses. The reasoning is the body would create a greater number of antibodies against those viruses. And it does work, there is proof that the numbers of specific antigens is greater when adjuvants are present in the vaccine. The questions arise however as to just how harmless the adjuvants are to the human system and in fact, does the entire process actually work.
The thing is, aluminum salts are not the only adjuvants added to vaccines. They are just one of a host of additives. And the one that has been in continuous use the longest. If you want to view what the ingredients actually are in vaccines in use today, you can go here (VACCINE INGREDIENTS) where the CDC actually lists all them for everyone to see. Just take a look at the first vaccine on the list. It contains MSG, Coal tar dye Yellow Number 6, four different types of sugar, acetone and, aluminum salts. Adjuvants. Not harmful, as described by the manufacturers. Now the reasoning behind adding aluminum to vaccines is upheld by the regulatory agency that determines whether or not any specific ingredient added is in fact, or could possibly determined to be, dangerous. The FDA. If you go here, (FDA and Aluminum) you will find the FDA website page that specifically tells us the reasoning used by scientists as to why they in 2011 once again approved the use of aluminum salts in all vaccines as a safe adjuvant. The reasoning is very convoluted. It was based on absolutely no research into what happens when human babies are injected with aluminum salts. The reasoning however, is believed to be sound. It's simple, since aluminum is present in the environment, baby formula contains trace aluminum, water contains trace aluminum, pretty much aluminum is everywhere; therefore the small amounts added to vaccines do not pose a significant risk factor for additional neurotoxic effects by direct injection into the bloodstream.
That's pretty sound reasoning, for government workers.
I'm sorry, I can't get this entire article to be available to the general public, but the abstract is really all one needs to look at and see that there is some dissension in the ranks of scientists out there. So look at this one paragraph and see a very different point of view in regards to aluminum. (PUBMed Abstract) The reasoning behind the usage of aluminum, and well any other adjuvants, is being called to question. Realistically one must consider some of the basic operational procedures within the medical community, the entire concept that vaccination will enhance the life of the recipient. And conversely, that the concept is even viable. As I stated above, I contracted measles as a child. I have immunity. The CDC now specifically states that children that get the measles vaccine need to have three doses before the age of 2. And subsequently there is a need for additional doses of the vaccine before the child enters school. Up to 3 more vaccinations for the same virus. And as we discovered last year at the highly publicized measles outbreak, it was discovered that 43% of those that contracted measles, had already been vaccinated against the disease. I did discuss this very issue a year ago, go here to read about it (MEASLES)
Now I know, I'm not an expert on scientific research into the causes of childhood diseases, vaccinations, governmental policies or anything else other than my field of study, which was the propagation of mushrooms and food technology; and I don't have a PhD after my name. An MS is no where near as impressive. (Well that's what Sheldon says of poor old Wolowitz) But no one needs any initials after their name to understand that there is controversy in this field. There are scientists on both sides of the issues. There are shortcuts being taken that cannot be justified by governmental regulators setting a policy based on the reasoning that aluminum exists everywhere, a little bit more injected directly into your blood won't hurt. And finally, given studies showing the benefits of childhood illnesses and the benefits to the human immune system through the natural cycle of contracting certain childhood diseases such as measles, chicken pox and others, the recommended procedures for vaccinations should be looked at with suspect.
Yep
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