Holiday goodness and journalist sillyness…
Dec 25th, 2007 | By Lene Johansen | Category: BlogI have an issue with this holiday fuzzy feeling piece from Marketplace, because the anchor’s intro goes as follows: “Crisco is a staple in many American kitchens and a must-have for homemade pies. But it’s also an invented food made by chemists !”
An invented food made my chemists, how little does a reporter have to know about the history of food to know that most all of it is made by chemists? Those chemists are often called, mom, pop, grandma, and grandpa, but they are chemists none the less.
Beer and wine are two items that was “invented and made by chemists”, the same goes for pickling and curing and canning and most other cooking and preservation techniques.
And while we are on the subject of pies and Crisco, here’s my friend Miranda baking Lemon Meringue pie while she is chatting with me via Skype.
Don’t you love modern technology? Now, all I need is a Skype with smell and tasting functions!
You’re going to make me famous one way or another, Lene.
This post reminds me of a conversation I had with my father during our Thanksgiving day celebrations. I remarked that the “jello” salad I made was, in reality, an agar salad. Being the sneaky vegetarian I am, I wanted to be able to make something I could enjoy… and broaden my family’s perspectives a bit.
When I explained my ingredient choice to my father, he *did not believe* that jello is made from processed hides and joints from animals. He didn’t believe me when I told him people have been doing this since the Middle Ages (aspic). I asked, “where do *you* think jello comes from, dad?” His response, “Well, some chemist invented it in a lab.” I.e. it was not derived from “natural” sources. Well, perhaps medieval alchemy, then, I will give him that.
It took a few days and a search of wikipedia to finally convince him, but he now sees the light (and continues to enjoy jello just the same).
Well, I will gladly have your agar jello, as long as you have not run it through the electrophoresis in the lab, although you could do that with the goat earwax for a Harry Potter party (you know the Bertie Botts Everyflavor Beans had an earwax flavor in it). Are there any flavanoids in the earwax you are working on?
Oh, and I found an exception for my taste and smell Skype last night as ‘someone’ had regular milk instead of cereal last night. I was very happy to be an ocean away, don’t ever give him non-lactose-reduced milk as he is seriously lacking lactase! (See someone’s been reading her sugar chemistry lately!)