Cooked freight follow up

[darkemeralds]

Yesterday's educational encounter with low-grade restaurant food laced with MSG has had some interesting outcomes.

• I had a panic attack this morning--my first since I really cleaned up my food act several weeks ago, possibly supporting my suspicion of a causal link between MSG and the attacks
• I've had a developing migraine all day--oh joy
• I've started reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan
• I've put the documentary "The Future of Food" into my Netflix queue, thanks to a rec from serenity_valley

"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." That's the first sentence in Chapter 1 of In Defense of Food, entitled "An Eater's Manifesto". Pollan goes on to define food in ways that shouldn't surprise any thinking person: the stuff you buy from farmers or the edge of the supermarket, the stuff without much, or any, packaging. The stuff that's no more than a simple processing step or two away from its original state. The stuff that can't be advertised, patented, trademarked.

He spends a lot of the book defining "food" by what it is not. He examines the history of the food manufacturing industry, which increasingly produces what he calls "edible foodlike substances," what I call cooked freight.

I guess Project Empty has entered a new chapter.

Comments

[str8ontilmornin.livejournal.com]

My first real glimpse of the cooked freight was when I started reading labels years ago and came upon "cheese food". I have to say I've been wary of this processed food ever since my stomach has been unable to take our weekly trips to Taco Bell.

Moving to Portland has been a blessing for us in that respect, however, sad to say, Tillamook cheese has taken on the foul blandness of "cheese food" for me.

[vchrusch.livejournal.com]

I always used to joke that "cheese food" was the product that manufacturers used to feed the vat so they could grow more processed cheese. Scary stuff that is.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Ha! The cheesefood cries "Feed me, Seymour!"

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Tillamook's black-label extra-sharp cheddar isn't bad, but most of their cheese has long been a bit rubbery and bland.

Portland really is a haven of good food. The valley is a farmland treasure-trove, and over and over again, despite the Long Gray, I bless the good fortune that made this place my home.