It’s been as barren as a backyard patch in Sydney in winter
food interest wise, but here are a few morsels.
1.
FREE stuff
The
University of Chicago has a free monthly e-book.
This month
it is “Accounting for Taste: The Triumph of French Cuisine” by Priscilla
Ferguson.
For your
free download, go here and follow the instructions.
2. The end of food
‘But
that is Soylent’s downside, too. You begin to realize how much of your day
revolves around food. Meals provide punctuation to our lives: we’re constantly
recovering from them, anticipating them, riding the emotional ups and downs of
a good or a bad sandwich. With a bottle of Soylent on your desk, time stretches
before you, featureless and a little sad. On Saturday, I woke up and sipped a
glass of Soylent. What to do? Breakfast wasn’t an issue. Neither was lunch. I
had work to do, but I didn’t want to do it, so I went out for coffee. On the way
there, I passed my neighbourhood bagel place, where I saw someone ordering my
usual breakfast: a bagel with butter. I watched with envy. I wasn’t hungry, and
I knew that I was better off than the bagel eater: the Soylent was cheaper, and
it had provided me with fewer empty calories and much better nutrition.
Buttered bagels aren’t even that great; I shouldn’t be eating them. But Soylent
makes you realize how many daily indulgences we allow ourselves in the name of
sustenance.’
I am fascinated and scared by this article. Fascinated by
the continuing pursuit of ways to intake nutrient without growing it, hunting
it, gathering it, cooking it. I am a scifi child and that world has always had
a gee whizz attraction for me. I am scared by the psychology of Reinhart and
his fanbase and network of co DIY Soylent makers; they come across to me as
frighteningly alienated and soul-less and as cult as the god-botherers Reinhart
derides.
3.
And now the bad news: red wine is not
good for health after all
‘So, with
a more robust measure of resveratrol on hand, how had the health of this group
of Italians fared when they were followed up nine years later? The answer was
as you would expect; rates of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and mortality had
no link with amounts of resveratrol metabolites in participants' urine. Even
blood markers of inflammation, which lie at the heart of metabolic disease
risk, had no link with resveratrol levels.’
Spoilsports!
4.
Activated almonds? Yes well eating them
may make you a pretentious git
‘So while Evans might be concerned that people think he's a
wanker, he shouldn't worry too much. For all our idealised tropes about egalitarianism
and not letting anyone get up themselves, it's more about perception than
reality. Wankers can be and do anything they dream of, Pete – prime minister,
radio host, stripper pole wheeler. Just err more on the side of yob, if you can
manage it, and keep your "activated almonds" out of kicking distance,
if you know what's good for you.’
Okay, I know, Pete Evans is a soft target and this is not
really an article about food – but in a bleak Budget week this gave me a laff.
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