Fast Food By Any Other Name is Still Garbage

I'm sure you've heard of the current controversy over the percentage of "meat" in Taco Bell's seasoned ground beef.  Am I the only person in America that's in awe that this should even be news worthy?!  I think it's a disheartening testament to the gullibility of Americans that this junk passes off as food (and I'm using that term very loosely).  Personally I find that Taco Bell's meat in question is the least of the public's worries.  If I wanted a regular ground beef taco,  I would be getting the following:

Tortilla

Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine, Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Ground Corn treated with Lime, Vegetable Oil (Cottonseed Oil, Citric Acid), Contains less than 2% of the following: Salt, Fumaric Acid, Calcium Propionate and Potassium Sorbate (use as Preservatives). CONTAINS: WHEAT Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine, Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Ground Corn treated with Lime, Vegetable Oil (contains one or more of the following: Corn Oil, Soybean Oil) with TBHQ and Citric Acid (to preserve freshness), contains 2% or less of the following: Salt, Calcium Propionate and Potassium Sorbate (to preserve freshness), Furmaric Acid, Dough Conditioner. CONTAINS: WHEAT Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine, Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Ground Corn treated with Lime, Vegetable Oil (contains Soybean Oil) contains 2% or less of the following: Salt, Calcium Propionate, Potassium Sorbate (to preserve freshness), Furmaric Acid. CONTAINS: WHEAT Enriched Bleached Wheat Flour (Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine, Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, Ground Corn treated with Lime, Vegetable Oil (Cottonseed Oil, Citric Acid), contains less than 2% of the following: Salt, Fumaric Acid, Calcium Propionate and Potassium Sorbate (use as Preservatives). CONTAINS: WHEAT *Will Contain One Of The Ingredient Statements Above, Depending Upon Regional Suppliers

Three Cheese Blend

Low Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese (Cultured Pasteurized Part Skim Milk, Salt, Enzymes), Cheddar Cheese (Cultured Pasteurized Milk, Salt, Enzymes, Annatto), Pasteurized Process Monterey Jack And American Cheese With Peppers [Monterey Jack And American Cheese (Cultured Milk, Salt, Enzymes), Water, Cream, Sodium Citrate, Salt, Sodium Phosphate, Sorbic Acid (Preservative), Lactic Acid], Anti-Caking Agent. CONTAINS MILK Low Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese (Cultured Pasteurized Part Skim Milk, Salt, Enzymes), Cheddar Cheese (Cultured Pasteurized Milk, Salt, Enzymes, Annatto), Pasteurized Process Monterey Jack And American Cheese With Peppers [Monterey Jack And American Cheese (Cultured Milk, Salt, Enzymes), Water, Cream, Sodium Citrate, Salt, Sodium Phosphate, Jalapeno Peppers, Sorbic Acid (Preservative), Lactic Acid], Anti-caking Agent. CONTAINS MILK *Will Contain One Of The Ingredient Statements Above, Depending Upon Regional Suppliers

Seasoned Ground Beef

Beef, Water, Seasoning [Isolated Oat Product, Salt, Chili Pepper, Onion Powder, Tomato Powder, Oats (Wheat), Soy Lecithin, Sugar, Spices, Maltodextrin, Soybean Oil (Anti-dusting Agent), Garlic Powder, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Citric Acid, Caramel Color, Cocoa Powder (Processed With Alkali), Silicon Dioxide, Natural Flavors, Yeast, Modified Corn Starch, Natural Smoke Flavor], Salt, Sodium Phosphates. CONTAINS SOYBEAN, WHEAT

Salsa Roja

Water, Tomatoes (Tomatoes, Tomato Juice, Calcium Chloride, Citric Acid), Tomato Paste, Distilled White Vinegar, Salt, Corn Syrup, Dehydrated Red Bell Peppers, Dehydrated Onion, Modified Corn Starch, Garlic, Spices, Lime Juice Concentrate, Natural And Artificial Flavors (Milk), Citric Acid, Sugar, Dehydrated Garlic, Sodium Benzoate And Potassium Sorbate As Preservatives, Dehydrated Chipotle Peppers, Molasses, Hydrolyzed Soy Protein, Yeast Extract, Disodium Inosinate And Disodium Guanylate, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean And/Or Cottonseed Oils, Turmeric, Soybean Oil. CONTAINS: MILK, SOYBEANS.

Reduced Fat Sour Cream

Cream, Milk, Modified Corn Starch, Nonfat Dry Milk, Maltodextrin, Carrageenan, Locust Bean Gum, Lactic Acid, Gelatin, Guar Gum, Mono And Diglycerides, Citric Acid, Sodium Phosphate, Vitamin A, Potassium Sorbate (A Preservative), And Natural And Artificial Flavor. CONTAINS MILK

Tomato

Tomatoes.


  Well, nothing makes me salivate more than the thought of silicon dioxide in my lunch.  Can someone explain to me why I need cocoa powder in my seasoned beef?  I mean, I like chocolate and all, but it seems a little misplaced in my taco.  Maybe that's the 12th spice.  I would say that the healthier option would be to get a tortilla filled with tomato and cheese, but in this instance, can I just have a cup of tomatoes and some water?

An Orange By Any Other Name

  I can't even begin to tell you how curious I am about trying out different foods and learning where foods come from (from dirt to consumer).  I will admit that I've been pretty skeptical about the benefits of organic foods, but I figured for fairness sake that I would give organic produce a shot.  Organic oranges are my latest vice.  I will absolutely never go back to eating conventional oranges after tasting the unbelievable sweetness and depth of flavor of an orange that was made as nature intended.  It's hard to describe the difference in taste between a conventionally grown and organically grown orange.  It's almost the same as the difference between eating a conventionally grown tomato & an organic tomato.  The entire fruit is amazingly sweet, even the bio-flavanoid packed pith (white stuff between the skin & the fruit), which, much to my surprise is good for you, aiding in capillary repair.  You absolutely haven't lived until you've tried an organic orange, but I will give you fair warning:  you may become addicted.

Words and Pseudo-Words

  Call me old-fashioned, but it seriously hurts my ears when I hear people misuse grammar and/or use non-words.  For instance, as I write this, there is a song on the internet radio called "Tequila Sunrise" by Fiji, a Hawaiian group.  In it, the crooner says that he wants to "coversate about love," and I cringe.  I cringe because "conversate" is not a word, at all.  Conversation is a noun & converse would be the verb form of the word, conversation.  Somehow someone used "conversate" in a, well, conversation & it spread like wildfire.  The same goes for "an historic" which gets used a lot in the media.  The newscaster will sometimes try to make up for the mistake by making the "h" in historic silent, which makes it all the more grotesquely obnoxious. 

   I suppose that in today's technology driven, Twitter focused society, it's more convenient to just type what you feel & hope that someone can understand it, but it's pretty inexcusable, especially when you're projecting these words to hundreds and maybe thousands of people.  There's a saying that goes "you are what you eat," but I don't think it's a stretch to say that you are also what you say.  The big difference is that people usually observe what comes out of your mouth before they get a chance to see what goes in it.