Thursday, May 29, 2008

Edible foodlike substances taking over the world

I just finished reading this great book called In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan for book club. It's no secret I love all things about food and farming, especially this time of year as the farmers markets are starting to pop up all over the city and we are about to start receiving delicious produce, milk and fruit from our CSA farm. This book basically talks about the "Western Diet", which can be summed up by the increase of carbohydrates, sugars, high fructose corn syrup, and dismantling whole foods into their nutrient parts trying to find the most effective and "healthy" nutrients to infuse into our foods. I am not much of a processed food eater as I would much rather eat fruits, vegetables and things recognizable as natural foodstuffs than something that comes from a box containing a paragraph long description of ingredients I can neither pronounce nor recognize. I think everyone should read this book and get out of the middle evil aisles of the grocery store and start eating real food.

Just as I was perusing some news online, I came across an article that said food prices will remain high for a decade. And just so you know how hard I work at my job (as evidenced by the fact I can update my blog during the day), we started talking about SPAM. I am not sure how the topic was approached, but it reminded me of several years ago when my brother was driving across country and stopped by my grandparent's house in North Dakota. My grandmother, who is probably the smartest woman on the planet although not the world's best cook, fried him up a SPAM sandwich, which he graciously ate. I am not sure I could have been so courteous. My co-workers and I weren't even sure what SPAM was made out of, so we did a little research...




1. SPAM is made of pork and ham.

2. The difference between pork and ham is that ham usually comes from the upper leg of the hog while pork can refer to any number of "delicious cuts."


3. They have almost sold 7 billion cans of SPAM since 1931 (does this make anyone else a little nauseated?)

4. There is a recipe for a Maui SPAM Muffin (I don't even want to know what this is)

5. When asked what SPAM tastes like, some people say "Salty Goodness" or "Crazy Tasty"... I'm not sure who these people are, but I am pretty sure I've never met anyone who would say that about SPAM.

With food prices on the rise, I would hope that more people will turn to their local farming communities and farmers markets for good, edible food that still has all of its nutrients. I sure hope people don't turn to SPAM and Cheetos as prices rise... I mean, you could buy a head of broccoli for about the same price or less than a bag of Cheetos... chew on that.

6 comments:

familia Bybaran said...

In Hawaii, people LOVE spam. They just eat it cold with rice--native Hawaiians that is. I wonder what MP would say about that. I also loved the book. It just makes complete sense.

naomi megan. said...

I am almost done with the manifesto. And I cannot believe what I'm reading...sort of reminds me of sinclairs The Jungle; I get grossed out so easily. But it sure has inspired me to do better, pay attention to processed foods and have something to back up my arguement when Josh downs a whole box of pop tarts (or something similarly disgusting) in 5 minutes to my disliking.

Rebecca Smylie said...

Yes--am liking the book. But here's my thing with spam: I hate it. Think it's nasty. But have never actually tried it. Is spam like fruitcake? Really bad reputation but no one really knows what it's like? Nikki, I dare you to eat some. Wait, no, you're pregnant. I dare Cameron to.

Jen Bennion said...

Nikki, I am definitely going to read this one! I am right there with you as an all natural fruits and veggie lover. I am obsessive about reading food labels at the store, it drives Collin crazy!

Beth, Cody, Morgan, Pepper, Hazel said...

I saw on the news yesterday that sales of SPAM are on the rise and the highest in a long time. Sadly I think people are turning to cheep processed foods during these tough times. I haven't read the book yet but I'm looking forward to it!

Unknown said...

I am going to have to read that book! Thanks for the recommendation. Have you ever read Super Size Me or Fast Food Nation! Those two books had me afraid to eat a lot of things afterwards.