March 17, 2020 was a life-changing day for me. The pandemic was here. Sporting events cancelled. I voted in the state’s Presidential primary. I shopped at a local grocery store. I went home and severed most in-person social ties. I stopped volunteering at the food pantry and the local school. Call it sheltering in place or self-isolation. I started a daily journal of my life … Continue reading Living in a Post-Pandemic World

I: Biological. A) Nutrition-Macro. This comprises fats (oils), carbohydrates (starches and sugars), ethyl alcohol and proteins.  Some sugars and the alcohol can pass directly into the blood through the walls of the digestive system.  The others are converted by the body into smaller molecules (digested) that can then pass into the blood also.  They all are the sources of the energy we need to survive, … Continue reading The Five Reasons why we eat and drink what we do by Allan Griff

by Dr. Kalidas Shetty Professor of Plant Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND 58102 Summary: To advance global food security and to address associated human health challenges we must understand global food systems with its ecological diversity for sustainable solutions. The world faces the most critical ecological challenge from climate change and essential urgency to reduce the carbon footprint affecting food production challenges as … Continue reading Food Diversity-Based Global Food Systems for Food Security and Health: Post-COVID19 Implications

I had never been on a diet:  ever.  I believe in eating relatively healthy and in moderation and exercising to maintain a healthy weight, but I do not believe in counting calories and restricting  my choices of food.   I’m a bit of a hedonist and tend to give into cravings.  So, if I wanted a serving of tiramisu or a bowl of Cheetos, I … Continue reading My experience with an inflammation diet by Cynthia D’Amico-Graham

In Formerly Known as Food Kristin Lawless completely rejects the current American food system. She calls for a reformation if not a revolution. She concludes her book with a 9-point New Food Movement Manifesto. The author identifies as a nutrition educator. Without a formal degree in Nutrition or related field, I conclude that she is primarily a journalist provocateur. Formerly Known as Food does not … Continue reading Formerly Known as Food (How the Industrial Food System Is Changing Our Minds, Bodies, and Culture)

All these preservations affect taste/odor and appearance (browning/oxidation). Before describing the preservation methods, some definitions:  Firstly, “edible” is personally and socially defined, but is also biologically defined as able to pass through the digestive system without serious negative effects. Some substances start out as edible–fruits off the tree, parts of other plants, and most all animals.  Cooking alters the chemistry to increase digestibility, but most … Continue reading The Thirteen Preservations by Allan Griff

A recurring theme on this site has been on the health effects of ultra-processed foods. The Twinkie and a Coca Cola represent the ultimate in ultra-processed foods. The NOVA classification of foods defined ultra-processed foods. Do these products represent the greatest dietary danger to American health? Or are the dangers overexaggerated? Note, this post was inspired by an article by Linn Steward on Gourmetmetrics. In … Continue reading The Twinkies caper: Separating processes and ingredients

Sugar is sweet. We all know that. Sugar performs many other roles in food that make it a valuable ingredient in food. We call these roles functional properties. Sugar is important in home-cooked meals. Sugar is also important in manufactured foods. Absence of sugar in a recipe or formulation may result in inferior quality of the food. Formulations are scientific versions of a recipe. Food … Continue reading Sugar as an ingredient: functional and dangerous

What do you get when you turn a biochemist loose in the kitchen of a school for boys? You get Shirley Corriher, a gift to anyone interested in food and cooking. Her book, KitchenWise, arrived unsolicited in the mail as an early Christmas gift. What a delightful book from a delightful person! Many years ago I was at a dinner meeting of Dixie (since renamed … Continue reading KitchenWise: Essential Food Science for Home Cooks

Most of us are not sad to leave 2020 behind. It has been a miserable year in many ways, more for some than for others. I am optimistic for 2021, but we are not over the pandemic yet. Normal, whatever that will look like, will not be part of our lives for some time. Will we return to a diet of more processed food in … Continue reading Remembering 2020; Looking ahead to 2021