As I got back into my reading habit that was diminished by my reaction to Ian, I picked up Uncontrolled Spread by Scott Gottlieb. The author served as FDA Commissioner for the first two years of the Trump Administration. The book describes Why COVID-19 Crushed US and How We Can Defeat the Next Pandemic. The author is uniquely qualified to tell this story as he … Continue reading Uncontrolled Spread: What we did Wrong and what we did Right in the battle against COVID

Another year has passed, and what a year it has been! Apologies to Clint Eastwood for the title of this post. I hope that he won’t track me down to make his day! Just when it looked like we would emerge from the COVID plague, a natural disaster hit! It became a very personal year for me, one in which events overwhelmed me as well … Continue reading 2022: The Good, The Indeterminate, and The Ugly

The subtitle, How Fewer, Smarter Laws would Make Our Food System More Sustainable, provides a clue of the book’s direction. From the book jacket we learn that author Baylen J. Linnekin is a conservative, which explains his desire for fewer regulations. His hook, sustainability, appeals to segments across the political spectrum. Artisanal sausages provide Linnekin’s first example of the undue burden of food regulations. Il … Continue reading Biting the Hands that Feed Us. Are we burdened with too many food regulations?

This post will be the last in a four-part series on Hurricane Ian and the effects it has had on me. It is just one person’s perspective, but it may provide some insight on the effect it could make on me and others. It is more philosophical and introspective than most of my posts. If that is not your style, come back next week when … Continue reading Homeless, climate refugees

This post is the third in a four-part series of reflections on how Hurricane Ian affected me and my perspective on life. For readers of my blog eager to hear more of a defense of processed food, scroll down to the bottom of the page for a reflection on foods. Last week I described the countdown to Ian and our flight out of state. This … Continue reading Return to Sanibel and the Aftermath of Ian

When I last posted, I was fleeing from Hurricane Ian. My wife, dog Sweetie, and I are safe. I will do a three-part series of posts on this site about my experiences fleeing from the hurricane and life afterwards. In this post I describe my preparation during the 5 days BI (Before Ian) to leave the island and what we did after hearing that many … Continue reading More about Ian than about processed food

This site is taking a break this week. Hurricane Ian is bearing down on processedfoodsite.com headquarters and we are fleeing inland. If all goes well, there will be a post on the health benefits of meat in our diets next week. This is the second time in the 8 years we have lived on the gulf coast that we have fled our barrier island home. … Continue reading Fleeing Ian and news on the food front

We all have a vested interest in what we eat. Some of us eat for pleasure. Others for health. A few for sustainability. Most of us want to feel good about what we eat. Too many of us eat what we want only to feel guilty afterwards. Eating is a personal activity. Food culture in America is hedonistic, contradictory, and often conflicted. Some of us … Continue reading Who can tell us which foods we should or should not be eating?

Technically Food looks at the world of new food products from a skeptical eye. The author, Larissa Zimberoff, is a journalist who explores links between food, business, and technology. She does not appear to have a background in food science or nutrition but has worked in the tech industry. She is a skeptic about processed foods with a diet that tends to natural, whole foods. … Continue reading Are we ready for a brave new world of food technology?

What a primer on food chemistry and biochemistry! I had not encountered this much technical depth since my days in grad school. I envisioned nightmares of proteins folding and unfolding in my sleep! Dr. John Brandts tried to teach me about the Physical Biochemistry of Proteins. It was the most difficult course I ever took in college. I read Next Generation Plant-based Foods by McClements … Continue reading Advances in the science and technology of plant-based proteins