Top 11 EWWWW Moments in Food

1. Americans eat twice as much meat as Europeans:

   We will call this gross due to the cancer and obesity rates linked to this bad habit. Plates need to be mostly vegetables (not battered and fried in animal fat) and filled with healthy fats and lean protein (that can also be plant-based such as lentils).

   
   

2. Who is eating whom??

   Roasted termites are a whole thing in parts of Africa, Asia, and India. I mean...they probably think our toxic processed foods are EWWW too, but ... I can barely stand to eat any food with feet. Termites have 6. Roasted termite recipe HERE. UR Welcome.

3. Love cheese? Love worms? What???

   Casu Marzu is a cheese that contains maggots and oddly has been banned in the U.S. (strange since maggots aren't nearly as toxic as the things the USDA does allow us to eat) and apparently everywhere else, but the people of the Italian isle Sardinia either eat it maggot-forward or spun down so the maggots aren't quite so mobile / alive.

4. Humans are the ONLY species that drink another animal's / mammal's milk into adulthood.

   Whyyyyy??? I love when people ask "Oh - you don't like milk. Are you lactose intolerant?" NO. I'm just not a calf!! The entire concept is strange to me even before you add in the disgusting practice of dairy factory farming, but when you consider WE manufacture and market the entire concept of drinking milk, do you ever ask yourself WHY? Money, that's why. Not nutritional health. Ewwww.

   

5. Hold the bugs, please.

Did you know peanut butter can contain up to "30 bits of insects per 100 grams" of product? 100 grams is almost 1 cup (4/5 cup to be exact). Ewwwwww! Ok ok ok. Not only "can it contain" .... it is ALLOWED to contain this amount of "bug bits".

Peanut butter is listed as having an average of 30 insect fragments per 100 grams, making it one of the most controlled foods on the FDA list. - Entomology Blog

One of the "most controlled"?? For fuck's sake. Wait. Here's more....

A 2-tablespoon peanut butter sandwich might have about eight insect fragments. - Entomology Blog

 GET OUT !!!! To reiterate, not only do they KNOW this, they ALLOW this.

6. Hold the fake vanilla flavoring, please? Artificial vanilla is made from beaver secretions - specifically castoreum, or is it (today)?

While this statement is not entirely false—beavers do excrete sweet-smelling (and edible) castoreum from sacs near their anuses—experts say you probably can’t find this goo on the shelves of your nearest grocery store - Smithsonian Magazine

Turns out, in today's market the secretion is rare which makes it extremely expensive, so there's no real threat of it being in your 4$ bottle of vanilla extract, although it has only been since around 1987 that the use declined. So, Ewwww until 1988? Believe that?

7. I do not like Jellly Beans.

   I have never liked candy, especially strange chewy oddly colored candy. I'm not sad about this next bit of info. Not one bit.

Jelly beans are covered in shellac, a substance derived from an unusual source – bug excretions - The Fact Base

Yeah. Ewwww. So, the female Lac Beetles produce a secretion as it feeds called 'shellac' (shellolic acid derivative) - I'm assuming it is 'excreted' as she feeds and moves along. This compound is what is used to coat numerous candies, forming that hard shell that has been brightly colored (probably with banned artificial food colorants in other countries). I'm actually more grossed out by the artificial colorants than I am the secretions. At least one started off naturally occurring.

8. Can my OJ be OJ?

   Orange juice, when packaged to sell, is mixed with 'flavor packets' to retain their tastiness since they lose that during storage. It is "reflavored" for storage.

Flavor packs in orange juice are standardized tastes that are created and added back into the juice so that it always tastes the same, every time, regardless of the orange crop or harvest. They are artificially created - Get Green Be Well

I thought 'Oh this can't REALLY be "all natural" orange juice, cause I mean, how long ago did they squeeze the orange...and when I make orange juice it takes like 4 to get a big beautiful glass!' Well, that's based on SO MANY things and right now we're discovering the "flavor packs". Damn. Ewwww.

9. "I'd like a #1 with cheese, extra pickles, hold the cows".

   I don't eat food wrapped in paper. I don't trust a 16-year-old to adequately wash their hands prior to handling my food. I don't trust a 'no background check' institution to not have some weird guy in the back of a fast-food joint doing weird things to my food. I don't do fast food. I have trust issues. That's on me.

   
   

   I also don't believe 1 burger would be from 1 cow, but I guess that's because I never thought much about it. I didn't think gross things would be licensed as edible. Stupid me.

In the U.S. and many other countries, large-scale meat producers grind together meat scraps from many carcasses to create a uniform ground beef. These pieces can come from different parts of the country (or even the world!) and are combined to meet fat content and texture requirements. This process, called "meat commingling," means that a single burger patty can contain the flesh from up to 1,000 different cows. - The Takeout

WTF. I mean, actually WTF. Are these cows from nearby locales? Are they from far away? Have the "carcasses" (gag) been adequately stored and cooled en transit? How many people's dirty ass hands have touched them? EWWWWWW.

Don't sleep on my blog about the misleading labeling practices of foods. It is disturbing to say the least.

Reality Of Factory Farmed Cows – From Pasture To Prison

10. No mas Cafe, por favor.

    I moved away from coffee when it A.stopped keeping me awake, and B.became more expensive than a meal. Now I find out mass-produced coffee can contain up to 10mg animal feces products per pound.

...some bug parts inevitably survive the process and mix into ground coffee. While coffee companies aren't adding cockroach powder to your beans, the FDA does permit a certain level of "insect fragments" in processed foods.-Entomology Blog

Is the "animal feces" actually roach infestation / parts? Not sure. Either way. I KNOW that if something isn't made by me, contains more than 3 ingredients, or is packaged in any way at all, it can't be trusted. I can't grow all my food because I'm working in an ER on night shift about 60-70 hours a week with another 15 wasted on trashy sleep-cycling. Do what you can, but for me (long ago prior to this knowledge), green tea it is. Also, don't sleep on a London Fog!

Check back for more strange info. Food isn't always food, and just because it's in the grocery store doesn't mean its edible (or should be). Stay educated, stay healthy, stay in-the-know, and LIVE FAST & FREE !

References

WHO - Cancer: Carcinogenicity of the consumption of red meat and processed meat

CNN Travel - "Casu Marzu: The world’s ‘most dangerous’ cheese"

Entomology Blog - "How Many Insects Are Allowed In Peanut Butter"

Smithsonian Magazine - Does Vanilla Flavoring Actually Come From Beaver Butts?

The Takeout - "The Disturbing Number Of Cows That May Be In One Store-Bought Burger Patty"

Get Green Be Well - "Flavor Packs in Orange Juice - What Are They?"

Entomology Blog - Does All Pre-Ground Coffee Have Cockroaches In It

Cookpad - Roasted Termites Recipe by Caroline Atieno

Farm Forward - What is dairy farming?

The Fact Base - Jelly beans are covered in shellac which is made from bug excretions