Candy

People like pictures of our kids. Here's one more.


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Why does bad food taste good? Think of what was available to your hunters and gatherers. People in that day had to exert calories to hopefully find enough calories to keep going. So calories were what counted. Finding something with some sugar (fruit) or some fat (meat) WAS good for them. It was a reward. The tastiness drew them towards it, as it was a good return on the investment of energy spent.

Now, those tastes are so omnipresent that we have to avoid them. The foods available to us exploit our inherent and natural attraction to them.

One of my big beliefs in 2 easy steps:
1. Things in life that are good for the species have a sensory reward. We have a natural appetite or drive towards them. Eating, drinking water, sex, etc. all have a sensory reward which propel us.
2. Our drives for them are exploited to our own destruction. (Okay, maybe except for water. Although bottled water is pretty lame.) The substance of what we need, like the food value, is taken out. What's left is only the salt, sugar, etc. Candy everybody wants.

And why? Marketing possibly? Dunno. I'm going to get a Frosty and a can of Pringles and think about it.

Food Hobgoblins

Jeff asks "Do you blog anymore?" I say it's been so long it feels like I have to have a gargantuan life-changing post to make up for lost time.

Then nablopomo (National Blog Posting Month) says "30 posts in 30 days". So I'm only 5 days behind. I can catch that up. I already had this one half written. And I'll post it without further edit.

First a little Eye-Candy.
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Have you noticed this trend? Every 2 years or so, the food bad-guy that needs to be avoided changes.


I remember when I was a kid, it was salt. Avoid salt. "Starches" were bad at one time. At some point, calories were actually considered. More recently it was fat grams, ignoring the pesky fact that fat-free foods can make you fat by the miraculous work of the liver. Beer, of course, is a fat-free food, but there's a pork chop in every can. Fat free frozen yogurt? Remember those days? Why did we eat that junk. (I'll take mine with smarties on top.)





Cholesterol in food was the thing to be avoided for a while. Hence, margerine hit our shelves. Polyunsaturated fats. Whatever those are. I don't remember if those were good or bad. The health aspects of safflower oil compared to corn oil were touted. McDonalds at one points proudly anounced doing away with lard in favor of frying their stuff in veggie oil, etc.


In the last 5 years it switches from fat to carbs. Now carbs are going away as well. Now I've heard the word trans-fats tossed around as well. I'm sure it will be something new next year.



Now, there is something to it. In our diet, food flavor comes from fat and sugar. (OK, not sugar. This is America. Thanks to Iowa and subsidies, sugar has been replaced by high fructose corn syrup. To quote Deutoronomy "... a food unknown to your fathers." Cultures where food flavor comes more from salt and vinegar than from fat and sugar live healthier and longer. That's clear. But I think it's consumption levels as well. We just eat too doggone much, myself included. I'm not superior, I'm just tired of being pointed away from the new food hobgoblin.

Kentucky Derby 2008

Every year for 2 minutes in the first Saturday in May, the world turns its gaze on Kentucky. Or so Kentucky thinks.

Here it's just called "The Derby". Last week I took part in my 13th consecutive Derby, working as a photographer's assistant.

Most of the pictures here are taken by me, so you can see why I'm the assistant, not the photographer.

How to be Green..

Buy more stuff!

In America, consumption is the fix for whatever ails us.

Just look at Home Depot's website. "Make every day Earth Day by shopping at Home Depot."

You'll hear that we should all put in compact fluorescent bulbs. But doesn't that seem wasteful? We're going to throw away perfectly good incandescent bulbs? Is that right? Nobody is telling us to just turn the doggone lights off. Just slow consumption.

We've heard since we were kids that the US has 6% of the world's population and uses 40% of the world's resources, or so. So why aren't we looking at that as a possible solution.

Need to conserve gas? Buy a hybrid! Don't examine driving less, eliminating unnecessary trips, only eating at restaurants that are within walking distance, using public transportation, etc...

Nope. The American Way is to consume your way out of problems. Eat yourself thin. Don't give up eating cookies. Rather, buy cookies in 100 calorie packs (paying for more for packaging, etc.).

Economic downturn? Don't save money, or be careful about what you spend it on. Instead, go out and spend. In fact, here's a check from the government for "Economic Stimulus". So, our government has decided that digging deeper into the national debt is ok. Borrow money to give to people to spend, so that our consumption can boost the economy? Sounds like what people are doing already with credit cards.

Anyway, I'm off topic. Pay attention to how you're supposed to buy yourself green. It's fun to watch.

Eric Thomas is Regional Champion in the 100-Calorie Pack Cookie Eating Contest.