Category: Food/Nutrition

Swimming Upstream, Bigger Faster

I’ve been loosely, but with some horror, following the issue of genetically modified salmon. If you haven’t, the basic story is that a company has spliced some genes to make a “super-salmon” that grows twice as fast as its wild brethren. The FDA has said that the salmon meat is essentially the same, and is safe for human consumption, but have not yet entirely approved the fish and fish eggs for to be sold yet.

(This picture, stolen from AP, shows a GM salmon in the back, and a “regular” salmon in the front. No one has mentioned the GM salmon being giant, so I assume, that given its full lifespan, the salmon in front would grow to the size of the one in back.)
My own instinctive “ewww” factor goes beyond the food on my plate to the “what if” scenario, of what happens if these new salmon somehow migrate–either via Disney style escape, or through someone’s greed–from their inland homes into the ocean. A fish that grows faster eats faster, and would have an advantage over the slower growing fish. The bigger, faster growing fish could eventually take over the population, which is disturbing in itself, without even considering how such a skew would affect the whole ocean food chain. I don’t know much about marine life–but I lived in Australia for long enough to know that whenever unfairly advantaged species are introduced to an environment–even with the best of intentions–it tends to wreak havoc in unforeseen ways.
The other thing the FDA must rule on, is whether the fish must be labeled as genetically modified on its consumer packaging. The company, AquaBounty Technologies (sounds like a name from a Philip K Dick novel, doesn’t it?) argues that they shouldn’t have to label, that consumers might interpret the label as a “warning,” putting the GM salmon at a disadvantage.
In other words, people might not want to eat food if they know it has been genetically modified. Wow, really?
In other arenas–mainly human social interaction–I pride myself on being rather a free thinker, and so I feel a bit knee-jerk conservative when it comes to modification of our food. As if I’m too rigid to see the progress we are making toward feeding the worlds population. “Those damn scientist-kids with their GM rice and fish and cloned meats!”
Be that as it may, however…I don’t have a good feeling about this.
You can draw your own conclusions. Some recent coverage appears on NewsDaily, and the website for The Independent, but if you want to read just one article that give a sense of the broader context, you should read this from The Guardian, and if you are still interested, check out the related stories in the sidebar.

What Do I Think of This Pink?



Books on nutrition will tell you to shop the periphery of the grocery store, and try to skip the aisles. I must be doing a good job, because somehow I completely missed these Campbell soup cans, first released for Breast Cancer Awareness Month in 2006, and again in 2007. As noted in this press release, they have raised their donation this year from $250,000 to $300,000.

I’ve probably mentioned before that I have ambivalent feelings toward Breast Cancer marketing initiatives, not only because some of them can appear to be self-serving in jumping on the BC bandwagon, as pointed out here, and discussed in a more neutral manner here,

but also because I’m not sure exactly where funds for things like “research and awareness” are going. Who is doing the research? Is my money going to pharmaceuticals companies who will use it to develop new chemo drugs for profit? Or is it going to under-funded studies on things like nutrition, exercise, stress-reduction and the environment? Likewise, of what exactly are we being made aware? Mostly I feel aware that I’m supposed to be aware. I’m also really aware that breast cancer is signified by pink. Occasionally an article (usually in magazine articles which I don’t believe are funded by awareness donations) exhorts me to do self-exams…fine. Sometimes they talk about getting mammograms earlier and more often. I’m not so into that, and urge others out there to consider ultrasound, as discussed in my previous post here, or even digital thermography, (which I am about to try for the first time in a couple of weeks for my annual scans—I’ll give a report). Hardly ever am I made aware of studies on the benefits of walking for survivors of breast cancer—that’s every week, not just at events with custom T-shirts. And I’ve never seen a box of Godiva chocolates (also, I believe owned by Campbells) that said, “Don’t eat me if you have cancer—sugar feeds cancer.”

And on this note, I’ll mention that regardless of my feeling about the pink cans, I can’t eat this Campbells Soup anyway, since I have sworn off the high fructose corn syrup you see in the ingredients.

Foodie

My parents are coming tomorrow for Thanksgiving. Since we have a little kitchen I want to pre-cook some dinner items for the next few days. Right now I am simultaneously cooking, each at different stages– Thai-pumpkin soup with coconut milk, Pasta Fazool, and Cranberry Sauce made with Rosemary, Ruby Port and Figs.

Paul, who is not a fan of wine or rosemary, says it smells like ass. I say, thanks for the love and support, hon. Although I must admit, that Italian, Thai, and Thanksgiving smells together are an interesting blend.

Natto



So Eric and I went to check out the Asian grocery the other day. That’s a great thing about having guests, you finally do the things you have intended to do, but just haven’t gotten to yet. It was cool because after his three years in Japan, he’s pretty good at reading the packaging. On his recommendation we bought some natto, a kind of fermented soy bean dish many Japanese eat for breakfast. He says everyone there swears to its health benefits, that you go to the doctor with the flu, he’ll say, “Go home and eat natto.”

It’s not nasty tasting, but its distinctive smell, and the way the there are strings of goo between the beans take some getting used to. I ate half the contents of my little polystyrene container, and he said that was pretty good for a first-timer, as it has been known to make people gag. However, if I keep practicing and get hard core, I can start to add chives, a raw egg, and soy sauce. Something to aspire to in the future.