Food has been much on my mind lately, as I seem to be dwindling away. It used to be that I had to be careful not to swell like a giant pumpkin, and adding pounds was as easy as looking at cheese. But these days the pounds aren’t sticking, and I have reverted to eating lots of carbs in the hopes I can join the Sumo wrestling team once again. Why we eat what we eat is not nearly as obvious as it can appear, and the history of food is fascinating (unless you read The History and Social Influence of the Potato, which my father-in-law has nominated for most boring book ever, which I question, having attempted to read Ospreys: A Natural and Unnatural History), and not just a question of taste. Public policy has come to play a remarkable and not so benign role in our diets, as we get nonsensical food pyramids thrust at a diverse ethnic population, and grow fat and diabetic listening to the advice of the “experts” who are frequently compromised greatly by their funding and academic in-fighting. At least according to the very convincing Gary Taubes and his excellent work Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health, which is a better title than his more recent Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It, and also considerably longer.
It was the inestimable Russ Roberts who lead me to Gary Taubes, and he has just interviewed the author of Cuisine and Empire: Cooking in World History:
Rachel Laudan, visiting scholar at the University of Texas and author of Cuisine and Empire, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the history of food. Topics covered include the importance of grain, the spread of various styles of cooking, why French cooking has elite status, and the reach of McDonald’s. The conversation concludes with a discussion of the appeal of local food and other recent food passions.
Most enjoyable, and as you root around like a pig eating potatoes, you will at least understand why. Bon Appetit.
your Russ Roberts link above didn’t go directly to the program, so here it is…
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2015/08/rachel_laudan_o.html
Thank you! We are still in the grips of a heat wave that is brain robbing to say the least.
the drought here is busted! rain last night and more coming!
i did not read Russ yet. probably will have something to add. we have talked about this stuff before. it matters to us all.
due to health concerns i have had to relearn everything i thought i knew about healthy diet. the American diet is a killer. simple carbs and sugars are the worst… processed grains, pasta, white rice, corn syrup, etc. each time a person spikes their blood sugar (glucose) after a meal, the more resistant their bodies cells become to insulin. it is better to eat more complex foods, and fewer carbohydrates each meal, and overall. balance carbs, protein, and fats. many vegetables have in practicality no calories at all, but provide fiber and vitamins. fiber rich foods slow down the absorption of carbohydrates. the slower you digest your meal, the less dramatic the blood glucose spike.
well, that’s good for now. hope that quick explanation makes sense. (probably should have reviewed the podcast first).
I think we are much in accord about diet, and the danger of elevated insulin. I take it quite personally because my dad died of heart problems after years of getting almost literally the exact wrong advice about diet, and once I figured out the protein vs carbs thing I was able to control my adult weight after years of silly, low calorie behaviours that make you both tired and fatter.
Went to the clinic (my doctor is away) and saw very helpful doctor who was compassionate about my ridiculous story, ordered a battery of tests to rule out other causes of the alarming weight loss and gave me mild pain killers (tramacet – which is tramadol mixed with acetaminophen) to bridge the weaning.
Note to self: don’t whine about Canadian health care, or high taxes.
And speaking of socialized health care, the audio book about chemistry and biology and things that are capable of replicating, etc., has much to say about cooperation being a fundamentally necessary component of successful life forms. Try telling that to the Swamp! Oh, I guess I did on my last ever column, and we know how that went down – with Dagney micturating all over my good government. When you consider the number of bacteria and other living beasts that occupy our human bodies, enabling all sorts of processes to occur, even dust mites cleaning our eyelashes, symbiosis is the only way to persevere. And not to put too fine a point on it, all those believers in Horatio Alger and the self-made man should really take a closer look at the circumstances of their success. Thoreau had to buy nails to build his Walden Pond … no man is an island no matter how hard he pretends.
The log-in seems much zippier.
got through the podcast. not what i expected, at least how she wrapped it up. i do believe that people can not only eat healthier, less processed, and more local, but do all three at once! but it certainly helps if you know how to cook, and also have the time. more importantly, just as in all life’s endeavors, one will never really become a great cook unless cooking is something that person truly enjoys.
all that said, i am going to make a batch of salsa verde tomorrow. i am going to roast the tomatillos, chiles, onion, and garlic on the grill first, over a wood fire.
and Hi 44. you are my rainmaker. looks like we are about to get another gully washer.
Darwin himself wrote a whole book largely on cooperation as a survival trait, but it doesn’t justify unbridled capitalism, so it has largely been ignored in the “western” world. no use explaining that to the ditto head science deniers. 40 years devoted to the gospel per Limbaugh, and a brain is mush. speaking of, Fix’s latest, well besides free energy (as in entropy and enthalpy are bullshit concepts), and religion (intelligent design btw isn’t one), is a discussion of quantum mechanics. i have wanted to ask him what he thought of Heisenberg. must be tough for a guy like Fix who knows absolutely everything to accept that perhaps even a few things just cannot be known.
by the way, Turd is running another click bait contest today, again for a free hat! you can buy those in any quantity for a few dollars a piece – i checked. it has all become so freaking obvious what that site is and always has been about, at least as far as TF goes. but still the die hards remain… and sadly a load of new suckers that you can see all together today posting because of the hat racket.
oh, every time you mention Dagney (Barnhardt), i puke into my mouth a little. so please stop that. just call her miss piggy vomit instead. thank you.
check this out Xty.
http://www.easyfractalgenerator.com/Home.aspx
thought i’d warn you before this blog descends into chaos!
luckily, i haven’t figured out how to do anything especially interesting yet.
but it is only chaotic the first time you watch it. 🙂
here is my first fractal image created using the program at the link above. i hope it’s good enough because i really need to go to bed now.
I know, I know, rabid right wing think tanks. But in this case they have something important to say, and Canada comes out smelling pretty good:
Human Freedom Index
there seems to be a correlation between countries that are considered trending more socialist, and those that are considered trending more towards freedom.
to save anyone curious the trouble, the “shining beacon on the hill” comes in at 20.
but still way ahead of the commies. 🙂
And a much younger Joni … so totally adorable:
i think i have a new obsession.
I have no idea what I am doing, but it is a little obsessive, I must agree:
One of the more tedious jobs I have had in the past was to create indices for books, and by past I mean in the late 80’s and early 90’s when computers were helpful, but not as helpful as they might be today. So slogging was involved, and one of the books I made an index for was Getting to the Table: The Processes of International Prenegotiation (Perspectives on Security), edited by Janice Stein. Why is this relevant? Because of the apparently nonsensical timeline of the Greek bailouts, and the ludicrous posturing on all sides, with people storming out of meetings, and threatening all sorts of things, and then the predictable, unavoidable end result, in this case yet another bailout and and the slow soft purchase of Greece:
Greece crisis timeline: the rocky road to another bailout
after reading the book “Confessions of an Economic Hitman”, it is clear as day what happened to Greece. i see the logical end of capitalism as a population too small to reproduce viably, but wealthy beyond imagination.
that sounded profound, but maybe it is this coffee.
And for a little levity … I can’t explain but my offspring keep me in the modern cultural stew, and this is strangely hilarious:
was not my self portrait levitious?
Yes, it was, and I meant to say that I have lovely downy woodpeckers on my homemade suet, which I just remade yesterday. The squirrels can’t get to it because of the baffle on the wire, but they still try and it is very satisfying to watch them fail. And no more pigeons now that I have switched food types. I miss my other birds, but not the damn pigeons. And if you look closely at the bird sitting on my brother-in-law’s head in this ancient picture, you will see I have an affinity for small stuffed birds and that one, which I still own and admire, reminds me of your avatar. The toucan on my shoulder is also still in favour, and came to stay in the hospital with me when I broke my leg.
Well that will teach me. Just after I typed that I looked out and a grey f*$^&(#ing squirrel was on the feeder! Mouse is now on the job. He/she must have made an awesome leap.
And speaking of which, I have been dreaming and having odd sleep what with the wean and all, and last night I could jump in the air and hover, like Michael Jordan, and sometimes had to push up on the air above me to get back to the ground. I used to dream I could swim through the air but not for years. I am taking it as a good sign.
this is the bad dream i have been having.
Now there was a fellow I never did figure out. But man he was persistently obtuse. He was one of my “someone on the internet is wrong” people. Has he hung up his jester’s cap?
Motley is long gone. didn’t he leave even before us? but he has been gone at least that long or thereabouts.
as i said, there was another hat contest, so most of the behind the pay wall people came out into daylight. (only paid subscribers can post now on the main threads – others are relegated to the forums.) so anyway, not only could one ballpark how many are still paying dues, but who’s left from the old days. it’s about 80% new people and maybe there are 100 – 125 total subscribers.
the grey squirrels here finally have enough water. they are done destroying my garden for now. they have proceeded to riddle the yard with holes. i think they are burying acorns in a mad panic thinking winter is coming next week.
I find it incredible that people are paying to be swindled. But maybe there are a lot of comp’ed people.
And what a stupid hat. That the “prize” is a crappy piece of worthless foam tells you something. Whereas I will send you a remaindered copy of Word Games for Families who are Still Speaking to Each Other for free if you email me your address, as one of you already found out.
crappy, worthless, but autographed, which adds value, yet no extra weight, so the postage remains negligible. but i have been accused of being too cynical.
and that is why i did not comment on the first part.
i also have been accused of using too many commas.
so next i’ll go play with an art program. i am on a roll, though do note that i do not qualify that.
thunder and lightning jumping around a bit here. life remains strange.
have always loved her voice. lyrics as well.
and my Joni contribution
which number 4 is larger?
So, Mrs. O is employed again. That took a total of 8 days. Better pay, and the severance from the old one is now just a windfall. It was that one she had been interviewing with for months on end earlier this year. They still hadn’t filled the job and now they snapped her up right quick. BizarroWorld how things work out. I don’t believe in Fate, but sometimes you just have to wonder.
We’ll celebrate with a long weekend up the North Shore of Lake Superior.
Another one of those songs that just get stuck and hang around for some reason.
And I know that I’m violating the family friendly guide lines here but I really like this song.
Cherry tomatoes rollin in (picking them about 2-3 days before hand, perfect ripe seems to attract too many other things)
Mountain Pride has stepped up and I have 2 red beauties in the kitchen and I think around 16 in various stages on the plant.
Bits of cooler weather here, which everything needs.
Better Bushes are holding on. Minimal output. But now i’m thinking that they might have a good run in the fall when the other 2 are spent.
Missed my sleep be-witching time (hour, whatever) but i’m off from work tomorrow and hopefully sleep in some.
So anyway.
Juke on: