We’re about food, but sometimes you gotta take a stand…
If ever there was a siren song for reform of our food production and distribution system, this New Yorker piece is it. Read it, and get involved. Start by buying local whenever you can. Know your sources for what you put in your body every day. Take a stand on the system that allows this kind of thing to exist and multiply, and make your voice heard. I don't know what our governments spend most of their time doing, but it isn't properly regulating this. Let's light a fire under 'em.
Many of you know that I spent about 20 years in public service, pretty much evenly split between firefighting and law enforcement. I’ve been debating saying something about this storm we’re in, and now I guess I will. It should go without saying that these are my thoughts, not gospel, but I’ll say it anyway.
There are definitely problems with our system. Injustice is certainly primary among them. Frankly, I see a lot of signs that lead me to believe that we’re probably not much of a democracy anymore. Our world is, in many ways, controlled by the 1% super-rich, politically motivated. Government is tacitly run by these poeple, and to a slightly lesser degree, big business in general. The buck speaks far louder than our protests. These people as a population are not at all like the rest of us. What we face every day means little or nothing to the majority of that minority. They live above law, justice, and the ills that beset the rest of the world. Even if they do good, like a Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, being a billionaire means they have no idea about what day to day living is about. They fear literally none of the things we do, simply because they never deal with them.
That said, the injustices we face are far broader than the media would have you believe, and no media facet is free of that truth, not NPR, BBC, or Al Jazira, or U.S. News & World Report. The media is absolutely, with no question, guided by the same tenet I outlined above. The buck speaks loudest. They report what pays them, in income, listeners, readers, watchers. The sooner we as a people stop listening to and depending on popular media to get a grasp on what’s happening, the sooner we can affect a solution. Media as an unbiased vehicle for the reporting of events is broken, perhaps irrevocably in its current form. It exists predominantly as a voice for the money and power behind any given perspective represented. The sooner we admit and accept that, the sooner we can start fixing things.
Our government, all three branches, legislative, judicial, and executive, is broken. It is bloated, ineffective, and out of control. Like the stock market in the summer of 1929, this government reflects only itself; it has almost nothing to do with us. The kind of people who are drawn to this form of service are not like us. Oh, there are a few good eggs, certainly. I know several who have and do serve faithfully, with the best intent, and do an admirable job; they are, unfortunately, very much a minority. Look at the blatant politics of the Federal judicial branch and tell me what you see. I see a reflection of those One Percenters I spoke of, again, with a few notable exceptions. Look at the Federal Legislative branch. About 47% of the members of both the senate and house are millionaires; is that what your neighborhood looks like? And what about the things our government does for us. Yes, Social Security and Medicaid takes a good bite out of the annual budget, and frankly, I think that’s as it should be, (call me a socialist if you like, but I prefer Agrarian Anarchist). About 1% of the annual federal budget goes to education. About 2% goes toward science and research. Infrastructural upkeep gets about 3%. Virtually all forms of non-military international aid get another 1%. On the other side of things, the military gets 19%. I also have friends serving, past and present, and that’s not at all a condemnation of the job done by folks like us. It is, however, a very telling emphasis, is it not?
Plato noted that, “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” While ‘inferior’ might seem a harsh term, the ethics, morals, and general decorum we see displayed in government these days would indicate that he’s still not far off the mark. William Tecumseh Sherman famously said, “If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve.” That can be seen either as a derivation of the adage that the nature of the job dictates that those most qualified to serve would not, or possibly that the man knew his place in the scheme of things and chose to remain there. Would that more of our current ‘leaders’ had been so wise…
What are we to think of the latest wave of bad behaviors by cops, protestors, prosecutors, governors, and the like? The government representatives among that list are reflecting what I wrote above. Right, wrong, or indifferent, that’s a fact. The media is helping to paint all cops as murderers and psychopaths, all protestors as rabid looters, all prosecutors as crooked, and all governors as ineffective. All of that is, quite frankly, crap. Especially among the cops and the protestors, I can assure you that most are frustrated, scared, basically decent human beings. The fringes are not the whole cloth; if you hear anything I’ve written, hear that. I have friends on facebook, people I like and admire, painting all cops as sadistic killers mindlessly ruling a police state. Frankly, every single one of those folks that have posted some picture or quote or statement to that effect have just about zero idea of what actually being in such a position entails. For the record, I personally do not like what I have seen and heard about the two cops currently in the klieg lights; I don’t trust either of them, and I don’t believe them, and I don’t defend their behavior. I do not care for the management or tactics of either department either; I think they’re genuinely abhorrent. That said, none of you, not one that I have seen fomenting this rabid attack on the nature and behavior of all cops, has even a remote clue about what it is like to genuinely fight for your life. Three times in my career, an unarmed man or men went for my gun. On one occasion, a guy much bigger than me was literally picking me up off the ground by yanking on the grip of my weapon, trying to get it out of the holster; thank God for dependable retention. I did not shoot anyone in those instances, but believe me, the thought was definitely on my mind, and if I could have, I probably would have. I’d tell you that, were you in that situation, you well might have too. You people don’t seem to understand one very important truth: you pay cops and firefighters to deal with the shit that you can’t deal with. What you run from in terror, we run toward, to figure out, in the heat of the moment, what the hell is going on, and what we need to do to stop it. If you screw up at work, something bad happens; when we do, people die, sometimes for all the wrong reasons; it’s the wrong reasons that need to be addressed. The old adage that either of those jobs is 99% boredom and 1% Holy Shit is absolutely true. And after we’ve dealt with that 1% as the fallible humans we are, you endlessly dissect, critique, condemn, and castigate without a second thought. Armchair quarterbacks are always right…
So, back to those two cops; I don’t like them or trust them, but I can sure understand how things get out of hand. It’s not right, at all, but then again, neither are all the rest of us humans a fair share of the time. The system, just like our government, is badly bent, and needs straightening. If and when it does get fixed, keep in mind that you’ll still need people to do those jobs.
And then there’s the race card. I personally believe that we are all one; differences are skin deep and no more. None of that means that I don’t have biases; I do, as we all do. America has a race problem, without a doubt. It is blatant at times, sometimes subtle, but always there, and always a problem. I’m a WASP, so my forbearers stormed this country and took it by force, (you don’t need to read Gun, Germs & Steel to better understand that, but it can’t hurt). White Americans, regardless of our personal stripe, are colored with the bloody cloth of that past. There is no glib, snappy answer to solve that problem. I’ll go so far as to say that, at root cause, race issues among humans are likely not solvable. That statement is predicated on my belief that Robin Dunbar is likely correct; a hundred and some social relationships is the limit for us. Whether its Shiite versus Sunni, Dinka against Nuer, or Czechs and Bosnians, give a group of humans enough members and they’ll find a way to be at each others throats. Religion, politics, skin tone, language, food, land, anything and everything will be a bone of contention; it’s in our nature. I suppose one could infer from that synopsis that we’ve not come very far from our primal roots, and I’d say that’s absolutely true.
I’ve heard folks say this reminds them of ’64 in the south, or the Arab Spring. I personally hope that it is that kind of moment in history, because God knows we need it. I decry the events that lead us here, but sometimes, that’s what it takes to wake up a people and a nation. And since I’m on a roll, I’ll ask, where is religion in all this? In the 60s, the Protestant faiths were exactly that, protesting what was going on, an exhorting their flocks to get involved in making changes. Remember the Berrigan brothers? Where are our modern incarnations? The fact is that American religion has been through roughly two decades of a concerted attack by hard core right wing politics. Just as they did with governance, the rabid right attacked church after church, dividing and conquering, until at this point of critical need, the voice of faith is heard only dimly, a shadow of its former self.
Now the question becomes, what are we gonna do about it? Are you willing to wake up, step out of your routine, find ways to constructively and effectively change what’s broken? If not, I’ll politely invite you to clam up. If so, then right on; let’s light this candle, because it sure is past time.
If you've hung around here much, you'll know we're all about investigating the food world. We like to think that by so doing, we can save you some pitfalls and missteps. Today's topic, grape seed oil, might just qualify as such.
Any kitchen worth its salt needs a decent selection of oils, taking advantage of their specific taste profiles, cooking uses, and health benefits. M and I are no longer spring chickens, so we pay more attention to the health thing than we might have when we were younger; naturally, oils deserve significant scrutiny.
Ask the question, “What are the healthiest oils you can use in your kitchen,” and the answers might be more complex than you anticipated. We lean toward proven winners like olive, canola, coconut, peanut, and clarified butter. If the peanut oil and clarified butter surprise you, they shouldn't, by the way; used in moderation, they're quite healthy, and no oil in that list has higher heat tolerance than clarified butter. Olive oil, with generous amounts of monounsaturated fats and vitamin E, is the hands down health winner, but what to use when you want something with a lighter taste?
Onto the stage strides a relative newcomer, grape seed oil. Purveyors claim a host of pluses, from the subtle, nutty taste and a relatively high smoke point, to a raft of health benefits, including abundant vitamin E, zero cholesterol, low levels of saturated fat, and the highest concentration of heart-healthy omega-6 polyunsaturated fat, (AKA PUFAs), of any cooking oil. And the fun doesn't stop there. Google grape seed oil and you find claims for everything from anti-aging to curbing hair loss. Can all this be true? As far as the constituent claims, the answer is yes, but a qualified yes. As for the other stuff, remember what P. T. Barnum said about suckers?
Grape Seed oil is indeed pressed from grape seeds, predominantly wine grape seeds. This sits well with wine makers, naturally, as it provides the opportunity to convert a waste product into a significant profit source. The first potential downside for this stuff lies with the fact that it's not cheap. Peruse your favorite grocery shelf and you'll find that the per ounce cost of grape seed oil rivals that of high quality olive oils. Why is that? The answer is twofold; one, all those sexy claims allow makers to charge premium prices, and two, grape seeds are relatively small and do not yield their oil easily. As such, makers must employ fairly expensive pressing processes to extract the oil.
Or not: If you come upon surprisingly inexpensive grape seed oil, it's likely to have been chemically extracted. If the label doesn't reveal the extraction method, peruse the product: If the oil is crystal clear and light in color, chances are good it's chemically extracted. Mechanical extraction tends to produce slightly hazy oils, as small quantities of proteins and other plant matter remain in the oil. The solvents used for extraction are toxic; the most common is hexane, a known carcinogen. As with so many food products, manufacturers are not required to tell you how they extract the oil. If the oil doesn't specifically state that it was pressed, chances are it wasn't.
If the oil is pressed, you want to know if the process used was expeller or cold. Expeller pressing can heat the oil it is generating, especially when the seeds are stubborn, as grape seeds are. Doing so can change the quality of the oil and reduce the health benefits as well. Cold pressing avoids this by adding temperature control to the process; as such, it's the most expensive method of production, but produces the best quality oil.
So, what's the potential downside of this stuff? The answer lies in that very high level of omega-6 polyunsaturated fat. Grape Seed oil averages 70% omega-6 PUFA, with some brands claiming levels as high as 77%. Compare that to the 19.0% found in canola oil or the 10% in olive oil, and you get an idea of how high too high is.
The problem is that human bodies just don't tolerate sustained high levels of PUFA intake without incurring health problems. We're just not built for the stuff; throughout almost all of human history, we consumed only a very small amount of polyunsaturated fat, whatever was naturally present in the foods we ate. The industrialization of our food supplies changed all that. Read our post on ranch dressing if you've not already, and you get a broader view of what this means. As a result, we've been consuming more and more polyunsaturated fats, concentrated in processed foods and modern cooking oils. According to WebMD, we consume over a thousand times more more PUFAs today than we did 100 years ago. That’s a lot, by the way…
The problems exacerbated by this trend include a myriad of ills brought about by free-radical damage. If you're unfamiliar with that issue, allow Jeffrey Blumberg, Professor of Nutrition at Tufts University, to explain: “Free radical is a term often used to describe compounds that are missing a critical molecule, which sends them on a rampage to pair with another molecule. These molecules will rob any molecule to quench that need. If free radicals simply killed a cell, it wouldn't be so bad, the body could just regenerate another one. The problem is, free radicals often injure the cell, damaging the DNA, which creates the seed for disease. When a cell's DNA changes, the cell becomes mutated. It grows abnormally and reproduces abnormally, and quickly.”
In terms of our cooking oils, free radicals form when PUFAs are oxidized by heat, light, and pressure. PUFAs are extremely fragile and heat-sensitive, their carbon bonds break easily. Industrial oils that are heated and pressurized by processing are especially likely to contribute free radicals into our systems, but even cold-pressed PUFA oils will oxidize when heated for cooking.
So, what is a healthy strategy for dealing with the potential health hazards? All things in moderation. We recently wrote about arsenic in rice; here's another situation where intelligently limiting your intake will go far. No more than 4% of total caloric intake from a 1:1 ratio of omega-6 and omega-3 will do the trick. That level and ratio closely emulates what occurs naturally in grass-fed meats, dairy, eggs, and plant foods.
We do have a nice little jar of high end, cold pressed grape seed oil in the pantry by the way. We stick to Olive and canola oils as our every day go-to's, and use the grape seed for what it is best at; really nice salad dressings. The nutty flavor and light mouth feel is truly delightful. Again, all things in moderation, they say, and educated moderation is best.
One final note; the high heat claims for this oil are sort of true. It stacks up very closely to Olive oil, but lower than peanut or clarified butter. We prefer those two for frying, frankly; they're far cheaper and probably healthier.
4 Ounces Grape Seed Oil
1 Ounce Rice Vinegar
1 small Lemon
2 teaspoons Chervil
Sea Salt
Black Peppe
Rinse, zest and juice the lemon.
Combine oil, vinegar, half the lemon juice, chervil, a pinch of salt and a twist of pepper and whisk thoroughly to incorporate. Taste and adjust lemon, salt, and pepper as desired. Allow to rest for 15-30 minutes before use.
3 Ounces Grape Seed Oil
1-2 Ounces Apple Cider Vinegar
1 teaspoon Savory
Sea Salt
Tasmanian Pepper Berry
Combine oil, vinegar, and savory with a pinch of salt and a twist of pepper. Whisk thoroughly to incorporate, adjust vinegar, salt and pepper as desired. Allow to rest for 15-30 minutes before use.
4 Ounces Grape Seed Oil
2 Ounces Champagne Vinegar
1 small lime
Shallot
1 teaspoon Cilantro
Sea Salt
Grains of Paradise
Rinse, zest, and juice the lime. Mince 1 tablespoon of shallot.
Combine oil, vinegar, half the lime juice, zest, cilantro, a pinch of salt and couple twists of grains of paradise. Whisk thoroughly to incorporate. Adjust lime, salt, and grains as desired. Allow to rest for 15-30 minutes before use.
Here’s a particularly sobering piece from the Environmental Working Group on arsenic levels in rice that y’all should read, (And thanks to Sis Annie for the link). Sadly, rice has a particular affinity for the absorption of this poison, and obviously, the source terroir of what we eat has a bearing on things; it’s therefore most prudent for us to be as informed as possible. Rice varieties differ in the amount of arsenic they absorb. The article includes excellent resources for determining and mitigating your potential intake. The ubiquity of rice as a filler and sweetener in processed foods shouldn’t be lost on us. If ever theres a reason to avoid such things in our diets, this would make the top three list, I’d say.
EWG is a great resource for just such information. Check out their Food Scores information for in depth coverage on thousands of products, with an easy to determine healthiness index. there is also a food scores app for iPhone I’ve been testing out for a while now, it’s quite a useful in the store tool, so give it a try as well. there should be an Android version out soon. If you prefer good, old fashioned book form, You can acquire one by donating to the group and help them continue their excellent work.
We’ll be doing some in depth work on wild rice in the near future, with interesting tie ins to this issue, so stay tuned.
I tweak and republish this post annually; I think you’ll see why when you read it.
See, I’m not out to be tragically hip, in fact quite the contrary. Or maybe Matthew Selman said it best; “I wish there was another word than foodie; how about ‘super food asshole’, or ‘pretentious food jerk’?” I just don’t wanna go there.
Granted, there are a lot of great food blogs out there, but right now, many are judged ‘Great’ because somebody took a really, really nice pic of some food, or is on the fast track to be the next Food Channel Super Food Asshole. Frankly, when the ‘best’ food blog sites reject people because they don’t meet criterion such as that, I’m more than not interested, I’m actively turned off.
I write about food from some pretty simple perspectives. I’m interested in sharing recipes, methods, processes and such. I’m interested in sourcing, using wisely, and preserving food that is good for you, in a world where much of what we are offered to eat is not very good. I’m interested in the science behind cooking, because I’ve never liked simply being told to ‘do it this way.’ I trust that if you’re reading this, you’re interested in these things as well. To be honest, if no one read this blog, I’d write it anyway, because I do it for me first and foremost; I gotta share what I love. That’s just how I’m wired.
So, when I look at ‘real’ food blogs, I see the stuff that, fairly often, folks ask me about here, or more to the point, ask me why I don’t do these things. There are three oft repeated comments, and they are,
Why don’t you list nutritionals and calories,
Why don’t you post prep and cooking times, and
Why do you post exotic ingredients that I’m not likely to have?
So, in a nutshell, here’s why;
Frankly, listing nutritionals means, more than anything, that I am determining what kind of portion size you and yours eat, and frankly, I don’t have any idea about that. If I list a casserole recipe and you make it, how much do you eat? How about your partner? Do you have seconds, are there leftovers, and on and on. This ain’t a restaurant, and I’d bet your house isn’t either; neither of us needs everyone to eat the same portion. For the record, I predominantly do recipes for two, with planned leftovers, the idea being general efficiency, and the fact that anything good will be great the next day. Other than that, you’re kinda on your own. I mean I can give you a great biscuit recipe, but how big you make ’em, and how many y’all wolf down is kinda your gig, right?
Don’t get me wrong, nutrition IS important and should be monitored in some way, shape, or form. The best way to this is to buy carefully and thoughtfully. Buy locally whenever you can. Read the labels on food and avoid the stuff that’s truly bad for you. Grow anything and everything you can. Preserve what you buy or grow so that you can notably extend the time it is available to you. Make everything you can, from scratch, at home. That may sound more intensive than what you do now, but if you really care about nutrition, you’ll do it. And as far as we go, whenever you need or want detailed nutritionals on our recipes, just click on our link for Calorie Count and go to town. There’s a mobile version out for your Apple or Android smart phone as well now.
Next comes prep and cooking time.
Weeeeeellllll, how do I say this? Listing prep time is, in my not even remotely close to humble opinion, one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read. The problem is actually pretty obvious. Listing prep time says we all prep at the same level, and nothing could be further from the truth. Heck, I have three preppers in my cafe and they all perform differently… So really, the question is who’s prep time are we talking about? Mine? Yours? Emeril’s? I’ve been cutting things for decades and have pretty damn good knife skills; do you? I can stem, seed and core a tomato blindfolded, without cutting myself, in about 15 seconds; can you? I don’t even think about process and procedure any more, it just comes naturally; does it for you? And if your answers are ‘No’, does that make you slow? If I can prep Dish A in 10 minutes and you take 20, should you not make that dish? Of course not! And really, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. How about what ingredients you have right on hand when you start your prep, how well equipped your kitchen is, how your day went, how many rug rats are flying around your feet, or how many critters need to go out right NOW?! Get the picture? My bottom line is simple – Who gives a rats ass how long it takes if you have the time and want to make it? If you’re cooking regularly, you either already have a decent sense of what you can and will accomplish in a given time, or you will develop one in time. If you really do like cooking and want to do it, you’ll do it.
Finally, there’s the exotic ingredient thing. Yes, I have a whacky spice cabinet. You may or may not have a pantry like ours, but I really don’t think that matters. We have all this stuff because we dedicated lot of time and energy into developing and perfecting recipes to share with y’all. Whether or not you need that much stuff is up to you. Does a couple avocado leaves and a little annatto really make or break good chili? If you’re asking me, I think the question is rhetorical. And frankly, I don’t buy the ‘why do you use ingredients I’m not likely to have’ complaint for a second; in this day and age, almost anyone in this country, and many others, can get anything they want. I recently shared a bacon recipe with a pal from South Africa. He ended up having to go all over creation to find several ingredients, but he did it, ’cause he really wants to try my recipe. Kinda like that last discussion on prep and cooking, huh? Ive mailed corn meal to Australia and mustard seed to Israel; if you can’t get something you wanna try, hit me up, I’ll help. I’ve also gotta point out that we constantly encourage and desire experimentation, so if you’re making it, put what you like in it: Give us credit the first time, and then it’s yours…
I say that if you love cooking and great food, maybe you should check out Tasmanian Pepperberry, or Urfa Bebir; who knows what you’ll do with them?
We do this because dear friends who love to grow, cook, preserve and explore as much as we do asked us to. We do this because we have a love for good food and cooking shared. We do this because we hope to inspire such in y’all. If that ain’t good enough, so be it.
Is MSG really bad for you?
So, hopefully you’ve read our artificial ingredients primer, Ranch Revolution. It covered most of the fairly nefarious artificial ingredients and additives you find in processed food pretty well.
I’ve said before and will again that most of the health and dietary issues folks are saddled with come from these ingredients, way more so than gluten. If one did actually become gluten intolerant, I’d think of these as the gateway ingredients that make it possible. So many of these things negatively impact the GI tract, it’s no surprise that such maladies abound.
One of the most pervasive additives out there is MSG, MonoSodium Glutamate. In that referenced article, I noted the following:
“Onward; next we get ‘natural flavor (Soy)’. Sounds pretty harmless, right? No such luck. Manufacturers these days are acutely aware that a whole bunch of us don’t want Monosodium Glutamate, (MSG), in our food. Even if they say ‘No MSG’ on the label, they well may be lying to us flat out. Why? Because MSG is cheap, and very effective at adding umami taste, that mysterious savory note. Unfortunately, MSG just ain’t good for ya. Side effects can include burning sensations, weakness of the limbs, headaches, upset stomach, and hives or other allergic reactions. Ingredients labeled like the one we found here, as well as ‘yeast extract,’ or ‘hydrolyzed soy protein,’ are nothing more than MSG in disguise. And there’s another example of things the FDA lets manufacturers get away with that they maybe shouldn’t.”
My revisit comes as a result of my encountering yet another pseudonym for MSG recently, AKA the ubiquitous ‘Soy Protein’ moniker. I found this at a restaurant that offers a very comprehensive ingredient and additive list to customers. What caught my eye is that this list had a line for MSG, (and none of their stuff had that box checked), yet many did have Soy Protein as an ingredient; so, why is that an issue? Because Soy Protein is one of the many potential pseudonyms for MSG. Take a look at this chart from truth in labeling. It’s interesting to note that this page states that “everyone knows that some people react to the food ingredient Monosodium glutamate;” frankly, I don’t think that’s true, but read on…
All this prompted me to dive a bit deeper into MSG. As I noted above, MSG is famous for adding the Umami taste, the je ne sais quoi savory flavor that us humans dig big time, (I admit, however, I am not one of them; I can taste it and I don’t like it – it has a cloying metallic quality I find most unsavory indeed.) It was and is used in many Americanized versions of Far Eastern cuisines. On the other hand, it’s also accused of contributing to many maladies, so that’s where I started delving deeper.
Probably the best synopsis came from the Mayo Clinic. Their info regarding the deleterious effects of MSG pretty much mirrored those I wrote of, but their article included one vital word I did not; anecdotal. Meaning, of course, that MSG was accused but not proven to have caused or contributed to these ills. The article went on to note that research had been unable to definitely tie additive to malady.
Then I found this piece by Rachel Feltman in the Washington Post. Feltman, for the record, has a B.S. In environmental science and an MA in science reporting from NYU, and has also written for Popular Mechanics, Quartz and Scientific American, (AKA, she ain’t no hack journalist.) Feltman notes the natural root of MSG, (first derived from seaweed in Japan decades ago), and that its many glutamate cousins are predominantly naturally derived as well.
Back to that Soy Protein I found; look up this ingredient and you’ll find a broad school that touts its health benefits, including the Journal of the American Heart Asociation, which noted, “increasing evidence that consumption of soy protein in place of animal protein lowers blood cholesterol levels and may provide other cardiovascular benefits.”
Conversely, there are plenty of sites who label this stuff dangerous, but in all fairness, they generally tend to be poorly researched and lacking definitive sources for their claims. Fact is, when it comes to the science of food, proof matters more than the claim.
So there you have it. Rather than adding anything definitive to the debate, my further research generated more uncertainty.
I maintain, however, that my overarching premise regarding artificial ingredients and food additives remains sound. The fact is, there are far too many processed foods with far too much of this stuff in it. In all likelihood, MSG in moderation is probably fine. The key word, of course, is moderation; if a significant percentage of what you eat is processed food, I’ll bet you dimes to dollars that you’re getting way too much of a bunch of things that are not good for you in such volumes.
You always have been and always will be much better off using fresh, local, basic ingredients without additives of any kind, and making as much of your food as you can from scratch, at home. From granola to mustard, and mayo to tomato sauce, you’ll eat better and feel better. There’s really no debate about that.
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UrbanMonique 