Is this soda serious?

Last week, I caught a few minutes of a news program dedicated to a Coca Cola machine that allows you mix your own flavor through the use of a touch screen (rather than the teenage tradition of just moving your cup around under each fountain nozzle). I thought the machine, called the Coca Cola Freestyle, was brand new but apparently it has been serving up empty calories and cavities since 2009.

Not to be outdone, Pepsi has kept up in the flavor game by offering their own array of unusual flavors that are sure to turn your stomach:

Ice cream flavored Pepsi is available in Russia. White yogurt flavored Pepsi is available in Japan. I can't believe people are really drinking this stuff. (See more here)

This Should Be Illegal

Somehow, a hospital-themed restaurant advertising free meals for patrons who weigh more than 350 lbs, milkshakes with the "highest butter content in the world," and selling 8,000 calorie cheeseburgers with four patties (listed as a "Quadruple Bypass" on the menu) has opened up in Las Vegas, Nevada, despite the fact that the flagship Arizona location closed in May following the death of the grill's spokesperson, 29-year-old Blair River, pictured in the video above. The owner, Jon Basso, who is also featured in the video above - as "Dr. Jon" - spoke to the Las Vegas Sun last month:

“You’re intelligent if you don’t eat our food,” he said Thursday. “If people pondered what I’m doing, they’d realize I’m creating a mockery of this. When you hop on that scale and you’re 350 pounds and we give you a free burger and people cheer, what’s really going on? We’re singling you out as a freak. On the one hand, I could try to defend myself ethically and call myself a crusader that’s trying to wake up America and conduct an intervention on obesity. That’s half true. The other half is I’m an entrepreneur trying to make a buck, plain and simple.”

Basso stopped, thought for a minute, then added: “The only thing I can say in my defense is: If you compare me to Burger King and McDonald’s, I’m honest and they aren’t. It says right on my door: ‘Caution, bad for your health.’”

Read more here and here. This can't possibly be what our country's founding fathers had in mind. Ugh. 

2,700 calories/day : 1,996 lbs/year

According to an infographic posted on The Atlantic and compiled by Sarah Kliff (with data from the FDA, USDA, CDC, etc), the average American consumes 1,996.3 lbs of food (and food-like substances) a year. A small note on the graphic (full size here) points out that the numbers crunched include "food bought/served but not eaten (leftovers)," which briefly alleviates the shame felt learning that the average American consumes 29 lbs of french fries and 23 lbs of pizza per year... until you remember that you've never let those last few fries go to waste. Ugh. 

The "How Healthy is Your Ice Cream?" Test

Each year, Americans consume an average of 48 pints of ice cream per person. Unfortunately, not all ice cream recipes are created equal.

To find out where your favorite ranks on the health scale, pull it out of the freezer, take a look at the ingredient list, and check it out via this great infographic from BeFoodSmart.

If there is one big takeaway here, it is the knowledge of an ingredient that should raise more eyebrows than high fructose corn syrup. It is called CASTOREUM and is found in some vanilla and raspberry flavoring. There is no easy way to say this: It is derived from beaver anal glands.

Yikes.

For more frightening 'ingredients' in popular 'foods,' check out WebEcoists 10 Weird and Gross Ingredients in Processed Food.

Turd Burger

Finally! An answer to the question that plagues vegetarians: "Where do you get your protein?"

Poop. Recycled poop. Read all about it here.

State Fair Fare

Ahhh... the unmistakable smells of summer: honeysuckle, a backyard barbecue, freshly cut grass and fried Kool-Aid? Yep. It exists. 

It's hard to imagine that anyone could surpass the creativity displayed in previous years of deep frying "items," but sure as he fried a Mars bar, Charlie Boghosian of Chicken Charlie's is at it again. Deep-Fried Kool-Aid. Add it to more than 100 "original deep-fried items" coined by Charlie, who has become quite famous frying liquids - like Coca-Cola.

At opening weekend of the San Diego County Fair, Charlie sold 1,800 five-piece orders, requiring 150 pounds of Kool-Aid. The recipe is simple: flour, water, and cherry Kool-Aid mix. The batter is scooped and dropped into extremely hot oil then fried until they are lightly browned with a crisp outer layer.

Learn more about Chicken Charlie's and other fried "items" sweeping the nation here and here.

(Thnx, B)

Taco Bell: Dorito Loco Taco

Reports have surfaced that Taco Bell is testing a new product:: Nacho Cheese Doritos Shells. I guess I'm not surprised but I still say: Eww. Read more and watch a video of someone eating the Dorito Loco Taco here.

"Dinner in a Bottle"

A reader recently sent in this link to an article about MeatWater in which the reporter seems to think that MeatWater is in fact an actual, available product. It's not real, folks.

It is an incredibly creative campaign that forces people to think twice about the culture of "food" around us. Their message is so carefully laced into our modern expectations for new food products that a lot of people seem to believe that Hungarian Gulash water will soon be available at the grocer.

I urge you to read more about the campaign here and then spend some time on the MeatWater website. And I hope that this clever hoax doesn't create an actual... gulp... demand for such a product. Yikes.

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

I recently submitted this mantra (post title) for the second edition of Michael Pollan's collection of Food Rules and share it with you today in light of the class action lawsuit against Taco Bell. For those of you who haven't heard about the controversial "meat filling," allow me to summarize.

An Alabama law firm is suing the chain for falsely advertising the substance formerly known as "taco meat filling" as "meat" because the filling is actually only 36% meat and according to USDA standards, "meat" has to be at least 40% meat to be called meat. Yes, only 40%. Eww.

The firm isn't asking for money, just a correction. Want to know what makes up the other 60-64%?

Water, isolated oat product, salt, chili pepper, onion powder, tomato powder, oats (wheat), soy lecithin, sugar, spices, maltodextrin (a polysaccharide that is absorbed as glucose), soybean oil (anti-dusting agent), garlic powder, autolyzed yeast extract, citric acid, caramel color, cocoa powder, silicon dioxide (anti-caking agent), natural flavors, yeast, modified corn starch, natural smoke flavor, salt, sodium phosphate, less than 2% of beef broth, potassium phosphate, and potassium lactate.

Mouth-watering, huh? If you stopped reading that pile of ingredients at maltodextrin, consider visiting this great post on Buzzfeed for an entertaining visual interpretation instead.

Although I have taken issue with Taco Bell ever since they started encouraging the "fourth meal" to boost their own sales and their customers' cravings, I don't know which side of this argument I fall on. On one hand, the fast food chain isn't meeting already pathetic standards for labeling and who-knows-what-else but on the other hand, these tacos cost less than a dollar, right? So what can you really expect? A 99% choice beef taco, handed to you through your window after less than three minutes, still hot and (I hear) delicious for 99 cents? That's sort of unreasonable, don't you think?

Once again: If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Sorry, chalupa fans. You get what you pay for.

***UPDATE***

Taco Bell responded to these allegations with the following press release. As usual, the truth is likely somewhere in the middle of the argument. Click here for larger view.

Davies Happy Meal Project

How long does it take a McDonald's Happy Meal to decompose? Sally Davies is doing a photo essay on flickr. It's creepy. And considering that Karen Hanrahan's photo below - of a 1996 burger kept in a regular ol' tupperware container - was taken in 2008, I'm guessing it is going to be a while before we see any significant changes.

"What's so fab about it?"

Willy Wonka: Don't you know what this is?
Violet Beauregarde: By gum, it's gum.
Willy Wonka: [happily, but sarcastically] Wrong! It's the most amazing, fabulous, sensational gum in the whole world.
Violet Beauregarde: What's so fab about it?
Willy Wonka: This little piece of gum is a three-course dinner.
Mr. Salt: Bull.
Willy Wonka: No, roast beef. But I haven't got it quite right yet.

So Scientists at the Institute of Food Research in Norwich are using microcapsules (originally developed to provide a way of delivering drugs to specific parts of the digestive system) to make the idea born in Roald Dahl's fantastic imagination a reality. For realz, folks. What's so fab about it? The kid in me says: EVERYTHING. But the critic in me fears that Slugworth is involved. It's probably his kind of corruption that's landed Boston Creme Pie flavored, low-calorie yogurt on the supermarket shelves. Ugh.

Science correspondent Richard Gray for The Telegraph reports:

Some of the capsules could be filled with flavouring for tomato soup that would break open on contact with saliva, while tougher capsules would contain the flavour for roast beef that would break open as the gum is chewed. A final flavour for blueberry pie could be packaged in capsules that require vigorous chewing to burst. Professor Dave Hart, a food scientist at the Institute has already developed a boiled sweet that uses different layers to provide changes in flavour, but he hopes the new technology could help produce more dramatic results.

He said: "There are a number of groups here at the Institute who have been working with these capsules to provide a new way of delivering drugs to the colon, which means they have to be able to survive passing through the rest of the digestive system. Researchers in America have been looking at using these capsules as a way of delivering flavour in food. So using it in this way would allow us to provide new experiences for people when eating. Wonka's fantasy concoction has been nothing but a dream for millions of kids across the world. But science and technology is changing the future of food, and these nanoparticles may hold the answer to creating a three course gourmet gum. Tiny nanostructures within the gum would contain each of the different flavours. These would be broken up and released upon contact with saliva or after a certain amount of chewing – providing a sequential taste explosion as you chew harder."

Microscopic capsules, which measure less than a few millionths of millimetre in size, containing flavours have been pioneered by Professor Tony Dinsmore, from the department of physics at the University of Massachusetts. He developed a technique that allows molecules of particular flavours, vitamins or even living cells to be captured inside the capsules before they can be incorporated into the ingredients for food.

The capsules produce an oily shell around the molecules, preventing them from mixing with other ingredients and so allowing the flavours to be kept separate. Professor Hart, who has been working with the National Science and Engineering Competition to develop new ways of providing different flavours in sweets, hopes this can be adapted to recreate Willy Wonka's famous chewing gum.

And now, a some words of wisdom from the Oompa Loompas:

"Gum chewing's fine when it's once in a while -
It stops you from smoking and brightens your smile.
But it's repulsive, revolting and wrong -
Chewing and chewing alllll daaaaay long!
The wa-ay that a co-oww does!
Oompa. Loompa. Doo-pa-dee da -
Given good manners, you will go far."

"You'd never eat 16 packs of sugar"

Once again, the New York City Health Department does a nice job of reminding us how unhealthy certain "food like substances" are. Blehhh.

Latest HFCS... Err... "Corn Sugar"

Earlier this week, we heard from a reader in St. Thomas regarding the recent HFCS makeover aka name-change and mistakenly thought it was just another one of those cheesy commercials. It turns out this "corn sugar" re-branding effort is as big as the 1988 "canola oil is the new low eurcic acid rapeseed oil" act in advertising. ABC News just launched an eye-opening feature about renaming which even includes some thoughts from JustSaying fave: Michael Pollan. 

For a quicker read, check out Jacob Goldstein's NPR post.

(Thnx, Jonathan)

The Hamwich

I'm speechless. More here.

"New to Me" Foods

Encountered at truck stops and candy shops in and around South Carolina:

What's that? The first one? It's Mac n' Cheese pizza. Yep. And I know, I know... If I were a true locavore the crickets and larvae would be a welcome snack but none of these struck my fancy. I think I'll wait and see what the city of Charleston has to offer instead.

Grilled Cheese Burger Melt

Friendly's isn't going to stand by and let the KFC Double Down steal customers of theirs. Nope. No way. Instead they are launching this 1,500 calorie, triple sandwich thingy. Wow. Read more here.

"Nutritional" information: 1500 Calories, 870 Fat Calories, 79g Total Fat, 38g Saturated Fat, 180g Cholesterol, 2090mg Sodium, 101g Carbs, 9g Dietary Fiber, 4g Sugar, 54g Protein

20 Worst Drinks in America

Men's Health published their annual list of beverage-like-substances that are beyond terrible for you and all I can say is: Damn. Sugary shakes are my weakness - especially as the summer heats up. The photographic depictions of the "sugar equivalent" for each are almost as upsetting as... as quite a few on this list. I'm too upset to type... Just check 'em out:

1.) Cold Stone PB&C
2.) Smoothie King Peanut Power Plus Grape
3.) McDonald's Triple Thick Chocolate Shake
4.) Cosi Double Oh! Arctic Mocha
5.) Krispy Kreme Lemon Sherbet Chiller
6.) Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream Soda
7.) Traditional Red Lobster Lobsterita
8.) Dairy Queen Caramel MooLatte
9.) Starbucks White Hot Chocolate with Whipped Cream (pictured left)
10.) Auntie Anne's Wild Cherry Lemonade Mixer
11.) Starbucks Peppermint White Chocolate Mocha with Whipped Cream
12.) Arizona Kiwi Strawberry
13.) Arizona Rx Energy
14.) Tropicana Fruit Fury Twister
15.) Sierra Nevada Bigfoot
16.) Sunkist
17.) Starbucks Vanilla Frappuccino
18.) Rockstar Energy Drink
19.) Sobe Green Tea
20.) Snapple Agave Melon Antioxidant Water

Countdown to Ice Cream Happy Hour

Mmmmmm.... Ice cream. I know a least two people who are counting down the minutes to some "tastes good and good for you" ice cream at Dominion Ice Cream this evening in Charles Village, but for those of you who aren't intrigued by the mere thought of spinach and sweet potato ice cream, perhaps you'd like to know about the latest and greatest creations from The Skinny Cow: Single Serving Cups.

Like the company's trademark (and delicious) ice cream sandwiches, the cups pack about 150 calories a pop (never more than 170 calories). Find your favorite flavor here.

Way to go, Hunt's!!

Hunt's, a ConAgra Foods brand, recently announced that they have removed high fructose corn syrup from each and every ketchup product. In their first recipe tweak in 40 years, Hunt's 100% Natural Ketchup is now made with only five simple ingredients: tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, salt and seasoning. Newswire reports:

"In direct response to consumer demand, Hunt's is pleased to offer ketchup sweetened with sugar and containing only five simple ingredients," said Ryan Toreson, Hunt's Ketchup brand manager. "Parents are looking for wholesome meals and ingredients they recognize—and the taste of Hunt's ketchup is something both kids and adults love. Even with the new recipe, we have maintained the same great tangy, sweet taste that Hunt's has always had and that consumers tell us they prefer."

The 100% Natural Ketchup began rolling out to major markets nationwide in mid-April and consumers can expect to find product on shelves everywhere by mid-May.

If the simplicity of ketchup ingredients has got you thinking, "Hmm... I could totally make my own ketchup!" check out KethcupRecipe.com, a site decicated to collecting ketchup recipes from around the world. Here are a few popular ones:

Low Sodium Ketchup Recipe
Picante Ketchup Recipe
Fog City Diner's Ketchup Recipe

(Thnx Lisa A. and Alissa)

Ewww

A friend of mine uploaded this gem to facebook last night. Wow.