Grilling in February
Things have improved since last month. That's still snow in the background, but there's a lot less of it, and the temperature crept into the fifties today. Thanks to MeatHenge for the encouragement.
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Things have improved since last month. That's still snow in the background, but there's a lot less of it, and the temperature crept into the fifties today. Thanks to MeatHenge for the encouragement.
From today's New York Times:
IN a nation desperately seeking an effective diet that can take it off and keep it off, there is one area of wild and intentional binging that would make a cardiologist weep and the government's low-calorie food pyramid tumble: the trans fat-loaded pre-Super Bowl programming.
Granted, this is the New York Times, which ain't exactly red meat in the publishing world. But still, the meaning is clear: trans fats have hit the mainstream lexicon. Trans Fatty isn't just for geeks anymore.
There's no such thing as a canola. So what exactly is canola oil? And why is it so common in so many foods? I vaguely remembered hearing something about it coming from Canada (hence the name). So I did what any industrious, enquiring person would do in 2005. I went to my favorite search engine and typed "canola oil."
Three seconds later I had my answer: Hits 1 - 10 of about 375,000, sorted in some order that apparently favored the paranoid. On Yahoo! the top three hits read:
CANOLA OIL. Deadly for the Human Body!
Canola Oil - How Toxic Is It?
Canola oil, danger, health hazard.
And on it went. None of the "official" canola-boosting sites -- you know, the sites sponsored by the big conglomerates that are out to poison the rest of us -- even rated in the top 10. (I don't count the "shopping" links.) Google gave a more balanced result, but still plenty of fearmongering mixed in.
And some sites that torpedo the myths, and lots of other good information, if you have time to wade through 375,000 hits. But the overall result had me wondering less about the genetic manipulation of rapeseed oil than about where these people are spending their time.
According to my sister, who actually understands such things, the crux of postmodern philosophy can be summed up in the notion that discourse shapes events just as much as the reverse. Historians don't just record history, they shape it. The observer changes the thing being observed. The chattering classes have much more power than you thought. (With apologies to all postmodern philosophers, but that's how she explained it to me.)
If so, the universe is rapidly morphing, into a homogenized, processed, meat-like byproduct.
Once upon a time, conspiracies were hard work. But they were fun, too. If you were in the know, you got to show up for meetings, learn handshakes, pass notes in the hall. Now all you have to do is type W-A-C-K-O and hit GO. No wonder a growing number of U.S. high school students feel that more government censorship might not be a bad thing. With all the junk that's out there, can you blame them?
They're wrong. We don't need more censorship. But a healthy skepticism is in order. Just because a screed is laden with scientific terms doesn't make it science. And just because a blog has a geeky technical name doesn't mean you should believe everything you read. Even here. Which is why I won't give you my opinion on the whole canola thing beyond what you've already gleaned thus far. You can do the search and judge for yourself.
And also a testament to the power of love, the written word, and yes, blogging. A life that would have otherwise been known to relatively few has touched many, many more.
http://www.willkenyon.blogspot.com/
And now back to your regularly-scheduled food blog.
