No More Corn Syrup!

[basjoos]

One of the reasons the Chinese hand pollenate their apple trees is because heavy pesticide use has killed off so many of the native pollenating insects so they can no longer do the job. The lack of proper pesticide regulation and use in their third world-like lax regulatory environment is one of the reasons I try to avoid Chinese apple and other agricultural products.

FL oranges are juicier than CA oranges because of the more humid Florida climate and are better for making juice. But CA oranges can sometimes be tastier than FL oranges because they aren't as saturated with water and can have a more concentrated flavor.

[MazdaMatt]

I see no reason to say "made in china = bad food". Many things that I buy and enjoy are made in china... I actualy go directly to the chinese grocers in town to get things. They have better (and natural!) soy sauces than the "regular" grocers, they have amazing chinese mangoes (drool) and Aloe Juice (sounds gross, actually incredible and healthy, good with vodka, too ) and many other foods that are just better because they are from china. They also have tonnes of sketchy crap that i'd rather not even walk down the same isle as. I'm absolutely afraid of the oyster flavoured potato chips, but that has less to do with additives... funny, Lay's never thought to use oysters or shrimp on their chips... wonder why!?

I also buy american food... look at some obesity stats and you'll say "oh god, don't buy food from that country, its screwed up!". I couldn't go living on maple syrup and cod for the rest of my life

Also, there's no reason to say that canned food is inherintly less tasty than fresh food. Many things are much tastier because the product goes from the field to the can at the peak of its ripeness... instead of riding a truck from mexico to ontario, then from warehouse to warehouse to warehouse to shelf. Same with frozen food. You get more flavour from frozen berries (of good brand name) than from fresh ones, unless you are buying from a local farm stand.

[hummingbird]

MazdaMatt, granting all points in your post, Chinese foodstuff is bad just because of their food miles logged before it lands up in your plate. Locovores make 100% sense from the point of view of long term sustainability.

We have long abused the resources at our disposal to such an extent that a course correction seems painful today. But you have to be cruel to be kind in the larger frame of reference and adopt sustainable lifestyle, so that the coming generations don't curse us for wasting their share of resources.

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by hummingbird

BTW Ben, no more corn syrup posts? Been a week now...

Just been real busy lately.

Been making lots of bread. Was working on the Metro this weekend.

Saturday, my wife and I went to an honest to goodness farm market where we even got milk basically straight from the cow.

Saturday, I met up with my guy friends for our annual "Guys Movie Night" which is pretty much an excuse to get together, drink, eat junk food, and watch action movies.

Of course the table was covered with snacks. My typical drink of choice would be Rum and Coke. That was out too.

I had a couple beers with dinner, and I had brought with a few "Jaritos" Mexican sodas.

I could have the pretzels, but not any of the Little Debbie stuff. The one flavor of beef jerky had corn syrup in it, but the other couldn't. At least there were some chocolate peanut butter crispy snacks that didn't have corn syrup, or I would not have been able to get my chocolate fix.

[RobertSmalls]

Based on peer-reviewed life cycle analyses:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/op...cwilliams.html

"...it is four times more energy-efficient for Londoners to buy lamb imported from the other side of the world than to buy it from a producer in their backyard. Similar figures were found for dairy products and fruit."

[hummingbird]

No bone with the article, RobertSmalls. It just shows that as a whole, mankind has transgressed. It has grown to such an extent that sustaining current populations on locally available resources is impossible for some regions (particularly northern regions). Nature avoids this by the process of natural selection. If we were animals, a die-off would have been in the offing... We chose to disable the applicability of that natural selection. Our population, as a species, is not regulated by nature, but by the skewed application of resources at our disposal. This is the main reason why Peak Oil and its aftereffects would and should bother us.

In Q2/2008, we just saw a very brief trailer of high price oil scenario. Its effects on the economy were no less than disastrous. I shudder to think what the scene would be if the high prices sustained over a period because of genuine shortages - Several Sci-fi movies with apocalypse as a theme come to my mind...

[blueflame]

New Zealands outdoor grass fed meat and diary products have less carbon miles per kg than local European and North American grain and indoor animal products.

Uruguay is just around the corner time wise re the US market.

NZ companies have invested heavily there in the last 10 years.

Vegasnism or vegetarianism is the best for the planet

[MazdaMatt]

If i had to eat ONLY locally grown organic foods, i'd be broke and malnurished. Not many veggies grow under 3 feet of snow, or last for 7 months on the shelf.
I just found those "chinese mangos" that i mentioned in an earlier post at the local grocery store! They were grown in Mexico! haha... They were also 50% more expensive than the chinese ones and they didn't taste good - very tart like they were picked early and spent 2 weeks on a truck and warehouse tour. I wonder how the ones from china are so sweet and delicious...

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by blueflame

New Zealands outdoor grass fed meat and diary products have less carbon miles per kg than local European and North American grain and indoor animal products.

But do they have a smaller carbon footprint than local outdoor grass-fed meat/dairy? Otherwise you're comparing apples to oranges.

Vegasnism or vegetarianism is the best for the planet

Depends on your definition of good. Vegetarianism would allow more people to be fed on the same resources, but is having more people really good for the planet?

[MazdaMatt]

...and is making me stop eating delicious nutritious meat good for the safety and well-being of the people around me? I think not.