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GotGarlic

GotGarlic

Chef Extraordinaire
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Would you buy items if they had these words on the packages?

This is why I think the saying "I don't eat what I can't pronounce" makes no sense. What people really mean is, "I don't want to eat it if I don't know what it is." Besides, I studied several languages and got quite good at pronunciation. I doubt one of these can trip me up ;) That's not a good basis for nutrition decisions, either.

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I would buy the items, I'm not sure I would buy all of the claims.

I have wondered about this in a slightly different way over the years. My area of CNY has traditionally been a resettlement area for refugees. The new folks shop based on what they see, not based on what the label says. They stick to the perimeter of the store buying fresh food that looks familiar to them. When they venture into the interior of the store I think they rely mainly on the pictures shown on the boxes and cans. I bet they get some funny and perhaps frustrating experiences when they get home and open the containers. I have often wondered how I would do in a similar situation.
 
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Aunt Bea said:
... When they venture into the interior of the store I think they rely mainly on the pictures shown on the boxes and cans. I bet they get some funny and perhaps frustrating experiences when they get home and open the containers. I have often wondered how I would do in a similar situation.
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We run into a similar situation each year when we go to Aruba. We have a timeshare so cook some of our meals to save a buck. It's a treat to shop for items based on the pictures on the labels and a rudimentary understanding of foreign language (mostly Dutch) to decipher what's in the can. Also, everything is labeled in metric weights and volumes so a little mental math has to take place as well.
 
Aunt Bea, I had a problem like that when I went to Turkey with my mom and some other relatives for a vacation. I went grocery shopping for a few fill-in items, including cream for coffee. The staff didn't speak English (although they were wonderful otherwise; it's customary to offer customers apple tea as they shop! I wish we had such great service in the U.S.) and I picked a carton of dairy something based on the picture on the container. It turned out to be either sour cream or maybe crème fraîche or possibly even quark. There are a lot of German and French tourists in Turkey ;)
 
Rarely is there a package with those words wrapped around those products when I buy them. And I buy most of them. Who knew I was buying and eating The 5 Colors of Phytonutrients? My lesson for the day.
 
GG, no matter how you pronounce it, fresh fruits and veggies are good for you as long as they are safe to eat. A rotten pear is a rotten pear, no matter how many phytonutrients it has in it! :LOL:

Maybe when people state "I don't eat it if I can't pronounce it", they're talking about ingredient lists on the side of processed foods. Um, it's processed, people. Some of those chemical names are scarier than the scary-enough ingredient!
 
Cooking Goddess said:
Maybe when people state "I don't eat it if I can't pronounce it", they're talking about ingredient lists on the side of processed foods. Um, it's processed, people. Some of those chemical names are scarier than the scary-enough ingredient!
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They probably are. That still doesn't mean there's necessarily something wrong with eating them. I'm not saying there are no problems with processed food. I'm just suggesting that people be aware of what they actually contain. A blanket statement that all chemicals are bad is not helpful, imo.
 
Yeah GG, like everything else it's Buyer Beware. You have to know the enemy. I'll be among the first to say that there are friendly chemicals. Whenever I'm sick with something serious I have to admit I submit to living better through chemistry. ;)
 
Tocopherol, not a problem. It's basically vitamin E. It's used as an anti-oxidant. On the other hand, microcrystalline cellulose and polysorbate 80 I avoid. They are artificial and are used as emulsifier/fat substitute/thickener. I find that things that are made without these ingredients taste better than the versions with them. They are usually a way to cut back on the better tasting, more expensive ingredients.

It's easy enough to use a smartphone to look up the mystery ingredients while you are at the store.
 
Andy M. said:
We run into a similar situation each year when we go to Aruba. We have a timeshare so cook some of our meals to save a buck. It's a treat to shop for items based on the pictures on the labels and a rudimentary understanding of foreign language (mostly Dutch) to decipher what's in the can. Also, everything is labeled in metric weights and volumes so a little mental math has to take place as well.
Click to expand...
I was looking for ideas of what to do with cabbage (have lots--did kimchi, sauerkraut, pickled cabbage)...realized 1/2 through the website that I was reading Dutch. It is very similar to German, but not. I had the same experience when I was on the train from Stockholm to Munich...picked up a newspaper s/one had left behind and realized I was reading a Danish newspaper, not a Swedish one.

All the measurements except 1 were Imperial when I cooked the two recipes for the photographer last week. The person who sources everything emailed me and asked for metric weights for everything. Sometimes, I get really tired of flipping between the two. Next week, I'm weighing the raw ingredients before cooking them so I can give her that info.
 
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Rather snobby and patronising to assume that the (wo)man-in-the-street wouldn't be able to understand this. The meaning is quite clear from the context if you read through it and the colour scheme helps.

Just because we are well-read and articulate it doesn't give us the right to sneer, no mater how indirectly, at those who haven't had our educational advantages.

I don't recognise many of the chemical names of the phytonutrients , neither do I need to as they are the naturally occurring phytonutrients. I do, however, make it my business to understand "e numbers" (ie additives - anything from baking soda to MSG in Euro-labelling speak) that appear on the labels of processed foods.) The point that is being made is not that we should all have a degree in food chemistry but that we should be eating a mixture of colours in our fruit and veg consumption in order to get the best from our diet - so much easier to have red (tomatoes), purple (beetroot), orange (carrots), white (garlic) and green (spinach) on your plate (as I did today) than have to consult the chemical dictionary every time we are planning a meal.
 
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Mad Cook said:
Rather snobby and patronising to assume that the (wo)man-in-the-street wouldn't be able to understand this. The meaning is quite clear from the context if you read through it and the colour scheme helps.

Just because we are well-read and articulate it doesn't give us the right to sneer, no mater how indirectly, at those who haven't had our educational advantages.

I don't recognise many of the chemical names of the phytonutrients , neither do I need to as they are the naturally occurring phytonutrients. I do, however, make it my business to understand "e numbers" (ie additives - anything from baking soda to MSG in Euro-labelling speak) that appear on the labels of processed foods.) The point that is being made is not that we should all have a degree in food chemistry but that we should be eating a mixture of colours in our fruit and veg consumption in order to get the best from our diet - so much easier to have red (tomatoes), purple (beetroot), orange (carrots), white (garlic) and green (spinach) on your plate (as I did today) than have to consult the chemical dictionary every time we are planning a meal.
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I agree for the most part, though I believe the point is that scary sounding chemicals can be good for us. We have met too many people who "don't eat chemicals". :rolleyes: I sometimes ask if they photosynthesize instead.
 
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