What the heck do we put in our mouths? A lot of times, many of us have no idea. That candy bar. Or maybe our fish dinners. How about the tub of ice cream we just dipped our spoons in?
The secrets of the food.
Take this. The beautiful creamy, rich Ranch Dressing on your salad? It is dyed. Yes. I know it’s mostly white. But trust me. It has been dyed. The dying ingredient in ranch is titanium dioxide, which makes it look even whiter. Oh, and yummy too. It’s the same ingredient used in sunscreen and paint — for coloring.
So let’s get past the salad and onto the beef. I’m Whimpy reborn. I love a cheeseburger. And I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. But the truth about those tasty sandwiches? One fast-food burger can have meat from 100 different cows.
Yeah. Don’t think about it for too long.
And then there is this. McDonald’s sells 2.5 billion hamburgers every year. These aren’t my speed for hamburgers, but apparently, many people are fond of them.
They are a portion of our love of sandwiches, as 49% of Americans over 20 years of age eat a sandwich every day.
On to dessert. Well, maybe not conventional dessert. But heck, this may be our nearest choice if we are out eating burgers. Skittles. They seem like an American candy, but Skittles were only available in Britain for five years. Then they came to North America in 1979.
I used to like all the colors, and I only had a couple of years to enjoy them before I quit eating sweets. But the red one? Well. The red food dye for Skittles is made from boiled beetles. It is a common dye called carminic acid. And it happens to be made from the crushed bodies of a beetle called the Dactylopius coccus. Same same goes for maraschino cherries, strawberry and raspberry flavored candy. Oh, and lipstick.
Since we are talking about things that aren’t American, how about American cheese?
News flash. American cheese is not American. This processed cheese was actually invented in Switzerland. Created by Waltz Gerber and Fritz Stettler in 1911 to lengthen its shelf-life before it was shipped overseas. I don’t think Waltz Gerber is any relation to Gerber baby foods, like my favorite, Blueberry Buckle.
What about those blueberries and all sorts of berries and fruits?
Apples, peaches, and raspberries are all members of the rose family. And those apples, my favorite? Two things. One — they give you more energy than coffee. Which may explain a lot about why I can’t sit still. And two — apples float in water because they are 25% air. Which might be why I burp the way I do. Perhaps I shouldn’t eat six or seven apples a day. At least I’m smelling like a rose.
Finally, we would not have food without our good, good bees. Their excellent pollination allows us to eat what we eat. And all the while? Those little dudes are making honey.
But. Uhhh.
Honey is bee vomit.
Put that on your oatmeal, why don’t you?
Yet it is true. When bees collect nectar, they drink it and keep it in their “stomachs.” Once they’re back at the hive, they regurgitate the nectar into the hive. Puking nectar right into our honey.
The thing to remember, though? About all of this?
Life can be sweet. Even when the bee vomits.
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“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
– J.R.R. Tolkien
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“A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety.”
– Aesop
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“Sometimes me think, ‘What is Friend?’ and then me say, ‘Friend is someone to share the last cookie with.’”
–Cookie Monster
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We are what we eat, honey.
