Soy Products - Portfolio

I was shocked and amazed to find out that soy is not actually that good for us. I always thought it was a trendy thing that folks did who were trying to be healthy, give me milk any day but what about edamame? Should I give this delicious snack up? Are there truly no health benefits to soy? Were we never meant to eat soy like cows were not designed to eat corn? According to Raj Patel's book Stuffed and Starved "nearly three-quarters of products on supermarket shelves" contain soy. Soy is like corn, it's everywhere, nearly impossible to escape it. Soy does have it's benefits but it must be processed, it's hard to get the nutritional benefits when it's raw (Patel 167). I also really enjoy tofu, but this is processed and therefore is better for you than edamame. Soy is over produced which is why it is found in everything, just like corn! There are many similarities. Interesting fact from Raj Patel's book the oil from soy "is the worlds most widely consumed vegetable oil, responsible for over a quarter of the worlds vegetable oil market, and 70 per cent of oils and fats produced and consumed in the US." (Patel 168).

Raj Patel gives a nice bacfkground on when we first had a surplus of soy and what America did with this surplus. "In the First World War, the cutting of traditional supply lines for vegetable oil from Europe to America necessitated the import of 336 million pounds of low-grade soy oil from Manchuria, North-east China. Yet with the end of the war, and the restoration of European supplies of crops, US agriculture faced a glut...Once the Europeans were back in the agriculture export business, US farms found themselves with too much soy and too few markets." (Patel 169).

Another interesting tidbit of information the seventh day adventists were formed when a woman named Ellen G. White decided to give up meat and milk products. The seventh day adventists became a major proponent of soy.

Ann posted a lengthy article about soy and the benefits or lack of benefits from soy. Here is the article. http://www.westonaprice.org/soy/ploy.html What I gather from the chapter in Patel's book and also this article is that soy is safe when it has been processed or fermented but is best to stay away from raw soy or to rely on soy for protein because according to the article "soy protein is incomplete.. Soy should never be considered as a substitute for animal products like meat or milk." My roommate drinks soy in her coffee because milk upsets her stomach, so is soy in coffee okay? Is there something else that can be used instead of soy? The article warns that soy milk is "new to the diet and pose a number of serious problems." I passed this article along to my roommate and for whatever reason does not believe this is the case and is still a good milk substitute as well as a good source of protein. So what is the truth?

Food Profile on Popcorn

Popcorn was the subject of my first food blog and now it is the subject of my food profile because...well I love popcorn! In this food profile I will cover the history of popcorn, the significance of popcorn in American culture, the nutritional snapshot as well as the unfortunate side of popcorn. To gain inspiration while writing this food profile I need to make popcorn...well actually I just want popcorn but it's a good excuse to indulge in my favorite snack. I am very systematic when it comes to eating popcorn. I like to eat the fullest part of the popped kernel and then eat the rest. I also remove any part of the kernel that could get stuck in my teeth. For the amount of popcorn I eat it's important to remove this extra bit of kernel, I've had plenty of these slivers stuck in between my teeth. So let's get going on this food journey of what I believe should be the number one snack in America.

Popcorn is part of the cereal family and is a grass. The scientific name of popcorn is Zea Mays Averta.

Below is a picture of what popcorn looks like before it is popped.
Popcorn can be many different colors. What you find in the grocery store is typically yellow and white corn but you can also find blue and red popcorn. They all pop white though. Popcorn pops because water is trapped inside and when the kernel is heated the water begins to boil and then steams. The steam expands the kernel and then POP, the kernel explodes but remains in tact. Popcorn is fluffy and delicious. I've found the more oil used the less fluffy it seems to be.

The oldest known popcorn was discovered in bat caves that were known to house cave dwellers in New Mexico. The corn found is believed to be 5600 years old and can still be popped today! Popcorn has been depicted on burial urns dating back to 300 AD and was also used in ceremonial headdresses, jewerly, etc. "In American Indian folklore, some tribes were said to believe that quiet, contented spirits lived inside of each popcorn kernel. When their houses were heated, the spirits would become angrier and angrier, shaking the kernels, ad when the heat became unbearable, they would burst out of their homes and into the air in a disgruntled puff of steam." (http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/PopcornHistory.htm). According to Wikipedia it was believed "that the popping noise was that of an angry god who escaped the kernel." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn. There is also speculation that popcorn was involved in the first Thanksgiving but this has never been proven. Native Americans would bring popcorn to the early colonists "as a token of good will during peace negotiations." Popcorn was even consumed as cereal back before it became a popular snack item. "Colonial housewives served popcorn with sugar and cream for breakfast." http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/PopcornHistory.htm Popcorn did not take off as a popular American snack until the 1890's with the advent of the first popcorn machine in 1885. Popcorn continued to be a popular snack through the great depression when popcorn was one of the few luxuries families could afford. I haven't found anything on why specifically popcorn has become the food of choice at movie theatres but I do know that when the first popcorn machines were springing up they soon became vendors at fairs and other social events. I imagine that this is also when they started showing up at movie theatres. When television was invented there was a drop off of popcorn consumption as people stayed home more rather than going out to the movies. Popcorn sales again rose when the microwave became a household fixture. Today Americans "consume 17 billion quarts of popped popcorn each year. The average American eats about 54 quarts. (http://www.popcorn.org/encyclopedia/epmdhist.cfm)

As I mentioned before popcorn sales rose greatly when the microwave was invented and microwave popcorn was introduced. I prefer the "old fashioned" way of heating oil on the oven. I use olive oil which gives a nice flavor and then salt with popcorn salt. There is also the air popper that is the healthiest way to eat popcorn as no oil is used, but what fun is there in that? In China they use "an equally ingenious popcorn-making device [that] can still be seen on the streets of some Chinese cities today. The corn is poured into a large cast-iron canister that is then sealed with a heavy lid and slowly turned over a curbside fire in rotisserie fashin. When a pressure gauge on the canister reaches a certain level, it is removed from the fire, a large canvas sack is put over the lid, and the seal is released. With a huge boom, all of the popcorn explodes at once and is poured into the sack." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn)

Popped popcorn, yumm!Popcorn is a relatively low calorie snack and high in fiber, two very good things, right! Unfortunately plain popcorn can be somewhat bland and most americans add sugar or butter to their popcorn and of course salt which makes the calorie count go up. According to wikipedia a "small popcorn from Regal Cinema Group (the largest theater chain in the United States) still contains 29g of saturated fat as much as three Big Macs and the equivalent of a full day and a halfs reference daily intake." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popcorn#Nutritional_value)

The unfortunate side of popcorn is that some microwaveable popcorns were made with an artificial flavoring that may cause respiratory ailments. The chemical used is diacetyl and is "hazardous when heated and inhaled over a long period." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacetyl). After this discovery I have been much more hesitant to eat microwaveable popcorn and still swear by the old fashioned way.

There are lots of different ways to prepare popcorn and fun seasonings that can be added to enhance the flavor. I've attached a few recipes.

Cheesy corn

2 tablespoons garlic flavored or vegetable oil
½ cup popcorn kernels
1 tablespoon melted butter, optional
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast or brewer’s yeast (found at health food stores, adds a cheese-like flavor without the calories or fat)
1 teaspoon curry powder, optional

• In a large, heavy-bottomed pot (with a lid), place oil and about 3 popcorn kernels. Heat over medium-high heat until a kernel pops. Add remaining popcorn; cover.
• Once corn begins to pop, shake pot constantly over heat. When popping slows, remove pot from heat and transfer popcorn to a serving bowl. Pour butter over popcorn, if desired, and toss. Sprinkle yeast and curry powder, if desired, over popcorn and toss to distribute evenly. Serve immediately or store in an air-tight container.

Yield: 10 cups

Chili Corn

4 quarts popped popcorn
3 small dried red chilies
1 package (6 3/4 ounce) peanuts
6 tablespoons margarine
1 package (3 1/4 ounce) roasting pepitas (little peppers)
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt

Heat popped popcorn in oven if it is cold. Cook chilies and peanuts in margarine over low heat for 5 minutes; remove chilies. Add pepitas and pour over hot corn; season with garlic salt.

Here is a link to more fun popcorn recipes. http://www.popcorn.org/nutrition/recipes/rprgchil.cfm

Corn in my hair?

Blog prompt:
Discuss what part of Pollan you found most persuasive in terms of changing your eating habits.

I love popcorn and eat it several times a week but didn't realize that wasn't the only time I was eating corn. Just about everything meal I'm eating corn, corn syrup, corn starch, mono, tri and di glycerides, dextrose, hydrogenated corn oil. The corn that is grown to make the products I just mentioned are made with a type of corn of that is not edible in the way we think of eating corn on the cob. After reading this section in Omnivore's Dilemma it prompted me to check what was in my pantry and see how many products contained corn. I had a party this weekend so unfortunately there is more junk food in the house than would normally be here. Cheez-its party mix contain corn syrup, baked lays contain corn oil, corn maltodextrin, sour gummi worms contain corn syrup. I have definitely become more aware making recent purchases and have been shopping at Trader Joes and shopping organic. Part of me thinks the whole shop organic and natural is a gimmick to try and get people to pay more for food, but after reading Michael Pollan's book and watching Kings of Corn I'm starting to see the benefits of actually paying attention to what I put into my body. Honestly I feel duped, like someone has pulled a quick one on me. But at the same time this doesn't mean that I won't buy the junk food once in a while or eat out even though I don't know if the ingredients are organic or not.

I think we really need to get back to the basics of food, learn how to cook fresh food (a skill we all have lost due to the convenience of frozen and microwavable foods).