What Is Freezer Burn?
Why do ice cubes shrink, ice cream get frosty, and vegetables dry out in the freezer? H/T MinuteEarth
Call Me Stormy
Finding righteous currents in turbulent times
Archive for the tag “food”
Story of Frozen Food
How inventor Clarence Birdseye revolutionized food preservation by bringing the North Pole into kitchens. H/T MinuteEarth
New York’s Nanny Freaks
New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is a diehard nanny, but he’s certainly got plenty of company among New York’s seemingly bottomless pool of control freaks. Reason.TV’s Nanny of the Month for April comes from Eastchester, New York where a local official wasn’t satisfied with outlawing traditional fast-food joints like McDonald’s and Burger King. He decided to kick it up a notch and shield locals from “fast casual” restaurants like Panera Bread and Chipotle. And to think these newcomers, with their earth tones and organic offerings, thought they could stave off the taste police!
Gluten
Gluten is a sticky protein composite found in cereal grains. Hank Green gives us some insight into the importance of gluten in history, as well as its impact on health in our own time. H/T SciShow
The Paleo Diet Delusion
“The fact is that organisms are never perfectly suited to their environment,” says evolutionary biologist Marlene Zuk, “the way evolution works is through a whole series of compromises and jerry-rigged solutions based on what was there before.”
Zuk sat down with ReasonTV’s Tracy Oppenheimer to discuss her findings in her new book Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live. She says that the paleo diet, philosophy and lifestyle overlook “a lot of really cool stuff that’s been happening in evolution.”
Attack of the Fresh Produce
Ben Crystal from Personal Liberty Digest wonders if President Obama’s signing of the Monsanto Protection Act will spur a fresh produce counter-attack. In this edition of The Great Eight, Crystal also weighs in on Ashley Judd’s decision not to run for Senate in Kentucky and on Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi’s latest belligerent warnings.
Banning Bikini Baristas
They make it their business to mind your business, and this month America’s busybodies have been working overtime.
Lawmakers are no longer loco for just one brand of energy drink. Illinois State Rep. Luis Arroyo (D-Chicago) has penned a bill that would make it illegal “to sell, offer for sale or deliver” just about any kind of energy drink to anyone under age 18 (Arroyo’s championing another top-tier issue–outlawing lion steaks).
Meanwhile, dog lovers in Oklahoma are sounding off against a plan cooked up by State Sen. Patrick Anderson (R-Enid) to allow cities to ban specific breeds of dogs. But this time the Nanny of the Month comes to us from Shelton, Washington, where city commissioners and townspeople alike have united against a threat of bikini baristas. H/T Reason TV
Ask Your Doctor About Tacos
Depression got you down? Ask your doctor about tacos. H/T Pleated Jeans
Caviar Making a Comeback
Facing extinction in the wild, the highly prized beluga sturgeon may be about to make a comeback from a new base in the United States. A Florida company is breeding the fish to produce sought-after beluga caviar for profit, but must first demonstrate that it is helping the fish recover in the wild. Evelyn Gruber from Reuters reports.
