jsolomon

There's nothing wrong with the soup. I just want more options... Actually, the soup is currently helping me insinuate myself into a very neat lady's life, so the soup is A Good Thing. It's just if I'm going to consider keeping them as a staple, I want to be able to use them for more than just one dish. Edit to fix pre-caffeinated poor verb conjugation.

So, clarify for me, please. How would you label milk from cows given Posilac? Posilac is from a GMO, to be sure. But, it doesn't do anything of the sort of genetic modification do the cow--and if you're going to bring up histone modification and de-methylation go straight to purgatory and think about what you're saying. And, if you do this, would you further the fear uncertainty and doubt by making your physician and your pharmacist have to give you a big long schpiel every time you purchase a recombinant vaccine. Is there a difference between GMO food and GMO medical items? It's the same FDA between foods and drugs. Do you lobby the same way against GMO medicines? Edit to fix pre-caffeinated verb conjugation.

What else do people do with them? Peas porridge hot and peas porridge cold? ??? For $.50 per pound, they're good and cheap, I just want a larger repertoire. Happy eating,

I hate to burst y'all purists' bubbles, but GMO's are here to stay, whether you like it or not. There are simply too many things that are easier done the GMO way, than otherwise. For instance, vaccines. Many vaccines are produced by inserting the DNA sequence of interest into a separate organism and having the other organism express the product. Why? Many times, it's chemically easier to purify. It can also be safer, faster, or more effective to produce. Alternatively, you ask scientists to prove them safe. Well, that's fine and dandy, but asking us to prove them safe is a handy semantic twist of asking us to prove that they DON'T do something, and proving a negative is always a tricky business. Certainly not one I want to be a part of. So, I'm going to operate under the assumption that GMO's are innocent until proven guilty. Also, that the US needs to adjust its IP laws. Likewise, our use of food and food subsidies for political clout should be limited. Finally we ought to re-examine what sustainable agriculture really is. However, I don't think that GMO's ought to be excluded from the food supply. Records ought to be kept for safety's sake. However, I don't believe panic is iin order. Also, don't neglect the power of the pen in US politics. 50 constituents writing in to a senator or representative in opposition to something Monsanto wants still has clout. We vote. Monsanto don't.

Oh, I can answer that question! People are for generating posts on eGullet!

Having grown up deep in corn, wheat, soybean, and ranch country, I have seen the quagmire that farmers have got themselves in get deeper and deeper. It's very odd for farmers because in most cash crops (read: grains) on an individual basis, the best way to get bigger, get better, but, usually, get out of debt, is to produce more. In the macroscale, this drives prices down. But, one farmer simply can't produce enough <delta>price to offset his/her need to rationalize producing less crop. It really is a downward spiral debt-wise for most farmers most years. So, to keep the farmers in business, our government bails them out with subsidies, grants, and whatnot every year. To justify these subsidies, our government then holds our grains (among other things) over the heads of countries who produce things we want, like oil, minerals, or in the case of the cold war, to promote things like democracy. This has been written on again and again. Part of the societal problem we run into is one of the farmers. Many of the ones I know, good farmers, and bad farmers, are very proud of the work they do. They ought to have a tremendous amount of pride. I wouldn't do anything for over 100 hours a week if I couldn't get personal satisfaction from it. So, when we confront farmers and say, "You're doing it wrong" you're going to get sub-optimal responses. Plus, if you can convince them that they need to change practices, products, etc, they are so saddled with debt that they are literally locked into growing the crop that is financially killing them in the first place. It's a catch-22 for them. Then, if Monsanto (or Pioneer, or Pfizer, or Stine.....) comes along with a whiz-bang corn/soybean/wheat that can alleviate some of the farmer's trouble (rootworms, round-up susceptibility, growing in crooked rows) the farmer is going to jump on it without looking at much of the fine print. They simply won't because they have too little time, too little education--usually--and too few resources to fight a contract in bad faith. My question becomes, then, why are we discussing this instead of writing letters to our senators? Save our society: chuck Monsanto's leadership where Enron's ought to go. Reform the farm subsidy program. Provide better education opportunities for rural Americans. And, finally, mandate land-grant research universities to provide, research, and improve the grains that we already grow. I'm going to go re-read "A Modest Proposal" first, though.

What a ridiculous defence for GM crops! But then again, you just made the argument against GM crops. Thanks. ← All you can offer in response is fear, uncertainty, and doubt? If you don't think that Americans have lost touch with the fact that life is inherently dangerous, then someone is removing all of the safety warning labels on what you buy before you see it. I look around everyday at people driving 2 tons of steel with 3 sticks of dynamite in their tank and think to myself, "if we can control a car, why can't we deal with a plastic bag without needing to be reminded that it can suffocate us?" If I do something dumb and get myself killed, I expect people I know to say, "That was dumb, and he got himself killed". I don't expect them to sue and legislate for something that common sense will solve. Apply Occam's Razor to what Monsanto wants to do with the food supply. The finger points back at us as a society. Why do you simply respond back with shame on Monsanto? They are simply living in the society that we helped craft with them. We are as morally culpable by providing them with the legal and social tools to undercut farmers in this manner. As for needing to retool our digestive system, why? When we genetically modify foods currently, we are placing in genes from other plants/animals into a different plant/animal's genome. We've already evolved to deal with the current variation of proteins, fats, and sugars, so we don't need to have a sharp branching of our philogeny to deal with these. AFAIK, there are no de novo proteins making it into our food supply. What is your response to the US using food subsidies and contracts as a political weapon brought to bear overseas?

There are several assertions that are made in that article that I don't think really hold much water. The safety of corn-fed beef, the quality of Des Moines water, the necessity of a company that doesn't produce food to vouchsafe food. First off, living is inherently dangerous. Americans have lost touch with this fact. I'm not saying that we shouldn't do many things within our power to make sure that our food supply is non-disease-producing, but we have a proven track record of over-reacting and getting it wrong, to boot. I completely agree that our version of industrial agriculture not a sustainable plan. My father and I get into fights about this all of the time. I am a firm believer in omnivores developing their digestive system to be able to handle novel proteins, sugars, and fats. So, the concept of a GM food doesn't frighten me. I believe my body is up to the task of digesting and extracting nutrition from a foodstuff genetically derived from something previously healthy. I simply can't see Monsanto inserting botulism neurotoxin genetics into an area where it will be expressed into the food supply. The shit-storm from that would be astounding. Monsanto would go the way of Enron quickly if that were to occur. As for grass-fed beef being safer, how? If it is a problem with the cleanliness of the supplier, as Eric Schlosser says, "there is shit in the meat", change butchers. If you change to a smaller volume, lower employee-number butcher, and pay good prices, they will produce the cuts that he needs. If it is a problem with hormonally injected beef, contract with producers to not inject their beef. If it's a problem with not wanting animal by-products fed to the cows, again, contract with the producers. I can name 10 producers off the top of my head that would dress their beef cattle in pink polka-dots for a good contract that would allow them to produce cattle of the quality they try to. And for water quality? If the water in Des Moines were really that bad, the FDA would shut down their water plant and make the city build a new plant to bring the water quality back up to snuff. So, what is the deal with this guy? He is being as much of a capitalist as the farmers, ranchers, industrialists, and consumers that he's critizing. He just happens to be tapped into a nerve that's currently in vogue. He can play off of first approximation junk science and bring in writing contracts and lecture contracts and bringing about more bile than actual legitimate change. It's going to take time to change our system. Things that will help us to stop our agricultural system being so poisonous are going to be having the American government stop using farm subsidies politically. We drive subsistence farmers off of their land in other countries so these developing countries can grow "cash crops". We use the sale of grains to other countries as a weapon to get them to follow the practices that the American public wants. We're the food bullies of the world, and we ought to be ashamed. So, of course we subsidize farmers. Without using food as political capital throughout the world, our industrial complex wouldn't have its raw materials to help us accumulate wealth. So, it's shame on us, goddammit. Not shame on farmers or shame on Monsanto. We're all part of this society.

I'm not going to argue with you there. From my viewpoint, it's still mainly grains that are genetically modified. Then, they typically go to animal feed, at least the ones my father grows, go to cattle feedlots, locally. It's a market scale issue. But, with the pesticides and herbicides that are necessary for industrial agriculture, having soybeans that you can use Round-up with, and corn that naturally is poisonous to rootworms is something that actually saves farmers a lot of production expense. But, it's scary how much political clout food megaconglomerates and agriculture megaconglomerates have... we oughta clip their political wings a bit. Gah, I'm way to hungover to remember my point right now...

-17F right now... I'm going to make some onion soup... I also have some bread dough that I'm going to bake.

Would you expound more on your parenthetical comment about crops not needing improvement, please?

Okay, I'll admit it. Where I work, we GM O's. My father grows GM corn. Having gone through a fair amount of genetics in college and having been a protein chemist off and on since graduating, I'm not going to bat an eye about eating GM food. But, it's how the gi-normous food corporations act that frightens me. They chew up and spit out workers the same way their machinery chews up and spits out beef carcasses, and why is there no outcry? -jared P.S. Corn fed beef rules.

Wow... that's right up there with some of the Biochem PhD's I work with who boiled their wort in autoclaves...

Congratulations! May your next roasts be equally as successful!

I also have to strongly support the concept of cooking for more than one family. It doesn't take a whole lot more energy to watch 2 children of the same age than 1. So, as Emeril says, "Make a friend". If you can have some friends in roughly the same child-rearing boat, you'll have both a safety net to fall back on, and someone on your level who will appreciate your friendship and help in ways that your children won't be able to communicate for years. It'll be fulfilling on different levels.

In Lincoln NE, there is a place like this. It's an interesting proposition. They do all of the prep for a set of recipes, and have all of the pans (aluminum disposable). Then, it's up to you to mix, bake/boil/etc, and take home to freeze. It actually looks intriguing. Dinner Date Kitchen If it weren't just me eating off of my budget, I might look seriously into it. However, you may want to look into my brother's solution: invite your destitute brother over who's a good cook and have him cook 10-12 days worth over a weekend and freeze most of it. Between roasts, stews, soups, stir-fries, and enchiladas, they were well-taken care of for several days.

Wow, this is such a weird concept. A place that typically sells premium coffee is normally expected to be a slower pace on the inside. And, this place doesn't sell coffee in paper or plastic. That being said, McDonald's thrives on high turnover and throughput. I can't see them tapping into the coffee culture well without having some form of slower-paced McCafe. That's so weird. I can't wrap my brain around it right now.

There are other considerations that people aren't mentioning with regards to fresh/frozen vegetables. Some vegetables, beets, notoriously, have such a tough cell wall that the beasts need to be cooked for the nutrients to even be biologically available, no matter that cooking also destroys some of the nutrients. So, as fifi said, there's really not a clear yes/no answer. However, the jury is clear: for proper fresh corn, grow/pick it yourself.

Most of the girls that I date would consider this a reason for me to microwave things in plastic. I tend toward testosterone-induced stupidity. The main problem that I have with the "disposable" containers is that they simply don't seal tightly enough to be successfully transported on my bicycle--my main commuter vehicle. I have all sorts of greases, juices, and sauces that have basted the inside of my panniers. What I'd really love is something along the line of a cake transporter, or similar. Something with an additional strap to keep the lid secure. I'll probably end up rigging something with glue and bungees, but I'm holding out hope.

I'm getting toward a place where I can actually stock my kitchen with proper items to not only cook with, but also store food with. I'm looking for suggestions and stories. So, what do eGer's use to store/freeze/transport their food in? Care to share your ingenious finds?

Oh, don't worry. I have a one-cup melitta and hot-pot at work, and occasionally, I'll bring some of my private stash pre-ground and binder-clipped in a filter. I take care of myself, but I also have a good cuppa before I leave home on the bicycle, so I'm properly bolstered to start the day.

I am dubiously the "coffee guy" at my employer. We have several coffee drinkers, but only a couple (me included) who complain whilst drinking plonk. So, here's my question: what coffee maker would you recommend. The requirements: no grinder -> we're pretty much stuck brewing Folgers Either an automatic shut-off or vacuum thermos to brew into "sneak a cup" feature Quick brew time Brews at proper temperature Not too expensive ~12 cup drip Does anyone have recommendations off the top of their head?

I would assume there is a trypsin and pepsin digest portion--to simulate the stomach. Those are easily available and cheap. Then, probably a bile salt soak, to simulate the intestinal trip. However, those would probably need to be tweaked a bit. That's just off the top of my head after half a bottle of port.

Properly heated water in a dishwasher is hotter than the boiling point of the antifreeze, so you're slowly boiling away all of the antifreeze in it. Shake it. You shouldn't hear anything anymore. New/non-dishwasher-washed ones will slosh.

If you're handy with potable water-grade PVC, you should be able to fashion your own stuffing tube to attach to a hand-cranked grinder. Then, you'd grind your stuffing. Mix in the seasonings, toss in the coarsest (preferably no die at all) die, attach the pvc horn and casings, and stuff. If I had some more scratch and time, I'd probably make one just for fun and post destruction on eG.