Screw Atkins

[denise_jer]

Has anyone started seeing "Beef: 100% Carb-free" labels?

No, but I've seen smoked salmon labled "Low Carb"!

[Mssmltzr]

Andrew:

I know of several bakeries in Raleigh that have shut down in the past 6 months. When interviewed the owners blamed, among other things, the Atkin's craze. Tant pis!

[s'kat]

Has anyone started seeing "Beef: 100% Carb-free" labels?

No, but I've seen smoked salmon labled "Low Carb"!

My husband brought home some cheddar the other night labelled, "For your carb-free lifestyle!".

[kitchenbabe]

Bread, Bread, Glorious Bread....

I love fresh challah, 6-strand braid with a bit of butter (guess what I'm doing tomorrow??)

Fresh baguette with chopped mushrooms, sliced romas and shredded mozz for some bruschetta

Cinnamon bagel with a schmear of real butter

and a recent discovery, Yucca Bread from Latin America.

BTW, s'kat, that timpano was beautiful! was it difficult to make? I saw Big Night 2 or 3 times, and I always hold my breath when they take it out of the oven and begin serving it.

[bloviatrix]

This week for shabbat I inadvertantly picked up a raisin challah instead of a plain one (we reserve raisin for Rosh Hashannah and Sukkot). Anyway, we finished it over the sabbath -- it was really good. Normally, we have leftovers for sunday morning french toast, but not this week.

[sanguinella]

People have been eating grains, cereals,noodles, tubers and fruit for centuries, nay millenia, and I don't believe that those that did were ever in any danger of being obese. In fact, it was the noblemen, with their roasts and sausages and meat pies and whatnot that were the gouty obese ones. I just keep thinking of Henry VIII. True, there were no cakes with frosting and doughnuts and Hostess products, but I don't think that even those are "bad carbs". (Okay, I don't truly believe that any Hostess product should be considered a carb, or even food, but, I won't get into that right now) I never thought I'd hear carbohydrates given a moral qualifier. It is absurd. We all know what causes obesity, it is the simple fact that we modern men and women no longer calorically require the amount of food we insist on stuffing ourselves with. Oh, and one more thing, our bodies do need carbs, or really, and essentially, glucose. It is what fuels the Krebs cycle. Glucose is also the primary and preferred energy source for the brain. Sorry Mr. Protein, neurons do live on bread alone.

Edited February 29, 2004 by sanguinella (log)

[s'kat]

BTW, s'kat, that timpano was beautiful! was it difficult to make? I saw Big Night 2 or 3 times, and I always hold my breath when they take it out of the oven and begin serving it.

Not at all difficult, just time-consuming. I did all of my prep work the two weeks before the meal, then just assembled it that day.

And yes, there was a gasp when I brought it to the table.

[sanguinella]

Since you have mastered the timpano, you might wish to try the timballo. Very similar in execution, except that it may be made with mashed potatoes as well as rice in place of rigatoni or other pasta, and that if applying the traditional southern italian recipe, it is covered with thin slices of fried eggplant prior to being baked.

Actually, does anyone here remember the movie with Burt Lancaster, "The gattopardo/the leopard?" Or has anyone of you read the book by Giovanni di Lampedusa it is based on? You would see that "Big Night" is not the first to describe that particular glorious dome of deliciousness.

[bloviatrix]

I saw a sign at the bakery this morning for low-carb challah. I'm sorry, but that's just wrong. Yuck.

[pss999]

I got the raisin bread part all right, but I've not heard of "Plugra."  It's rather an unappetizing name for butter, I must say!

Was watching the very non-atkins-friendly "Unwrapped" the other night and they were showing a baker using "a special ingredient called Plugra, which is like butter, but has more fat."

I live in Montreal and speak French, so some of these French names crack me up a bit... "plugra" is clearly a take on "plus gras", which means simply "more fat"! So of course it's going to be good!! :-)

And "sour batard" gave me a chuckle too... how about "my sour batard needs plugra", which would translate as "my sour bastard needs more fat". Heh heh...

Oh, and here are some of my own odes to carbs (down with Atkins! Oh wait, he already is...):

http://www.AdventuresInBaking.com/pss

Cheers,

Paul

[BrennaMorgan]

Life without bread=torture

[Jason Perlow]

I saw a sign at the bakery this morning for low-carb challah. I'm sorry, but that's just wrong. Yuck.

Actually, in Jerusalem, I think they'll stone you for making and advertising that.

[FoodMan]

An ode to carbs and specifically bread and pasta is certainly due. I am also appalled by all this advertising and labeling of everything Low-carb!! Even Pizza for heaven’s sake is be low-carbed by mega chains. My moto is everything in moderation, eat and enjoy, don’t pig out (although I do break the rule sometimes ). A diet that tells you to eat as much as you want of anything cannot have any good long term effects. These fats will eventually catch up with you (and your arteries) and those large proteins can really wreck havoc on your kidneys.

I enjoy bread so much and baking bread. I bake at least on or two times per week. This week I made two wonderful rosemary potato loaves shaped into large boules. The smell wafting through the house alone is worth every ounce of carbs in them. We also baked a large wheat loaf to, my wife’s first baking experience and she was so happy that it actually “worked”.

This weekend for my Father-in-law’s birthday I am planning on baking a sourdough boule and a couple of crusty Ciabattas.

[menton1]

It seems we now have about 6 threads going on this same topic-- However, the title of this one is the closest to my heart.

Let me reiterate that this new "low carb" promoting is probably just a fad powered by lots of money and the Atkins logo. Actually, the bulk of the evidence shows that high COMPLEX carbs and low fat are really the way to better health. The Ornish and Cooper programs are geared this way, and have been shown to actually reverse heart disease. Not to mention the USDA Food Pyramid recommending this way of eating.

Of course, the high-fat Atkins stuff may seem tastier than the low fat breads, pastas, fruits and veggies, but you really do feel better eating a balanced diet of high complex carbs and low fats.

I always believed that (Whole Grain) Bread is the Staff of Life!!

[FoodMan]

I got the raisin bread part all right, but I've not heard of "Plugra."  It's rather an unappetizing name for butter, I must say!

Was watching the very non-atkins-friendly "Unwrapped" the other night and they were showing a baker using "a special ingredient called Plugra, which is like butter, but has more fat."

I live in Montreal and speak French, so some of these French names crack me up a bit... "plugra" is clearly a take on "plus gras", which means simply "more fat"! So of course it's going to be good!! :-)

And "sour batard" gave me a chuckle too... how about "my sour batard needs plugra", which would translate as "my sour bastard needs more fat". Heh heh...

Oh, and here are some of my own odes to carbs (down with Atkins! Oh wait, he already is...):

http://www.AdventuresInBaking.com/pss

Cheers,

Paul

Plugra, a special ingeredient "like" butter but with more fat? These Unwrapped producers are dumber than I thought. As if Plugra is some weird newly discovered ingredient rather than a better butter.

[itch22]

I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but I am so surprised that there is even one person on eGullet who supports Atkins. I thought the whole premise of being a "foodie" was wanting to enjoy food, you know... "taste the world" or some other cliche like that. I could never give up bread, or any other carb.

I did see an interesting news report on CTV (if you're Canadian then you know what I'm talkin' about), where they did a study of carbs in pasta compared to Italy's poor helath and large overweight population. As the report confirmed, lots of past and no health epidemic in Italy. They attribute the carb issue here in North America with our large servings. The suburban family piles into a place like East Side Mario's and orders dinner, a VAT of pasta. In Italy, you'd never recieve such large portions.

[menton1]

Bread eaters, take heart! Another high-profile study finds high-complex carb diet is good for you, and Atkins can kill you! Bring on those whole grain rolls! Atkins Diet Can Kill You

[ronnie_suburban]

I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but I am so surprised that there is even one person on eGullet who supports Atkins.  I thought the whole premise of being a "foodie" was wanting to enjoy food, you know... "taste the world" or some other cliche like that.  I could never give up bread, or any other carb.

Well any being on any diet means making some food sacrifices. For example, I don't know of any diet which advocates eating pie. Being an eGullet member who occasionally diets, I can say that dieting has zero to do with how much I enjoy food experiences. However, it has a lot to do with the accepting the realities of who I am and what my body and mind require.

In response to a few other posts here...science is science and sometimes people need to lose weight. Given the acknowledged differences in our metabolisms, it's a bit simplistic to imply that the only people who need to "take some weight off" are ones who don't know how to take care themselves...or that somehow, if one needs to diet, that person must be flawed or ignorant.

Different things work for different people.

Oh and by the way, as I've stated over and over again...

Bread is Glorious!

=R=

p.s. Atkins will not kill you, nor will being on the Atkins diet. Are there any documented cases of someone dying from being on Atkins? However, obesity can lead to many health problems that will kill you--and they are well-documented.

[pss999]

Plugra, a special ingeredient "like" butter but with more fat? These Unwrapped producers are dumber than I thought. As if Plugra is some weird newly discovered ingredient rather than a better butter.

Yep, just "better butter" (less water) than standard North American butter. I found their page: http://www.kellerscreamery.com/products/plugra/index.php

Paul

[itch22]

Well any being on any diet means making some food sacrifices. For example, I don't know of any diet which advocates eating pie. Being an eGullet member who occasionally diets, I can say that dieting has zero to do with how much I enjoy food experiences. However, it has a lot to do with the accepting the realities of who I am and what my body and mind require.

You're right, there are certain people with health issues that could benefit from such a diet. My grandmother has diabetes and my fiance is unable to exercise regularily due to severe asthma. I know how health issues can impact a diet. However, I am simply surprised that so many are on the Atkins band wagon.

[madziast]

good bread, good cheese and good wine--a perfect meal