eG Foodblog: therese - Hey, wanna play a game?

[therese]

Oh, nearly forgot: yes, it was Rapunzel. Rapunzel (for whom the girl was named) was clearly some sort of lettuce, and the version of the story that we had when I was a child included a footnote that suggested several options, including arugula.

[therese]

Busy day at work today, so probably not too much interaction on my part.

Breakfast of Fiber One with skim milk and tea. I won't make you look at it.

Feel free to play while I'm away, and maybe somebody who watches The Sopranos will figure out the answer to that question from upthread.

[Taboni]

You mean finook?

[therese]

You mean finook?

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Bingo. Or maybe "badda bing" would be more appropriate here.

Finocchio (finook or fanook) = fennel = fenouil

That Carmela's fennel is served with duck (remember Tony and the ducks in his swimming pool) is surely coincidence.

[Taboni]

Except the reference has little to do with fennel......

[therese]

Except the reference has little to do with fennel......

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And just how is it that finoccho ever came to be pejorative slang for homosexual? This term is not confined to Mafia sorts, or even to Italians in the U.S., as it's used in Italy (northern Italy in my experience as well).

[FabulousFoodBabe]

And just how is it that finoccho ever came to be pejorative slang for homosexual? This term is not confined to Mafia sorts, or even to Italians in the U.S., as it's used in Italy (northern Italy in my experience as well).

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Yes, I'd like to know that, too. I first heard it used like that on the West Coast.

Came into this too late to chime in on the fennel, but I loved the Sopranos episode, Carmela in Paris, and I noticed the duck first of all. Too late, too, to guess that the kids were running toward the snack bar at the Louvre

[FabulousFoodBabe]

The American Stonyfield Farm yogurt has added fiber?

I don't associate dairy products with dietary fiber usually.

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Inulin and pectin are both added to Stoneyfield. I'm pretty sure that pectin's used in a number of U.S. yogurts (as a gelling agent, although it's also a dietary fiber), but inulin's unique (the last time I checked, that is).

Why does Stoneyfield add inulin to its yogurt?

I'm following an Atlantan's gastronomic adventures and I have yet to see anything aside from Vidalia onions and rhubarb that I would consider traditionally Southern. What happened to all that?

The week is young.

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I know the answer to this, 'cuz therese told me once a while back. Would it be wrong of me to blurt?

[FabulousFoodBabe]

never mind!

Edited May 30, 2006 by FabulousFoodBabe (log)

[tryska]

Why does Stoneyfield add inulin to its yogurt?

hmm..i don't know exactly why, but inulin can be used as a "sugar" replacement to cut carbs in products, and iirc, is also a probiotic enhancer?

perhaps stonyfield uses it to keep the bacteria happy?

[rooftop1000]

Ok

inulin has a zero glycemic index, aides in calcium absorption and contains fiber

tracey

[Pontormo]

Okay, so I've just read the linked threads on the DeKalb Market.  Please take us piggies to the market and snap lots of pictures.

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I'd love to, but can't. Photos are prohibited inside DFM, just as they are inside Super H Mart.

Disappointing news, but thank you for answering all my questions. (I've been to Athens, by the way, and had a great time.)

I hope you have a chance to go to Morningside during the weekend ahead.

[MarketStEl]

And just how is it that finoccho ever came to be pejorative slang for homosexual? This term is not confined to Mafia sorts, or even to Italians in the U.S., as it's used in Italy (northern Italy in my experience as well).

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Yes, I'd like to know that, too. I first heard it used like that on the West Coast.

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Maybe it's similar to the process by which a word meaning "a bundle of sticks" (or, in the UK, "a cigarette") came to be a derogatory slur for "homosexual"?

[Megan Blocker]

Oh, nearly forgot: yes, it was Rapunzel. Rapunzel (for whom the girl was named) was clearly some sort of lettuce, and the version of the story that we had when I was a child included a footnote that suggested several options, including arugula.

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Rapunzel is like lamb's tongue, I think...rampion.

[Pontormo]

And just how is it that finoccho ever came to be pejorative slang for homosexual? This term is not confined to Mafia sorts, or even to Italians in the U.S., as it's used in Italy (northern Italy in my experience as well).

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Yes, I'd like to know that, too. I first heard it used like that on the West Coast.

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Maybe it's similar to the process by which a word meaning "a bundle of sticks" (or, in the UK, "a cigarette") came to be a derogatory slur for "homosexual"?

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I was going to hold my tongue, because the etymology seems to be off topic and the whole matter crude and homophobic, but with Sandy's permission, I hope this does not offend anyone's sensibilities or breach any rules.

I am no linguist and this is just a guess, but I suspect the culinary allusion is coincidence if the Italian verb for cheating, deceiving, "taking someone in " or according to one source, "to hook" does not derive from the same Latin roots for the vegetable.

For those of you in your on-campus offices or with access to JSTOR, you may wish to consult Robert A. Hall, Jr., "Scabrous Etymology: English Felon and Italian Infinocchiare" in American Speech, 55 (1980): 231-234.

Edited May 30, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[therese]

Okay, back in the blogosphere after most of a really draining day.

I do want to go ahead and point out that I don't mean to be even a teeny tiny bit crude or insensitive with the whole finocchio/fenouil question. I was just struck by the coincidence (or was it planned? The Sopranos is very well-written), and noted that eGulleteers had already identified the Le Grand Vefour.

[therese]

inulin has a zero glycemic index, aides in calcium absorption and contains fiber

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So, yes, inulin has zero glycemic index because humans cannot digest it. Even if it's injected directly into the blood stream we cannot metabolize it, and it moves directly into the urine throught the kidneys (assuming your kidneys function well---there's actually a test in which inulin actually is injected into a patient's blood and the recovery of inulin in urine measured as a way of looking at the GFR, or glomerular filtration rate).

Because inulin stays in one's gut it will act as dietary fiber, holding water there along with it. The wall of the gut stretches and responds to the increased volume of its contents, and well, everybody's generally happier.

tryska points out:

...is also a probiotic enhancer?

perhaps stonyfield uses it to keep the bacteria happy?

So, yes, some bacteria can utilize inulin, as they have the enzymes required to break it down into usable smaller carbohydrates. Providing this "probiotic" may be a means of changing the type of bacteria that live in your gut, or at least the relative amounts of the different sorts of bacteria (of which there are bajillions). Some of them are likely to produce gas as part of the metabolism of inulin, and your gut will stretch and respond in a manner similar that resulting from increased water volume.

This may all sound a little, well, ick, and in fact there is a well-documented early report of an unpleasant encounter with inulin. The report dates from the early 1600s, and is of French provenance.

Who wrote about his upset tummy, and what unfamiliar, inulin-rich food did he eat?

[Kouign Aman]

he ate jerusalem artichokes.

[rooftop1000]

he said....

"But in my judgement, which way soever they be drest and eaten they stir up and cause a filthie loathesome stinking winde with the bodie, thereby causing the belly to bee much pained and tormented, and are a meat more fit for swine, than men."

and he was John Goodyer

about, yes jerusalem artichokes

tracey

[tryska]

are the magical fruit high in inulin as well?

i'll have to go google.

[therese]

he said....

"But in my judgement, which way soever they be drest and eaten they stir up and cause a filthie loathesome stinking winde with the bodie, thereby causing the belly to bee much pained and tormented, and are a meat more fit for swine, than men."

and he was John Goodyer

about, yes jerusalem artichokes

tracey

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Yep. Seems like Champlain had something similar to say, but I can't find it on line just now. I may have confused Champlain's first reports of it (it's a New World item) with Goodyer's disparaging report.

[therese]

are the magical fruit high in inulin as well?

i'll have to go google.

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Any fiber that humans can't digest but bacteria can will produce the problem.

Although inulin is present in high amounts in jerusalem artichokes (aka sunchokes and topinambours) it's commercially isolated from another source. What is it?

[therese]

Wondering where my lunch is? Well, I didn't eat lunch today, that's where it is. And boy, am I ever grumpy.

[mizducky]

are the magical fruit high in inulin as well?

i'll have to go google.

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Any fiber that humans can't digest but bacteria can will produce the problem.

Although inulin is present in high amounts in jerusalem artichokes (aka sunchokes and topinambours) it's commercially isolated from another source. What is it?

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Well, Cargill says they're extracting their inulin from chicory root.

They also list some more foods naturally rich in inulin (some of which are repeats from previous posts): artichoke, leek, onion, asparagus, wheat, barley, rye, garlic, and bananas.

Another source said dahlia bulbs, of all things, are also rich in chicory, but I don't expect to see anyone digging up their glorious dahlias anytime soon.

[therese]

Feeling much, much better. These taste nicer than they look.