PLASTICS IN PROCESSED FOOD

 

 

 

Last year I experienced some crunchy, bitty-ness in a side dish at a restaurant. The pieces were too small to see in the dish, and I couldn’t go digging inside my mouth at the restaurant, but somehow they seemed non-organic, so I didn’t finish it. One’s tongue can identify even small bits of paper or fishbone easily. This seemed like something that didn’t belong.

 

A few months ago, I noticed similar bitty-ness while eating ravioli filled with artichoke and crab. It had come from a store. This time, I found the particle, a piece of plastic, shown flattened out in the accompanying photo. I can only speculate but suspect carelessness in preparing or filling the bags of crab or artichoke. Plastic is everywhere, as we all have learned.

 

These two incidents and others in the past, together with recent press about ultra-processed foods leading to increased cancer cases in younger individuals, convinced me to write something about it.

 

The message is this: If you wish to minimize your ingestion of unhealthy food additives, intentional or accidental, that have been associated with increased risk of cancer, it would be wise to avoid all processed foods. I think about children especially. 

 

The links below address cancer risk and foods, not plastic per se. I include a link to my blogpost on how to prevent obesity (some of it tongue-in-cheek)

 

   http://james-channing-shaw.blogspot.com/2009/10/ways-to-combat-obesity.html  

     https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/242892/ultra-processed-foods-linked-increased-risk-cancer/

     https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/causes-of-cancer/diet-and-cancer/food-controversies

 

Oxtail soup concoction

OK, this may seem manic, but I have to share this one-off with those of you who like to cook because it was so unexpectedly delicious and took about ten minutes. This is how it happened. It was all done with waaay leftovers. 

1.     Ox tail bits from the freezer: I had made beef stock from oxtails (one oxtail sawed by the butcher into pieces, a quartered onion, some chunks of celery, some chunks of carrot, a bay leaf, some water—you figure it out, just not too much water—and cook it for two to three hours, strain off the broth to keep, ditch the veggies, freeze the oxtail bits).

2.    Some of the leftover stock, gelatinized in the fridge, about ½ Cup or a little more.

3.    Mashed potatoes from three days ago—equal parts potato and celery root pieces—boil the hell out of them, smash’em, add some butter and cream, salt and pepper.

4.    Reduced tomatoes from, like, five days ago. (Take a can of chopped tomatoes and reduce by 50% in a pan on the stove or in the oven at 350, a little salt, a little thyme, until sort of dry-ish.)

HERE’S WHAT TO DO:

• Thaw out the oxtail pieces enough to take the meat off the bone, or better, heat in a pan until you can take the meat off.

• Heat in a sauce pan with a little butter and light oil (sunflower or veg oil) along with one or two tablespoons of the reduced tomato goop. Stir to prevent sticking/burning.

• When hot, add the old stock/broth

• Add one or two tablespoons of the mashed potatoes and blend into the broth. Don’t thicken too much.

• Warm

• Serve in a shallow bowl

• I also had a few leftover mushroom agnolotti that I refreshed in hot water for a few minutes and added to the mix just before serving.

• A little parmesan and pepper completed the dish.

This concoction was unbelievably delicious. I was even sober. I don’t have a photo. Next time. 

Wine paring: this would be a full bodied red: Australian Shiraz, Zinfandel, Washington state Cabernet Sauvignon.

Love, 

for more recipes, follow these links:

Here's All You Need

https://www.amazon.com/Heres-Need-James-Channing-Shaw/dp/172973913X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=26MBPUW3DO79Z&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.EGrMDUbMpRL7J0F2_zI0DHhz4DK4zPDp8o3gurv_6nXK0ZU79V4aWaI8Dk3e0TLxtRktr66RGTJO3YIq4jmpIGQdWnM21wn56xGNERFeOoadSGyq1LfMXTHP8I41gI8q-3roMgyqe0E93cRQrUsMk2HAJbv8s0NHS_W8Hs-_dh2rpCxoz3YVmSGXkI1YMr78JyGSbYZB6wrPCEEHswWgrjaxBP2RgWRVNv4HCbfEWGI.SHx0DEJ4j-V24JKpzrYtzcJaqgwmMjGt6EzqpfVa1Ek&dib_tag=se&keywords=Here%27s+all+you+need&qid=1732988748&sprefix=here%27s+all+you+need%2Caps%2C190&sr=8-1