4 ms·

You can argue that processing food doesn't change anything about it, but it seems a ridiculous position to take that "processed food" might not exist. Do you r

You can argue that processing food doesn't change anything about it, but it seems a ridiculous position to take that "processed food" might not exist. Do you really see no possible difference between a potato, and Pringles, because "picking potatoes is a process"?

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
colechristensen 7y ago
I'm challenging it as nonspecific, unhelpful name-calling. What is the difference between "processed" and "cooked" food? Can you really draw a non-arbitrary line between the two? Does it just have to be cooked by someone else? Are there techniques which are kosher and are just "cooked" while others make it "processed"? Is it a set of ingredients which make the distinction? Does baking soda make a food processed? Sodium citrate? Soy lecithin? Could you go through Modernist Cuisine and classify each recipe as "processed" or not?
- jodrellblank 7y ago
  So you are doing that? > Can you really draw a non-arbitrary line between the two? No, I can't. That doesn't mean there is no distinction between the two. I cannot draw an arbitrary line where "low altitude" becomes "high altitude", but there are many differences between them. > What is the difference between "processed" and "cooked" food? Cooked is food you would make yourself. Processed is what a company would make to sell to maximise money. Cooked is heating to make digestible and tasty. Processed is trying to find a hyperstimulus to make more-ish. Cooked is food taken as a whole. Processed is treating food as resource to be refined into separate components, then ignore all the non-profitable components and concentrate the obviously useful ones. Cooked is food you bought fresh yesterday and eat leftovers of tomorrow. Processed is food that entered the supply chain two weeks ago and is best before two weeks away. Cooked is food that you trimmed the manky parts off while peeling. Processed is 5 tons of tomatoes dumped onto the ground by a truck. Cooked is food with color. Processed is yellow and white crunchy flour. Cooked is stuff a human can make. Processed is filtered by what fits in a factory process. Cooked uses whatever ingredients are available now. Processed uses only ingredients are available in bulk year round. Cooked is food of different varieties and textures. Processed is the same experience every time. Again, I'm not saying this is automatically bad, I'm saying there is clearly some distinction between "chicken breast bought from a butcher and grilled" and "mechanically recovered processed chicken style textured sandwich filling packaged in a protective atmosphere in plastic with a weird smell to it use within 24 hours of opening", even if I can't pinpoint a non-arbitrary line.
  - colechristensen 7y ago
    That's exactly it. You cannot classify food as processed or cooked without handwaving and saying it's some "other" without any real way to decide what to label a food. It's nonsense virtue signaling adjective soup. And it is still unclear if I make meatloaf to freeze and am in a bad mood whether or not that food is processed. Maybe I have to use a really big oven to make sure it's processed instead of cooked.
    - jodrellblank 7y ago
      You've now gone from "everything is processed" to "processing is not real" to "maybe processing depends on my mood" to "whether it's processed is unclear". And you say I'm talking nonsense. It is unclear whether your meatloaf is processed or not. Welcome to the world, lots of things are unclear, but still exist.
  - colechristensen 7y ago
    > Cooked uses whatever ingredients are available now. Processed uses only ingredients are available in bulk year round. So if I make tomato sauce in the winter out of imported tomatoes from south america, is it processed? >Cooked is stuff a human can make. Processed is filtered by what fits in a factory process. If I build a robot to make me breakfast, is the food going to be "processed" instead of cooked? >Cooked is food that you trimmed the manky parts off while peeling. Processed is 5 tons of tomatoes dumped onto the ground by a truck. I once went to a super foodie restaurant and ordered something like a $20 appetizer which included some kind of braised carrots that were not pealed and still had the stems and a bit of grit from the soil on them. Were my disappointing carrots "processed"? >Cooked is food taken as a whole. Processed is treating food as resource to be refined into separate components, then ignore all the non-profitable components and concentrate the obviously useful ones. If I go to a restaurant and get some food prepared by ordinary line cooks that don't give a shit about their job besides just getting it done, is that food processed? >Cooked is food you would make yourself. Processed is what a company would make to sell to maximise money. If I get really good at making cookies and start selling them do they automatically become "processed"? What would I have to do to avoid that "processed" label? What would I do that would tip me over from delicious home-cooked cookies to worthless processed cookies? How big the ovens and mixers are? Where I source my ingredients? A specific kind of oven? Cooking machinery?

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

colechristensen 7y ago

I'm challenging it as nonspecific, unhelpful name-calling. What is the difference between "processed" and "cooked" food? Can you really draw a non-arbitrary line between the two? Does it just have to be cooked by someone else? Are there techniques which are kosher and are just "cooked" while others make it "processed"? Is it a set of ingredients which make the distinction? Does baking soda make a food processed? Sodium citrate? Soy lecithin? Could you go through Modernist Cuisine and classify each recipe as "processed" or not?

jodrellblank 7y ago
So you are doing that? > Can you really draw a non-arbitrary line between the two? No, I can't. That doesn't mean there is no distinction between the two. I cannot draw an arbitrary line where "low altitude" becomes "high altitude", but there are many differences between them. > What is the difference between "processed" and "cooked" food? Cooked is food you would make yourself. Processed is what a company would make to sell to maximise money. Cooked is heating to make digestible and tasty. Processed is trying to find a hyperstimulus to make more-ish. Cooked is food taken as a whole. Processed is treating food as resource to be refined into separate components, then ignore all the non-profitable components and concentrate the obviously useful ones. Cooked is food you bought fresh yesterday and eat leftovers of tomorrow. Processed is food that entered the supply chain two weeks ago and is best before two weeks away. Cooked is food that you trimmed the manky parts off while peeling. Processed is 5 tons of tomatoes dumped onto the ground by a truck. Cooked is food with color. Processed is yellow and white crunchy flour. Cooked is stuff a human can make. Processed is filtered by what fits in a factory process. Cooked uses whatever ingredients are available now. Processed uses only ingredients are available in bulk year round. Cooked is food of different varieties and textures. Processed is the same experience every time. Again, I'm not saying this is automatically bad, I'm saying there is clearly some distinction between "chicken breast bought from a butcher and grilled" and "mechanically recovered processed chicken style textured sandwich filling packaged in a protective atmosphere in plastic with a weird smell to it use within 24 hours of opening", even if I can't pinpoint a non-arbitrary line.
- colechristensen 7y ago
  That's exactly it. You cannot classify food as processed or cooked without handwaving and saying it's some "other" without any real way to decide what to label a food. It's nonsense virtue signaling adjective soup. And it is still unclear if I make meatloaf to freeze and am in a bad mood whether or not that food is processed. Maybe I have to use a really big oven to make sure it's processed instead of cooked.
  - jodrellblank 7y ago
    You've now gone from "everything is processed" to "processing is not real" to "maybe processing depends on my mood" to "whether it's processed is unclear". And you say I'm talking nonsense. It is unclear whether your meatloaf is processed or not. Welcome to the world, lots of things are unclear, but still exist.
- colechristensen 7y ago
  > Cooked uses whatever ingredients are available now. Processed uses only ingredients are available in bulk year round. So if I make tomato sauce in the winter out of imported tomatoes from south america, is it processed? >Cooked is stuff a human can make. Processed is filtered by what fits in a factory process. If I build a robot to make me breakfast, is the food going to be "processed" instead of cooked? >Cooked is food that you trimmed the manky parts off while peeling. Processed is 5 tons of tomatoes dumped onto the ground by a truck. I once went to a super foodie restaurant and ordered something like a $20 appetizer which included some kind of braised carrots that were not pealed and still had the stems and a bit of grit from the soil on them. Were my disappointing carrots "processed"? >Cooked is food taken as a whole. Processed is treating food as resource to be refined into separate components, then ignore all the non-profitable components and concentrate the obviously useful ones. If I go to a restaurant and get some food prepared by ordinary line cooks that don't give a shit about their job besides just getting it done, is that food processed? >Cooked is food you would make yourself. Processed is what a company would make to sell to maximise money. If I get really good at making cookies and start selling them do they automatically become "processed"? What would I have to do to avoid that "processed" label? What would I do that would tip me over from delicious home-cooked cookies to worthless processed cookies? How big the ovens and mixers are? Where I source my ingredients? A specific kind of oven? Cooking machinery?