7 ms·
OMG! This is the worst TIL of my entire life. I eat a shameful amount of Jello as an adult, and I did not know this!
by TheMagicHorsey 6y ago
OMG! This is the worst TIL of my entire life. I eat a shameful amount of Jello as an adult, and I did not know this!
- throwaway316943 6y agoIt’s good for you
- hh3k0 6y agoI'd argue that cow feet are best for cows.
- Spooky23 6y agoIf people didn’t eat cows or drink milk, they’d be like most other large ruminants... extinct.
- ashtonkem 6y agoBeing selected as a food species for a more successful species is a classic example of the conundrum of evolution; it’s great for the species and pretty bad for the individual.
- MisterTea 6y agoThey don't need them after they've been sent to the market.
- taneq 6y agoIf it makes you feel better it's often pig feet, and sometimes various knees. Also, gelatin is in EVERYTHING. Good luck eating virtually any dessert if you're a strict vegetarian.
- dashundchen 6y agoAs someone who eats plant based, that is definitely not the case in the US. Gelatin is very easy to avoid. Outside of jello itself, the common desserts that contain it are chewy candies and some mousse type desserts. So canolli, mousse, and flan frequently have gelatin, along with things like Starbursts and some chewing gums, but other than that I have not found it to be a common ingredient.
- taneq 6y agoWeird... In Australia (last I checked at least, maybe it's changed) it's commonly in chocolate, ice cream, and any kind of soft sweet, to the point where it's nigh impossible to get any of the above without it.
- worker767424 6y ago> chocolate Definitely not in anything like a bar of chocolate. > ice cream Oddly, this seems to vary a lot by country. It's rare in the US, though. Guar gum is common, though.
- hjek 6y agoExpert vegan here. No, gelatin is never in plain chocolates, but often added to diced coconut!
- fencepost 6y agoFor chocolates it might be in things with foams or nougat. Definitely in marshmallows.
- worker767424 6y agoAh. chocolates != chocolate Usually nougat uses egg whites so it doesn't need gelatin as a protein. Marshmallows are arguably nougat, though, since they're also sugar bound with protein. Marshmallow cream usually uses egg. All of the major nougat US candy bars I can find use egg and not gelatin. I've seen chocolates with marshmallow in them.
- gknoy 6y agoI still remember (with a mixture of awe and horror) the video I saw that showed how gummy bears are made... in reverse. So you start with delicious looking things, and it just gets more and more nightmarish. It was brilliantly done, and I am pretty sure I think of it almost every time I think about gummy candies. I think I found it again by searching for "reverse gummy bear video". I won't link it directly, so that if you really don't want to see it, there's less chance of reflexively clicking a link. ;)
- RankingMember 6y agoWelp, guess I've eaten my last gummy bear. At least Swedish Fish are gelatin-free! The video, for anyone wanting a direct link (be warned, it's exactly as gknoy described): https://vimeo.com/180163754 https://vimeo.com/180163754
- fencepost 6y agoFascinating, never thought about how they get the skin off. Think in terms of a cross between a large powered vegetable peeler and a packing tape dispenser (the kind with a handle). The video is not actually gory - shows parts of the cleaning and butchering process, but not the slaughterhouse.
- taneq 6y agoI had a callout a few years ago to fix some issues with a sheep pelter. I'd never seen one before and didn't have much context until the guy described how it was meant to work, at which point I... did not feel well. Ended up having weird OS comms issues with the PLC programming software and after a few hours of frustration wasn't able to connect anyway, but to this day that's the most morally compromised I've ever felt about my job. Which I guess is weird, I mean the sheep were already dead so it's not like it was gonna suffer more, but... ew. Ew ew ew. So much ew. Not gonna lie, a part of me was relieved that I couldn't help them.
- fencepost 6y ago
- pvaldes 6y agoA different question could be why are you a strict vegetarian when your species evolved as an omnivore Everybody turning strict vegetarian would create an ecological disaster at planetary level.
- InitialLastName 6y agoWhy is that worse than the planetary-level ecological disaster that's currently being exacerbated by everyone in the developed world eating a ridiculous amount of meat? My species also "evolved" to constantly fight wars against everyone not in my family; I'd say it's really good news that we were able to develop moral and conceptual systems to overwhelm our evolutionary tendencies.
- hnick 6y agoSo you live a hunter gatherer lifestyle, mostly outdoors, and definitely don't sit in a chair out of the sun for hours at a time? Since we're talking about evolution.
- taneq 6y agoI'm not, I evolved as an omnivore. I also generally don't like meat though because I'm weird.
- taurath 6y agoThe history of gelatin as a food product is fascinating, as it exploded in popularity in the mid century - check out some of these.... interesting looking dishes. https://flashbak.com/meals-in-a-mold-the-mid-centurys-love-affair-with-gelatin-34213/ https://flashbak.com/meals-in-a-mold-the-mid-centurys-love-a... https://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/why-were-there-so-many-gelatin-based-dishes-50s-and-60s https://www.thedailymeal.com/eat/why-were-there-so-many-gela...
- amelius 6y agoAnd the red coloring in many foods (E120) is made from insects. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmine
- markdown 6y agoI always thought it was made from the actual hoof... which I assume is keratin. But this video shows it to be made from pig skin https://vimeo.com/180163754 https://vimeo.com/180163754
- interestica 6y agoDo they still use horse parts for the glue that keeps the boxes shut?
- brailsafe 6y agoI hope so, horses are terrifying.
- scythe 6y agoYou know, it's kind of funny. Horses might have a better argument than any other animal for being the natural predator of humans. Specifically, nomadic depredations on preindustrial societies comprised armies with a proportionally small number of humans and a large number of horses pillaging towns and cities full of horseless humans. In 13th-century Asia, the average horse probably had a better life than the average human. The same thing happened shortly after the horse was (re)introduced to North America in the sixteenth century; settled agricultural societies were quickly overrun by horse-riding nomads.
- masklinn 6y agoHopefully, what else are you going to do with hooves and bones otherwise, throw them away? That's wasteful! (in reality there's almost no chance, synthetic glues are way easier to manufacture and manage, outside of gelatin animal glues would near-only be used for restoration or specialty applications e.g. some lutherie and other speciality woodworking)
- LargoLasskhyfv 6y ago'Terra Preta'
- legerdemain 6y agoNo, but there are plenty of horse parts in red wine.
- worker767424 6y ago
- JTbane 6y agoluckily there are alternatives if you are vegan, such as agar and pectin