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So, this article highlights important issues with convenience foods, with a minimum of fearmongering relative to the standard of this topic. The article claims

So, this article highlights important issues with convenience foods, with a minimum of fearmongering relative to the standard of this topic. The article claims that rosemary extract is Bad because it substitutes for BHA/BHT, a preservative. At this point I stopped reading due to an overwhelming urge to bang my head into the table. Preservation is in fact a major reason for seasoning-- in a preserved meat, no less! (And BHA/BHT are antioxidants-- which makes them Good...) Similarly, it's not surprising that yeast extract (nutritional yeast Good) contains the Bad MSG. Glutamate is a fundamental building block of life. If you've ever tasted yeast extract, you will immediately notice that it's very salty. The only reason to eat it is as a flavor enhancer, because as a major constituent it's too salty-- except for various Commonwealth countries that like to put it on toast. Etc... Shit, I bet the egg yolks in my cake batter are Bad because they substitute for cholesterol, an emulsifier and flavor enhancer which is linked to diseases (it also tastes nasty on its own) Crappy food optimized for convenience, scale and profit is a huge problem. I hate-- the actual, painful, comsuming hate-- convenience foods and I double hate franchise restaurants etc. because they reduce the amount of "real," freshly prepared, flavorful food immediately available to me. But that doesn't obviate the need for critical thinking. Finally, as a practicing biochemist and excellent cooker/eater I'm Offended by the insinuation that one cannot be equally comfortable in a kitchen or in a lab. Derek Lowe's several article[0]s should be boilerplate at the end of any chemicals vs food piece. [0] http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2014/04/30/is_that_food_or_not.php http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2014/04/30/is_that_food... Edit: after skimming the remainder of the article, it becomes clear that its author has never cooked anything

legulere 12y ago
> Similarly, it's not surprising that yeast extract (nutritional yeast Good) contains the Bad MSG. This is not so much an issue of bad or good chemicals, it's an issue of honesty. There are tons of products out there with "no added glutamate" that have yeast extract on their ingredient list. I don't even mind when food producers hide that they add glutamate by using yeast extract as long as they declare it as a flavor enhancer.
- tptacek 12y ago
  Labeling glutamate content is a silly idea. The issue is that anyone would make a "no added glutamate" claim, thus perpetuating the myth that glutamate matters.
makomk 12y ago
> The article claims that rosemary extract is Bad because it substitutes for BHA/BHT, a preservative. It's bad because they're being dishonest. They're running a solvent extraction on rosemary to obtain a fairly impure mixture of carnosic acid and carnosol - the chemicals they actually want - and remove all the stuff like aroma and flavour that makes it identifiable as rosemary, then they're calling it "rosemary extract" rather than "carnosol" because it sounds better, even though the end product is almost nothing like rosemary.
brc 12y ago
Not a bio-chemist but I'm with you. Chalk it up to the quite modern phobia that big companies are out to get you. I like to do the old joke of asking people if they want some di-hydrogen monoxide. Usually they say no or look at me if I'm trying to poison them. Ultimately everything we eat, breath and drink is made up of chemicals, mans people lose sight of that.
- scholia 12y ago
  > Chalk it up to the quite modern phobia that big companies are out to get you. Well, they aren't really out to get you, but based on their track records for generally putting profits before people, it's the safest assumption....
md2be 12y ago
While correct on many issues, Clearly this author missed his biochemisty lectures, ascorbic acid is vitamin C. Salad washed in tap water with chlorine is how we wash our vegetables at home. But still there is more good than bad in this piece.
ginko 12y ago
>Similarly, it's not surprising that yeast extract (nutritional yeast Good) contains the Bad MSG. Glutamate is a fundamental building block of life. If you've ever tasted yeast extract, you will immediately notice that it's very salty. The issue I have with yeast extract (vs. pure MSG) is that it tends to leave an unpleasant aftertaste in my mouth that won't go away for hours. This is why I generally try to avoid it.

legulere 12y ago

> Similarly, it's not surprising that yeast extract (nutritional yeast Good) contains the Bad MSG. This is not so much an issue of bad or good chemicals, it's an issue of honesty. There are tons of products out there with "no added glutamate" that have yeast extract on their ingredient list. I don't even mind when food producers hide that they add glutamate by using yeast extract as long as they declare it as a flavor enhancer.

tptacek 12y ago
Labeling glutamate content is a silly idea. The issue is that anyone would make a "no added glutamate" claim, thus perpetuating the myth that glutamate matters.

makomk 12y ago

> The article claims that rosemary extract is Bad because it substitutes for BHA/BHT, a preservative. It's bad because they're being dishonest. They're running a solvent extraction on rosemary to obtain a fairly impure mixture of carnosic acid and carnosol - the chemicals they actually want - and remove all the stuff like aroma and flavour that makes it identifiable as rosemary, then they're calling it "rosemary extract" rather than "carnosol" because it sounds better, even though the end product is almost nothing like rosemary.

brc 12y ago

Not a bio-chemist but I'm with you. Chalk it up to the quite modern phobia that big companies are out to get you. I like to do the old joke of asking people if they want some di-hydrogen monoxide. Usually they say no or look at me if I'm trying to poison them. Ultimately everything we eat, breath and drink is made up of chemicals, mans people lose sight of that.

scholia 12y ago
> Chalk it up to the quite modern phobia that big companies are out to get you. Well, they aren't really out to get you, but based on their track records for generally putting profits before people, it's the safest assumption....

md2be 12y ago

While correct on many issues, Clearly this author missed his biochemisty lectures, ascorbic acid is vitamin C. Salad washed in tap water with chlorine is how we wash our vegetables at home. But still there is more good than bad in this piece.

ginko 12y ago

>Similarly, it's not surprising that yeast extract (nutritional yeast Good) contains the Bad MSG. Glutamate is a fundamental building block of life. If you've ever tasted yeast extract, you will immediately notice that it's very salty. The issue I have with yeast extract (vs. pure MSG) is that it tends to leave an unpleasant aftertaste in my mouth that won't go away for hours. This is why I generally try to avoid it.