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Racism in the Chinese Food Scares
With the priority that the Chinese place on food in their culture, it's a shame that the recent food scares have been tinged with a hint of racism, says Jeff Yang in the Washington Post: That's troubling, because it reinforces the notion that befouled food is the consequence of a foul culture. Chef and gustatory adventurer Anthony Bourdain may have said it best in a 2006 Salon interview in which he noted that there's "something kind of racist" about culinary xenophobia: "Fear of dirt is often indistinguishable from the fear of unnamed dirty people."...Who's Going to Save Us from Uninspected Imported Fish?
Just how porous is our imported-fish inspection process? Taras Grescoe says we should be very scared. Why? Because the FDA, which is responsible for fish inspections, physically inspects 1.34 percent of the imported fish containers that come into this country and tests just 0.59 percent. The European Union, on the other hand, inspects 20 percent of its imported fish containers. How is our wonderfully protective federal government dealing with this problematic situation? By cutting the budget for FDA in-country foreign fish inspections to zero!...In China, Some Food Doesn't Just Taste Like Cardboard
According to CNN, some street food vendors in one neighborhood in China are making their steamed buns out of, among other things, cardboard: Chopped cardboard, softened with an industrial chemical and flavored with fatty pork and powdered seasoning, is a main ingredient in batches of steamed buns sold in one Beijing neighborhood, state television said. Gives whole new meaning to the "tastes like cardboard" comment we all often use in describing food we don't like. Someone here at Serious Eats world headquarters says that this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that pork really does make anything taste better....Food Brokers Could Make Difference Between Safe and Tainted Food Imports
In the wake of all the poison product scares, NPR visits a food broker in Gurnee, Illinois, to get a firsthand view of how the ingredients in familiar grocery store items are handled. The problem occurs with cut-rate dealers, the story says: "Many say these low-end ingredient brokers are the scourge of the industry. They were behind many of the recent Chinese product scares—including poisonous toothpaste and possibly defective tires."...China Promises Safe Food for 2008 Olympics
Ahead of next year's Summer Games, the Chinese government pledges that its food will be safe for "athletes, coaches, officials, and others" attending the events. "All the procedures involving Olympic food, including production, processing, packaging, storing and transporting will be closely monitored," Sun Wenxu, an official with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, told reporters Tuesday. In a related move, the government also executed a former food and drug chief there who was found guilty of taking cash in exchange for approving six untested medicines....Imports and Food Safety
NPR's Morning Edition reports on the U.S. FDA's "tense dependence" on China's food imports. The piece provides a good overview of the challenges faced as food imports have increased (from $45 billion in 2003 to $64 billion three years later) while the "food" part of the FDA has decreased. The Q&A at the bottom of the page with former FDA official William Hubbard explains how melamine got through the FDA's inspection system and whether consumers should worry about imports....Paul Krugman on Fear of Eating
In an op-ed piece in today's New York Times (which is unfortunately behind the Times paywall), noted economist and op-ed page columnist Paul Krugman blames the forces of deregulation (led by the late Milton Friedman) for our new "fear of eating" brought on by the rash of foodborne illness in this country....Who's Watching What We Eat?
An absolutely terrifying piece by Marian Burros in the New York Times about the obviously broken food safety system in the United States. A quote from an anguished mother whose 2 year-old daughter contracted a strain of the E. coli virus from contaminated spinach. "You live in the United States of America and this isn't going to happen. There is an assumption that everything is going to be OK, that someone must have checked this out, but it is not the case." In the past year at least three thousand people died and more than a thousand were sickened by contaminated tomatoes, lettuce, peanut butter and spinach. But the recent contamination of pet food, which has killed many animals, seems...Food Safety for Packed Lunches
Great tips on food safety for packed lunches, for those of you who bring your own food to work or pack lunches for others. I work from home and usually pick lunch up while I'm out walking my dog, or have something delivered, but I totally have packed lunch envy. [via YumSugar]...Hot Topics: Technique of the Week | The Food Lab
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8 Delicious Chocolate Cakes and Pies for Valentine's Day
Some might say that chocolate on Valentine's Day is about as unoriginal as you can get. We all remember the first heart-shaped box of overly sweet chocolate bonbons from grade school Valentines. But chocolate gift-giving needn't be a cliché. This year, let's bake our sweethearts chocolate cakes and pies instead! Here are 8 delicious recipes perfect for celebrating your love (of chocolate.)
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