Garden burgers. Power bars. Protein brownies. Bottled water that makes you thin, young and smart. And we used to wonder what they put in Pop Rocks…
These days it’s hard for even die-hard foodies to know what they’re eating or drinking. That’s because food has changed from something that didn’t need a modifier — if it walked, swam, flew or grew out of the ground, it was food — to something that stopped off at Mr. Burns’ nuclear plant on the way to your plate.
Let’s call it “foodiness.” Like Stephen Colbert’s truthiness, which wasn’t about truth, we’re not consuming food as much as we’re consuming an edible manufactured doppelganger designed to look and taste like food, but isn’t actually food: like veggie puffs with no vegetables; fruit bars with no fruit; like goldfish crackers with no goldfish.
And now, below, a look at some typical foodiness ingredients that are packaged, flavored and presented as food.
TBHQ, A.K.A: Butane
Turns out butane isn’t just for lighters anymore – it’s also an artificial antioxidant that they put it in chicken nuggets to keep them “fresh” tasting. So instead of your chicken nuggets being fresh, butane keeps them “fresh.” Eating butane probably wasn’t what you had in mind last time you lit up, got the munchies, and ordered those nuggets. Try these homemade chicken tenders instead, for fuel-free fuel. Found in: Frozen, packaged or pre-made processed foods with long shelf lives such as frozen meals, crackers, chips, cereal bars and fast food.
Estrogen
Regular milk is full of hormones used by the milk industry to keep the cows knocked up and lactating all year round. Sound gross? It is. So when you drink regular milk you take a shot of hormones with it. And all you wanted was a bowl of cereal. Found in: All non-organic dairy, so organic is recommended. But don’t jump straight to raw milk before you know the facts.
Spinach Dust
Think that green sheen on your veggie snacks is giving you your daily serving of vegetables? Think again. That’s just powdered spinach dust, which is spinach that has been dehydrated and sucked dry of its nutritional value. So the upshot is that green sheen is about as nutritious as actual dust. Found in: “Healthier” vegetable flavored snack foods.
Propylene Glycol, A.K.A antifreeze
Antifreeze is used in cars, pills, cosmetics, deodorant, moisturizer…and, in a way, food! It keeps your car from freezing over, your moisturizer moist, and your fat-free cookie dough ice cream creamy, smooth and juicy. If it’s good enough for your SUV it’s good enough to eat, right? Right?? Right??? Found in: Cake mix, salad dressings, low-fat ice creams and dog food.
Wood Pulp: Vanillin
Vanillin, which is a byproduct of the pulp industry, is used as an artificial vanilla flavor. Ester of wood rosin, which comes from pine stumps, is in citrus-flavored sodas to keep the citrus flavor evenly distributed through the can (try these natural ones if you’re cutting down on pine stumps). Found in: Artificially flavored yogurt, baked goods, candy and sodas.
Castoreum
Castoreum comes out of a beaver’s behind — it’s extracted from their anal glands — and is used to make artificial raspberry flavoring. Try not to think about that next time you order the diet raspberry tea. Found in: Artificially raspberry flavored products such as cheap ice cream, Jell-O, candy, fruit-flavored drinks, teas and yogurts.
used handphone
April 9, 2013
Hi, thanks for sharing.
pat
September 10, 2012
I”d like to know who tasted beaver anal glands in the first place?
Demi
August 30, 2012
the beaver’s anal glands are massaged and expressed by republicans, which gives them the fruity flavor.
hdustinbing
April 11, 2012
Typical ignorance. No…there is no butane in chicken nuggets. The author is just ignorant of science.
Param Eswaran
April 9, 2012
THERE ARE SOME traditional people in Asia like continents, who NEVER TAKE ANY FOOD OUTSIDE THEIR HOMES, AS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE. FOLLOW THIS WISE PRACTICE. CAUSE NO ONE IS INTERESTED IN YOUR HEALTH. THERE IS A LOT OF MISINFORMATION, MAL INFORMATION, MISINTERPRETED INFO, CONFUSION,DISCUSSION AND YOU WASTE YOUR ENERGY ON IT.
NO PRODUCER ISINTERESTED IN OUR WELFARE OR HIS OWN KIDS’ WELFARE.HIS BRAIN HAS BECOME CONVERTED TO THE SAME **IT THAT HE PUTS INSIDE OUR FOOD.
THERE IS NOTHING GENUINE AVAILABLE IN THE RAW WORLD TOO.
I FOUND A FUNNY THING, I MET GOOD PRODUCTIVE ORGANIC FARMERS WITH GOOD PRODUCES OF FRUITS AND VEG AND I FOUND THEM TAKING 50% OUTSIDE SHOP FOODS ALSO…..AND HENCE WHATS THE FUNNY THING PRODUCING IT.
THOSE WHO WANT PURE ORGANIC DONT GET IT. THOSE WHO GET IT GO FOR SHOP FOODS.!!! A COMEDY OF ERRORS LIFE LONG !! IF I WERE BORN A SQUIRREL IN AN AFRICAL TREE, WOULDHAVE BEEN HAPPIER.
bromadvocatus
April 9, 2012
I am kind of boggled by the miscommunication in this article. It is very frustrating to see articles like this that have not been critically researched or considered before deseminating to the public. TBHQ = not butane. Propylene glycol can be used as an antifreeze, but is not the typical toxic antifreeze one would have for their car. Both keep your car from freezing over due to their low freezing point, not because of an inherent evil. Dried spinach = has been sucked dry of the water. The suggestion that it has the nutritional value of actual dust is quite interesting. Synthetic vanillin is a byproduct from the pulp industry, but natural vanillin is from the vanilla bean. The castoreum, however, was a new one for me, and is admittedly more disturbing.
Living Body Wellness
April 9, 2012
How is it even possible that a beaver’s anal glands produces raspberry flavored anything? And also, how is this extracted? That’s just awful😦