Red and Processed Meat

There has been a recent report of a scientific study that says eating Red and processed meat shortens you life. Now these proclamations by “food experts” come out leading to rather simple statements regarding food.

The classic two one study that showed drinking a glass or two of red wine per day helped health, then out came another saying drinking more than half a glass of red wine per day was bad for your health. Therefore people end up with mixed messages and grow to distrust and ignore the health messages.

As I was a vegetarian for twenty five years, and my reason for avoiding meat was that the animals were being feed or given, chemicals, drugs, additives and foods that were dubious to say the least, I was not prepared to consume them. Therefore, I was left wondering if factory farming was or could have been a factor that had effected the results. The further I looked into this Epidemiological study, the more I realised that it was. As it looked at meat consumption and eating habits over 28 years.

We only have to look at a list of the chemicals that have been banned for use in foods, but were previously allowed, to see that these would have had an effect on the studies results. Equally, this applies to the industrial farming practices, including the routine use of drugs, that have now been stopped, to see a similar effect in the results.

If anything the study shows that we were eating to much red meat and processed meat in the past.

I personally know that some additives still used in foods effect me. I get an allergic rhinitis from eating processed cheese. Therefore, I prefer to buy a good quality cheese, in all its wonderful variations. However, sometimes when eating out I can get caught out and latter get a reaction from what I have eaten.

Therefore, if governments really want to improve health and nutrition they should “Regulate” (I know that's a dirty word to many) the chemicals that are allowed in the processing of foods. If those of us that are old enough to remember, things like Peanut allergies were so rare when I was young, but has developed into something that’s quite common. I strongly suspect that it is something that is being used frequently in food. It may not be a single additive, but combinations of them interacting to induce this once rare condition.

Here in Britain over the past thirty years, food policy has been characterised as “Leave it to Tesco”. In other words it has been left to the supermarkets and major food processors. During the same time frame, we have seen a growth in Obesity and Diabetes Et Al. As the supermarkets are cynical and will sell their customers any old rubbish as long as it makes them a profit. They will dispute this, but the telling thing is how many of the managers and executives would regularly eat the low nutritional value foods they sell? Not many if any.

The bast way of avoiding health problems is by eating a healthy balanced diet, and avoiding over processed foods. As the government and regulators will not help by controlling what big businesses do.

What are you really Eating?

One of the exciting aspects of the Internet and with interacting with people from other parts of the world, is that it can enable me to learn via the investigation of tangents prompted by a comment. Personally I can not even remember when I last had a hot dog. To the best of my recollection it was when I was a child. Therefore, I had no idea what was in one.

I have to emphasise that this applies to Britain and Europe, and while via systems like the GATT agreement (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade), the rules are very similar across the globe, specifically I can only talk about European regulations here. I place this note here as while I am sure of the information regarding Europe, different rules and regulations apply in other parts of the world.

Anyway a question was raised about what is in a hot dog? In Britain they come under the rules that govern sausages and a sausage has to contain a minimum of 46% forty six percent of meat to be legally called a sausage. As items like hot dogs contain less than this, Hot Dog sausage manufacturers stay within the law by calling the things like Hot dogs or Frankfurters.

I did some digging to try and discover what was permitted and it was not easy. As it seems that manufacturers don't like to admit what garbage they are really feeding us. But looking at the labels and knowing that meat can be twenty five percent connective tissue and twenty five percent fat, fifty percent of the stated meat content may not even be meat then I found two brands that had less than nine percent meat in them.

Well, the question has to be asked what are you really eating?

Devils Food Cake Recipe

In my other blog, I made a posting regarding me baking my own birthday cake rather than having my better half use a packet mix. As I refuse to allow products into my kitchen that have emerged from a chemical plant and not a kitchen. Personally I do worry about what additives are put in our food. While they are all tested to see if they are safe, over the years a not insignificant number have been banned as they were latter discovered to cause health problems.

In the 1980s the book E for Additives became a surprising best seller. Surprising as it was just a list of the chemicals that were added to our foods in the form of colours, preservatives, flavourings etc. The industry reaction was to change the labels from the EU codes, the E numbers, to the chemical name. However some of these additives were removed from the approved list as a result of the book.

It is one of the bizarre aspects of some processed food that to produce them the nutritional bits are removed. Corn Flakes being the classic example. The kernel is removed first and and the corn is flattened and toasted. As the Kernel is where all the vitamins and minerals are naturally stored, these vitamins and minerals have to be artificially added. The manufacturers even boast of the added vitamin and mineral content of their product. Now while I personally like corn flakes and I do not think they are a bad food, it says something about the mindset of food manufacturers that they will mess about with our food only with the aim of making a normal food, maize (corn) in to a product.

While the rational projected by the manufacturers and processors is often about convenience, but the question needs to be asked, whose convenience? If it looks as though the convenience is just for the manufacturer then it probably is.

In Europe HVO, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil the cheapest of the cheap oil or fat that can be used in foods, has long been associated with cardiac illness, while still legal is via publicity being removed from products. The EU even changed the regulations so that it could not be hidden in products as vegetable oil. In Denmark and New York it is now banned. However, reason why manufacturers love this oil is not its low cost, but it adds months to the shelf life of a product. If baked with butter, a pastry would last only four to six weeks. HVO can make that 12 months or more. That can save a food manufacturer millions.

So while no food processors and manufacturers are not deliberately trying to poison their customers, the corporate mentality of the food industry means that dubious items are used. Therefore, by staying with this rule of not using anything that contains items that you can not find in the kitchen is a good rule to follow.

The irony that I should be talking about what I would call Devils Food, the over processed rubbish that the food industry loves to sell us having just discovered this American classic that is called Devils Food. The difference is the cake is just straight forward fattening and indulgent. While many of the over processed foods are fattening just from extra sugar and fats that are added to make them cheap, or have longer life and profitable. However, this is one of those wonderful treats that can be part of a family celebration. I personally love dark chocolate but a good milk chocolate can be used, if that is your personal taste.

I love discovering new dishes from different nations, and if anyone has something interesting to share, lets share it here.

Devils Food Cake Recipe

Ingredients

100g 3½oz Dark Chocolate
250g 9oz Self-raising Flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking Soda)
225g 8oz Butter
400g 14oz Dark Muscovado Sugar
1tsp Vanilla Extract
3 eggs
125ml 4 floz Buttermilk
225ml 8oz Boiling water

Frosting
300g 10½oz Caster sugar
2 egg whites
1 tbsp lemon Juice
3 tbsp Orange Juice

Method

Set the Oven to 190°C/375°f/Gas mark 5
Lightly grease two 20cm/8 inch round cake tins and line with greaseproof paper.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of water.
Sieve the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl.
Separately beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy.
Beat in the vanilla extract and one at a time the three eggs.
Fold the melted chocolate into the butter sugar mixture until well blended.
Gradually fold in the flour, a little at a time works best.
Then stir in the buttermilk and the boiling water.
Divide the mixture between the tins and cook in the preheated oven for thirty minutes
Leave to cool in the tins for five minutes as this helps the cake release from the tin, then cool on a wire rack until fully cool.

In a bowl set over gently simmering water, as you would melt chocolate, put all the frosting ingredients.
Whisk, this works best with an electric whisk, until thickened and forming soft peaks.
Remove from the heat and whisk until cool.
The heat will cook the egg whites while continuing to whisk will keep the frosting smooth.
Spread about a third on one of the cooled cakes and make a sandwich then coat them both with the remaining frosting.