Olive oil is the blood of Mediterranean culture. Throughout history, it had a place in religious ceremonies, lighting, cleaning, medicine, economics, and cooking. This liquid fat is as prevalent in a Mediterranean diet as butter in an American one. However, the olive oil you consume may be only a fraction of what it advertises on the bottle.

This is not a new problem. Olive oil fraud has been committed since the Roman Empire. One EU official claims the profits in impure olive oil trade to be “comparable to cocaine trafficking, with none of the risks.” Criminals achieve this the same way they do with hard drugs – they dilute the original product with cheaper alternatives (in this case, sunflower or canola oil). Shady organizations pick a pretty penny just by saving production costs.

Though every Mediterranean country has its fair share of olive fields, let’s take a look at Italy because the Boot sells three times as much oil as it produces. The culprits for this massive fraud are clear and obvious: the mafia (or “agromafia” given their specialization).

Like every criminal organization, the agromafia is simply a collection of thugs trying to act as businessmen. They impose themselves as unwanted middlemen between local olive producers and end distributors, claiming that they will offer “protection”; if producers refuse to abide by their rules, the agromafia retaliates with physical threats, vandalism, and arson. Their extortion typically nets them around $500 a month from local stores who begrudgingly agree to sell the tampered oil.

Most olive oil comes from the southern part of Italy, which also contains the largest concentration of agromafioso. Their influence is so imperious that half of Italian produced extra virgin olive oil does not meet the legal standards of extra virgin oil. When moving across the distribution chain all the way to the United States, that number jumps up to 70%.

So how can a person tell the quality of their oil? For starters, they can check to see if their extra virgin container really tastes the right way: peppery on the throat and vividly flavored, not gentle and smooth. Or if you’d like to go the easy route, you can check this list of both trustworthy and untrustworthy brands (courtesy of LifeHacker).

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Beavers are some of the more overlooked animals across the world: they cut down trees with their teeth, create small lodges on water using sticks and mud, and emit chemical compounds from their private parts that you have probably put in your mouth at some point in your life.

In the food industry, beavers are responsible for secreting a goo called castoreum from their rear-ends. Castoreum comes from a beaver’s castor sacs, which are located between the base of the tail and the pelvis; they are also located right by the anal glands, so castoreum typically turns out to be a mix of castor gland secretions, anal gland secretions, and urine.

Despite this, castoreum has a musky, vanilla scent that is typically incorporated into food flavorings. Even though you might not find the word “castoreum” written under the nutritional facts, the FDA instead slyly lists it as “natural flavoring.”

The real question remains a mystery – who was the first trapper that decided to take a whiff of beaver butt and say, “Wow! This could go great with my dessert tonight!”

Wasabi is a Japanese plant most commonly used as a condiment for raw seafood and sushi. Grown along stream beds in the Land of the Rising Sun, it has a very pungent taste and odor with vapors that can stimulate the nasal passages more than the tongue. It also happens to be one of the few foods you have never really tasted in your life.

Since Japan’s land mass is just under California’s, there is a notable limit with the amount of wasabi growing at any point in time. Also, wasabi preparation is typically done the moment a customer orders; chefs will immediately create the paste from the plant stem with the customer’s meal, otherwise it will lose its flavor within 15 minutes if left uncovered.

Wasabi crops on Japan’s Izu peninsula

The Japanese have their own name for knock-off wasabi – seiyō wasabi or “western wasabi.” This usually involves a combination of horseradish, mustard, starch, and green food coloring. Even though western wasabi has nearly the same taste as genuine wasabi, only the latter has natural green coloring. If you want to try the good stuff, save some time and money and visit a natural grocer or dine at a high-end restaurant.

So, the next time you dine at a Japanese joint, relay this info to your friends or family and not the staff. If you ask for “a side of green horseradish,” you’ll definitely get a weird look.

Sources:

Greaves, Vanessa. “What’s Really In That Green Paste You Call Wasabi?” Allrecipes, 14 Nov. 2015, dish.allrecipes.com/are-you-really-eating-wasabi/.

Spiegel, Alison. “Think You’ve Been Eating Wasabi All This Time? Think Again.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 Oct. 2015, www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fake-wasabi-horseradish_us_561bd666e4b0082030a33959.

Wapner, Kenneth. “Real Wasabi: Horseradish Of A Different Color.” Chicago Tribune, 11 Feb. 1993, articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-02-11/entertainment/9303177715_1_fresh-wasabi-real-wasabi-root.

The stems of a rhubarb plant are treated as fruits in the kitchen – similar to celery stalks – even though they are simply herbaceous perennials.

However, rhubarb leaves are poisonous, and as they resemble spinach, they are always cut off the stem and sent straight to the trash.  Humans have been poisoned after ingesting the leaves. This actually became a particular problem during the first World War when the leaves were mistakenly recommended as a food source in Britain.

We’ve all been there: taking something in (semi-) prime condition that you know shouldn’t be taking. This post doesn’t refer to theft but instead the act of sifting through someone’s discarded goods or valuables. Specifically, this covers the act of gleaning.

One man’s refuse is another man’s refreshment.

By definition, gleaning means to gather (leftover grain or other produce) after a harvest. Generally, it pertains to those who scavenge leftovers or discarded belongings of any sort, but mainly the term focuses on foraging food – an act that has a history of stemming back to biblical times. In the Books of Deuteronomy and Leviticus, farmers should leave corners of their fields unpicked and refrain from picking up harvested crops that have been dropped (or “gleanings”); these are both acts of indirect charity as the gleanings are to be left primarily for the poor.

Eventually, Catholic European kingdoms (primarily in England and France) enforced this biblical scripture into protected law.

Today, gleaners are also referred to as “dumpster divers.” Despite the derogatory nickname, gleaners are most often than not still freely able to pick food as much as they please as long as they don’t take someone’s currently owned property. 50% food waste (Collegian quote).

Sources:

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/gleaning

https://www.kqed.org/bayareabites/119231/urban-gleaning-grows-up

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/in-plain-sight/gleaning-americas-farms-unused-crops-feed-hungry-families-n181026

“[Flamin’] Hot Cheetos dust just got in my eye and now I’m wondering what I’ll name my guide dog.” – Random Twitter User

What:

Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, the spicier version of the famous cheese-flavored, puffed cornmeal snack.

When:

Late 1970s

Where:

The Frito-Lay Rancho Cucamonga plant in Southern California

Who:

Richard Montañez, Mexican-born janitor

How:

Normally, we try to avoid discussions about junk food as much as possible; their very existence is counter-intuitive to cooking and their healthy nutritional facts are essentially non-existent. However, sometimes the backstory beats the subject matter. In this case, we’re taking a look at how one man tweaked an already popular snack food and changed his career forever.

Richard Montañez was your average Mexican boy growing up Guasti, California. His dreams and aspirations laid solely on working for the town’s local factory, in due part from difficulties at school. Montañez seemed resigned to his status as an outcasted Hispanic student who struggled with English classes.

Nevertheless, Montañez realized that being different had its advantages. Case in point, he noticed that many white students often observed him eating a burrito for lunch (an oddity for American diets at the time). A few days later, he began selling burritos in the schoolyard for 25 cents apiece.

Richard Montañez – Lifelong Hustler

In 1976, he began working as a janitor at the Frito-Lay factory in the Californian city of Rancho Cucamonga at 12 years old after dropping out of school. One day, a Cheetos assembly line broke down, causing the cheese puffs to come out without their signature orange, cheesy dust. Montañez decided to scoop up a few samples and bring them home to experiment on.

Montañez became inspired by a go-to Mexican staple: elote or corn on the cob covered with butter, chile powder, lime juice, and cotija. The janitor decided to use the same ingredients but on Cheetos. His family and friends loved the result, inspiring Montañez to bring his creation to upper management.

This daunted Montañez; the man had never given a presentation in his life, let-alone one for the administrators of a Fortune 500 company. Looking to shoot for the stars, Montañez rented out a marketing book from the library, bought a $3 tie, and created his own packaging for his Cheetos calientes. When the time was ready, he unveiled his secret concoction to the board.

The president loved both Montañez’s ingenuity and initiative. For the former, he formally inducted the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos into Frito-Lay’s cheese puff product mix. For the latter, he promoted Montañez who eventually rose to executive vice president of multicultural sales at Frito-Lay. Montañez currently travels across the country, giving motivational speeches on the significance of diversity in business. 

Montañez took one of the easiest tricks in the book – making an addition to a pre-existing product line – and made a fortune off of it. As of 2017, Cheetos is the leading cheese snack brand of the United States with over $1 billion in annual revenue. As a quintessential rags-to-riches story, Montañez will soon have his own Hollywood film made after him, courtesy of Fox Searchlight Pictures; the biopic is currently titled “Flamin’ Hot.”

For any up-and-coming dreamers, take Montañez’s words into consideration: “We’ve all been given an ability to do something great in this life.”

Sources:

Andrews, Travis M. “The Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Movie: How a Frito-Lay Janitor Created One of America’s Most Popular Snacks.” The Washington Post, 23 Feb. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/02/23/the-flamin-hot-cheetos-movie-how-a-frito-lay-janitor-created-one-of-americas-most-popular-snacks/.

Luviano, Tania. “Our American Dream: The Janitor Who Invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.” Fox News, FOX News Network, 26 Mar. 2012, latino.foxnews.com/latino/community/2012/03/26/our-american-dream-richard-montanez-janitor-invents-hot-cheeto/print.

Palmer, Joe. “Leading Cheese Snack Brands 2017 | Statistic.” Statista, 12 Jan. 2018, www.statista.com/statistics/188241/top-cheese-snack-brands/.

Pomranz, Mike. “Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Were Invented by a Janitor.” Food & Wine, Time Inc., 22 June 2017, www.foodandwine.com/fwx/food/flamin-hot-cheetos-were-invented-janitor.

Than, Cynthia. “How a Mexican Janitor Invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.” Inc.com, Inc., 29 Feb. 2016, www.inc.com/cynthia-than/the-mexican-janitor-who-invented-flamin-hot-cheetos.html.

People often take note of the foods they eat based on their nutritional value. For example, a health-conscious person might opt to have some yogurt as a snack instead of a handful of Swedish fish. However, the healthier option might share an unhealthy ingredient with junk food that most people wouldn’t think twice about. The ingredient in question is food coloring.

Food coloring has been around since Ancient Egypt, when candy makers added natural extracts and wine to improve their products’ appearance. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, many people became dependent on foods produced by others at low costs; as a result, food factories turned to synthetic coloring additives (some of them created for textiles) to mix with their mass-produced goods. Modern consumers did not notice the dangers of synthetic food coloring until 1976, when Mars discontinued red M&Ms for a decade after finding that its Red 2 food coloring was directly linked to causing cancer.

Since 2010, several countries in Europe have banned artificial dyes and require foods using any still-approved unnatural colors to prominently display warning labels on packaging. Those labels are required to state that eating artificially colored foods might be linked to behavioral issues in children. American companies including Kellogg’s, Kraft, and McDonald’s have stopped using artificial dyes abroad but continue to sell foods with such questionable ingredients to the U.S. market.

According to the FDA in 2007, Americans were consuming five times more artificial food colorings than they were in 1955. As a result, there is an 11% average of children between the ages of 4 and 17 that have been diagnosed with ADHD/ADD in the U.S. while around 5% of Western European children have the disorder. Even though the brain disorder is still prevalent in Europe, American children tend to have it in spades due to the brand presence of food producers; Kellogg and Kraft have household recognition throughout the states whereas in Europe, they have little selling power.

Two major food colorings: Yellow 5 and Red 40. The latter is the most popular food dye in the world, used in cosmetics and drugs along with foods.

Let’s look at two of the most popular food colorings: Yellow 5 and Red 40. Yellow 5 is based in both coal tar and a crude oil runoff containing benzene. This food dye is known to cause hyperactivity in children, severe allergic reactions to those sensitive to aspirin, and a possible predisposition towards asthma.  Red 40 comes from petroleum distillates, containing assorted metals such as aluminum and cochineal beetles. Children are especially sensitive to Red 40 and have exhibited temper tantrums, jitteriness, uncontrollable crying, and ADHD.

All in all, it boils down to food companies trying to save a buck or two. People expect their food to have an appropriate color, but they don’t expect that color to have negative long-term side effects. Think twice when buying your children certain sweets: too little of them and they might be jumping up on the walls; too much of them and they might adversely affect their brains.

Sources:

Daily, Alternative. “The Top 5 Worst Artificial Colors.” Alternative Daily, 28 Apr. 2013, www.thealternativedaily.com/top-5-worst-artificial-colors/.

Decker, Ray, and Naomi Richfield-Fratz. “Color Additives: FDA’s Regulatory Process and Historical Perspectives.” U S Food and Drug Administration Home Page, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, 12 Oct. 2003, www.fda.gov/forindustry/coloradditives/regulatoryprocesshistoricalperspectives/.

Ettinger, Jill. “Banned in Europe, Food Coloring Linked to Behavior Problems.” Organic Authority, 3 Mar. 2014, www.organicauthority.com/blog/organic/banned-in-europe-food-coloring-linked-to-behavior-problems/.

Kim, Susanna. “11 Food Ingredients Banned Outside the U.S. That We Eat.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 26 June 2013, abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/Food/11-foods-banned-us/story?id=19457237#1.

Melina, Remy. “Why Were Red M&M’s Discontinued for a Decade?” LiveScience, Purch, 10 Feb. 2011, www.livescience.com/33017-why-were-red-mms-discontinued-for-a-decade.html.

Did you know that even if your food label says “trans fat: 0 grams,” it may still contain trans fat. Yeah…seriously.

This is because, due to some extremely idiotic labeling rules, food companies only need to list trans fat content if the food contains 0.5 grams or more per serving!

So, if a food contains 0.4999 grams of trans fat in one serving, it will say “Trans Fat: 0 grams” on the label. Yes, it is super crazy dumb.

Even worse is the fact that many of the foods that do this then go the extra mile to print “0g Trans Fat” in big bold letters somewhere on the front of the package to really entice you to buy it.

Pretty slick, isn’t it? And then all you need to do is eat a few servings of a food like this and you will have unknowingly eaten a couple of grams of trans fat all while thinking you haven’t eaten any at all.

Luckily, there is a way to spot the foods that do this (and there are MANY of them). Check the ingredients for the words “hydrogenated” or “partially hydrogenated.”  If those words show up somewhere in the ingredients (typically followed by an oil of some sort), then you know that food contains some amount of trans fat no matter what lies the label tells you.

Just another reason to always read the ingredients before buying/eating an item.

Remember, margarine is trans fat. To quote the great American thinker George Carlin: “It is bullshit, and it is bad for you!”

Written by Pascal Dionot

Did you know that there is an acronym to remember everything that is in a Cobb Salad?

EAT COBB
Eggs
Avocado
Tomato

Chicken
Onion
Bacon
Blue Cheese