"Extreme Moderation" and other Food-Related Linguistic Nonsense

While writing or attempting to write a story that's still too embryonic to get a snappy "about ____________________ line," I found myself confronted with the phrase "extreme moderation."

Extreme moderation.

It bubbled up to the top of my head while I was trying to flesh out a particular character, and before I even thought it through, I knew it would be perfect for this woman. And even worse, I knew I'd heard it a hundred times before, mostly in Paleo circles, and mostly applied to sugar, chocolate alcohol, or some other "borderline" food (occasionally even fruit): "to be eaten in EXTREME moderation."

Google it yourself: people appear to be saying this completely in earnest. Words and meaning, as Orwell says, have almost parted company. On the other hand, it's an interesting little psychological window into the Paleosphere, where moderation itself has to be extreme.

I also had a guy on Reddit a few weeks ago who started off telling me that white potatoes were "harder to digest" than sweet. When pressed, he revised this to the familiar nonsense about the glycemic index, and then, after agreeing that both sweet and white have their nutritional pros and cons and may be good/bad for different people, and furthermore that GI loses much of its meaning in the context of a mixed meal, nevertheless firmly asserted that sweet were "Paleo" while white were "not Paleo," for reasons known only to himself (he stopped responding). It was like trying to argue with a greased eel.

To console myself, I made cockscombs for dinner, but they were disappointing: it was like chewing on rubber bands.

World's Worst Blogger Reporting for Duty

...sigh.

I've decided to give myself a break on the "I have to think of something profound to post about" front and just start posting all the weird odd bits and real food recipes that I eat because I want someplace to post about them. Whatever; cooking with worms totally counts as a radical act of anti-corporate resistance.

Currently in my freezer: liver, brains, sweetbreads, cockscombs, shrimp shells (for seafood stock), and lardo. In the fridge, there's a jar of homemade pickles getting tasty and there was a package of duck's tongues until I ate them for dinner. I think that officially makes me an honest-to-good food weirdo.

The duck tongues were delicious. Mild, but fatty - like little explosions of delicious crispy flavor. A little like duck-flavored lardons. The only issue is that each one has a bone that you have to deal with, so they're pretty messy to eat. 

Totally Unscientific Pseudo-Pasta a la Duck Tongue Recipe

Why does it have to be all about obesity?

This post (from a blog I actually like and don’t mean to put down!) quite correctly criticizes Coke for pretending to take action against obesity while actually contributing to it. No surprises there. It’s a story to work up any anti-corporate activist into a seething ball of righteous indignation, and I’m glad someone is covering it.

But the post did make me think: is it possible that, in focusing so heavily on obesity specifically, we’re crippling our own arguments? After all, Coke can always show up with the perfectly legitimate studies showing that sugar water is no more obesogenic than any other food with the same number of calories, and defend themselves with all the familiar language about “moderation” and “portion control.”

I navel-gaze because it's my blog and I can

I've been putting together some things in my head lately...

While we're talking about food label reform...

...can we have some more of these?

Not as a substitute for actual regulations that cut down on the amount of deception that can be smeared all over a Captain Krunch box, but in addition to them.

Maybe more people would be willing to buy and cook healthy food if they didn't have to go through the extra step to look up a recipe. For me, that's a lot of fun, but if you're wondering "do I want to take a chance on this strange new vegetable?" and you're still at the point where vegetables are new and kind of scary, I can see how a label like this would be very reassuring: it isn't any more complicated than nuking a frozen pizza! Well done, E. Miedema & Sons.

Psychology bonus points: it's very much a step in favor of "promote the good" rather than "demonize/fear the bad."

Mealworm Recipe: Eggs Gone Fishing

A Truly Paleo Recipe: Mealworm Meatballs

 (Look, I can do pretty blog graphics, too!)