Feb. 27th, 2014

kengr: (Default)
I see people complaining that we don't eat "real food" just "food-like substances", Or that modern foods are overprocessed.

Well, let me point out a few staple foods in some parts of the world:

Manioc. It's extracted from a root that gets mashed to a pulp, and then the pulp rinsed thouroughly with water until the water runs off clear. Note that the milky liquid that runs off is used to poison fish to harvest them. Anyway, the pulp gets the excess water pressed out and is cooked up as a sort of flatbread.

Sago. You pulp the core of the sago palm tree and rinse it out, much like you do with manioc. And you cook it much the same.

Tapioca is yet another staple food that is extracted after similar processing.

These are just the first examples of foods that get processed fairly extensively to get something edible (and bland!).

Processing food goes *way* back. And it's sometimes fairly extensive. Modern food may be processed, but even if it's more processed, it's the continuation of an ancient practice.

Cheetos aren't *that* much more processed than manioc or sago,. Velveeta? Well ok, some things are beyond the pale.

But even there, take a good look at how cheese is made.
kengr: (Default)
The law in Arizona (that was thankfully vetoed) and similar ones in other states are far more insidious than the news coverage is telling you.

They say that a business can refuse service to *anyone* on religious grounds.

They are "selling" them as letting businesses refuse to have anything to do with gay marriages, but the relity is that they will let a business refuse service to *anyone* for "religious reasons".

I suspect this is an attempt at a sort of trojan horse by the religious right. If a state passes this sort of law, it'll end all those nasty lawsuits when (for example) a pharmacist refuses to fill a prescription for birth control pills. Or the "morning after" pill. Or any of a horde of other things he may not approve of.

Given that many a small town only has one pharmacy, and that driving to the next town in some states can take a long time (and may run into the same sort of bigot at that pharmacy) this means that even if your doctor writes a prescription for something, you may not be able to get it unless you live in or near a big city.

It's *not* about religious freedom. It's about trying to make others live according to *your* religion.

As an example, the "local" business that got found in violation of state law for refusing to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.

There are *two* ways to handle the situation and still be in compliance with the law. One is to make the cake. They don't want to do that? Fine. Then they can just quit selling wedding cakes to *anyone*. But they don't want to do that because then their "religious principles" will cost them money.

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