grandpa ray’s tidbits
Food for thought in 2025
We are proud to give you access to Grandpa Ray’s tidbits. Each week, something new and interesting is posted for your enjoyment.
PROCESSED FOOD: IS IT REAL FOOD?
The following ten companies control 90% of all processed food manufacturing; Kraft, Coke, Pepsi, Kellogg, Mars, Unilever, Johnson and Johnson, Proctor and Gamble, and Nestle. Over the course of 50 years, these companies have been intentionally working towards a uniformity of products that have made us prisoners to a toxic food environment, scientifically engineered to addict us. Their formula for doing this has three components; mass production, engineered long shelf life, and a batch-to-batch consistency that is the same country-to-country.
How is this accomplished? Their ultimate aim is to addict you; sugar being the prime mover in this endeavor. The products they produce are food turned into commodities— a commodity is by definition a storable food with up to ten years of shelf life. Commodities can be sold in Commodity Exchanges…there no such exchanges for regular food. The transition from food to commodity denudes the food, so that it no longer is healthy to consume. The addiction aspect keeps you coming back for more, all the while, gradually destroying your health.
When fiber is removed, you can now freeze the micronutrients rendering them useless. They also add emulsifiers ( emulsifiers allow water and fat to combine) which are known to harm the intestinal lining. Then they load the result with addictive additives. The result is 74% of all products in a grocery have sugar added to them. Remember, these products are designed to be habit forming and are NOT REAL FOOD!
THE ILLUSTRATED COW
THE DEATH TATOO
Up until recently, I labored under the mistaken assumption that when it came to steaks and cows—the whole cow could be made into steaks, or hamburger. Obviously, this is not true. When I first saw the diagram of a cow partitioned into the various butchering sections, I realized there was more to be said about the various cuts of beef; the cuts are anatomy-based. The muscle density in any section determines the toughness or tenderness of a given cut; the more muscle, the tougher the meat. That’s why the meat from weight-bearing body parts is the toughest. Hidden in the center near the top of the cow resides the tenderest of the beef…the Tenderloin. From the small end of the Tenderloin comes the “premium” cut known as the Fillet Mignon.
Three of the most popular steaks are the Rib-eye steak, the New York strip, and the Sirloin. The Ribeye is the juiciest and most tasty of the three cuts. The Strip steaks are not as juicy or flavorful as the Ribeye. The Sirloin cut is the leanest and therefore the most tender.
In addition to the above, there is still a lot of good meat to be had. You have the Ribs. There are Prime-rib, Roasts, Tri-tip, Brisket, and a variety of lesser cuts which round-out the tremendous bounty the cow affords us. I guess it can be said,
“when it comes to providing meat for us, the cow is a cut above.” Thank you very MOOOch!
FROM CUCUMBER TO PICKLE
THE DILL-ICIOUS TRANSFORMATION
The preserving of food has been around since the advent of farming and the raising of animals—smoking and salting are used for meat and fish… brine and spices are used for various fruits and vegetables. The favorite and most popular vegetable for preserving is the cucumber, the result of which is the PICKLE. The Dutch word for pickle (Pekel) means salt; which is fitting because the brine used for pickling is nothing more than just a saline mixture mixed with dill and various other spices.
The widespread reputation of the pickle is legendary; through the ages, monarchs, kings, and prominent historical figures have declared their allegiance to it…Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, George Washington, and Peewee Herman to name a few. Basically, pickles have traversed the known universe. (but I’m quite sure they weren’t present as far back as the “Big Bang”). However, Let’s focus on the pickle’s journey to our neck of the woods—fast forward to the Golden Age of Exploration.
The “Americas” are named after Amerigo Vespucci even though he didn’t actually discover them. Thank God they didn’t use his last name…if they had, we would be known as Vespucci-land! Before he donned his “explorer’s hat”, Amerigo was a ship’s chandler. A chandler stocks ships with provisions for their voyages ; he, famously, was Christopher Columbus’ chandler. The pickled medley of vegetables he chandlered for Columbus were rich in vitamin C—they helped fend-off the scourge of “scurvy”. So, pickles by the barrel full made their way to what, thankfully, was not to become Vespuccl-land.
In America, the pickle went from barrels to Mason jars. There are now thirty plus varieties of pickles (sour, hot, sweet, kosher, etc.). The saga continues. Next, will the crunchy delight conquer the Metaverse?
Cucumbers are delicious by their own right, but their Dr. Pickle and Mr. Hyde routine has rendered them doubly so.
spreading the mustard seed
MUSTARD—In its current form mustard, as we know it, is considered a spread. The Biblical parable about the growth of God’s kingdom uses the lowly mustard seed to illustrate the flourishing thereof. The “smallest of seeds”, which grows into the largest of plants, has literally spread around the world as a condiment of sorts. It is believed that as far back as antiquity, the seeds were used medicinally to heal a host of maladies. Even the Greeks and Romans used it for it’s medicinal properties. The Romans, however, improved on it by crushing the seeds and mixing them with unfermented grape juice—thus mustard In it’s original form.
In the 9th century the Romans brought it to France, where the monks began experimenting with it. (If you recall in a previous Tidbit about Cheese…monks work feverishly to improve the things they tinker with). By the 13th century, the Dijon variety of prepared mustard had arrived. Followed by 19th century England where mustard mills processed and established it as a food grade ingredient.
And in 1904, in Rochester, New York, mustard took the commercial form we know today. There it was paired up with the lowly wiener for the first time, and “voilà!”—the American hot dog was born.
BACON: A SLICE OF HEAVEN—
Without question, bacon is the most popular breakfast food in Western civilization. In the USA alone, 1.7 billion pounds ( that’s 18 pounds per person) are consumed every year. Over the course of bacon’s evolution, it has taken many forms, most of which would not be recognizable as the popular rasher of today. Nonetheless, bacon from the pork’s belly is a peculiar British invention.
In England, families raised and cured pork in their basements; a practice that was eventually outlawed in 1930 because of sanitation concerns. They would fatten their pigs with acorns in the Spring and Summer, then in the Winter they would slaughter them. Each family had its own unique “secret rub”—various combinations of spices and salt. To this day, Wilkshire, England is considered the bacon capitol of the world. This is because, in 1770, John Harris introduced the first commercial production of the salty delight. In 1924, Oscar Meyer made pre-sliced and packaged bacon commercially available to the masses. People were immediately hooked, if not addicted.
Addicted? Actually, yes! People naturally crave salt, but it’s the six, flavor-bearing amino acids in bacon that act as a force multiplier in the benign addiction. Even though bacon is fashionably used in numerous creative ways—bacon mania—it has found a unique niche as the premiere breakfast food. Why breakfast? How did this come to be?
In 1925, breakfast was transformed forever; Beechnut packaging, hired Edward Bernays to head a promotional campaign that would convince people that a breakfast with bacon in the morning would replenish vital energy lost during sleep. The campaign was so successful that bacon became the dominant partner in the “bacon and eggs” breakfast we all have come to love and enjoy.
gRA
Location
Senior Supper Services
NO VISITABLE ADDRESS DELIVERY ONLY.
Redlands, CA 92404
Contact
Need additional assistance? Please contact us:
sssdelivery@yahoo.com
909-915-5765
Hours
We are open Monday to Friday, from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm.
Saturday from 11am to 6pm
Sunday: Closed
Senior Supper Services an exclusive meal Service for Seniors
WE DELIVER TO:
CALIMESA, YUCAIPA, MENTONE, REDLANDS, HIGHLAND, DEL ROSA, SAN BERNARDINO, COLTON, GRAND TERRACE, LOMA LINDA, RIALTO, BLOOMINGTON & FONTANATHE ILLUSTRATED COW