Not too long ago—its absurdity might still ring in your educated ears—in the midst of the maniacal low-carb movement, we at Food Product Design felt the need to react to the mass misinformation disseminating throughout society, casting illumination on the subsequent risk of nutritional issues with those who ardently followed the ill-advised diet. Our reaction came in the form of a supplement publication we distributed with the May 2005 issue of the magazine (you can find some of my thoughts at that time in the form of an introduction to the lead-off article for the supplement; other pieces dealt specifically with nutrition and carb functionality, among other subjects).

Dietary patterns that eliminate specific foods for supposed health reasons (no qualms with those with allergies, of course, but self-diagnosed intolerances, often self-proclaimed as “allergies,” is another matter...) always raise my hackles. “Oh, I don’t eat red meat or cheese because of the fat.” “I don’t eat anything with high-fructose corn syrup because of...” (insert harebrained reason—it makes us fat, it isn’t natural, etc.—I mean, really ... when was the last time you saw someone refine sugarcane or sugar beets into granulated sugar in their kitchen?...) Or how about “frozen and canned vegetables aren’t as nutritious as fresh.”

Yeah. There’s no accounting for some of the myths perpetrated throughout time.

So when I run across an article that sets out to debunk such fallacies, it’s like a breath of fresh air on a dead, stiflingly stagnant day. Today’s Chicago Tribune ran just such a piece (and it tosses in a nice mention regarding the ever-evolutionary nature of science, to boot—unmitigated truth is about as real as leprechauns and communists ... everything is just degrees of probability). “Everything in moderation” recite the wise, a contented disposition reflected in their eyes.

In celebration, this evening I shall dine on a devilified feast of white bread, baked potato with butter, steak, cheese (likely on top of that steak) and frozen vegetables.

Long live the fearless omnivores.

Earlier this summer, I hired a guy to come out and create some brick walkways and a patio for me to finish off a yearlong remodeling ordeal that took my family’s life and gave it a solid shaking. But I suppose most nooks and crannies of our lives can do with a good dusting now and again, despite the transitory discomfort of the process...

Anyway, after finishing the walks, the landscaper planted a couple of lemon cucumber plants as a parting gift in a drift of displaced soil. After transplanting them a while back and letting them dig into their vigorous (to put it mildly) growth for a few months, I’m now reaping the fruits of their labor—lots of little, baseball-sized yellow cukes with a nice, pleasant, mild flavor. Although I have plans to pickle some, lately I’ve been enjoying them tossed in lemon and lime juice with a dash of salt, and sometimes a hint of chile powder (cayenne is unassuming—and piquant—enough)—not unlike how you’ll see regular cukes as street food in the city from time to time.

Could prove a nice addition to menus and produce sections (and perhaps the deli counter in a handful of possible incarnations...) to add interest. Summer's just full of great edible discoveries.

One of the main reasons folks attend the SupplySide shows is the vast array of healthy and nutritional ingredient supplier booths on the floor. It is, after all, perhaps the largest show in the world for healthy ingredients.

With 1,100+ booths on the floor, planning your time wisely can prove challenging. So this year we’ve added a search feature to the SupplySide website that permits searches by company or brand, or via entering a product or service keyword, which users can then fine-tune by confining results to specific industry categories (vitamins, minerals, food, etc.) and subcategories (thiamin, boron, agave, etc.).

It’s a pretty slick system—and will definitely save time when planning your agenda in the days leading up to the big event come Oct. 22 to 24 in Vegas, or while at the show. Access to targeted information is just a few short clicks away.

Here we go again. Just like the proverbial lemmings over a cliff, lawmakers are beginning to line up to ban fast-food restaurants in entire cities or select (read: poor) areas of cities. Los Angeles city officials have passed a moratorium on new QSR unit openings in South L.A. for the next year. And now San Jose wants in on the action, too—even aspiring for permanent bans near schools.

Of course, affluent areas in L.A. are still free to open any type of restaurant they choose, regardless of how obese those citizens grow.

The misguided logic behind these moves is that belief that the government knows what’s best for consumers. Although that concept might hold water when it comes to clear cases of theft and murder, legislating dining choices is another matter.

Clearly, these lawmakers have no grasp of the socioeconomic drivers of obesity (must have slept through that class at Nanny State University). Multiple factors play into obesity, not just proximity to, or density of, QSRs (which, it deserves noting, generally offer a wide range of choices on their menus...).

All Americans, regardless of class, are entitled to the same level of choice. The real trick is digging into how to better educate people about the implications of chronically poor food choices (which can happen in the home just as easily as a restaurant ... maybe that’s the next step: throwing people in jail or re-education camps if they eat too many cheeseburgers...).

Instead of blindly lashing out at local businesses (yes, local—they employ local people) or playing dizzying, pointless games of obesity chicken and restaurant egg, it would behoove lawmakers everywhere to figure out how to integrate school- and community-based educational health-and-wellness programs across the board (and particularly in areas that need a leg up), everything from common-sense daily nutrition to fostering new economic and social development projects like community gardens, free organized outdoor after-school activities and the like.

But I suppose wholesale bans on business are just a little bit easier—and headline-grabbing.

When I saw a short bit in the Chicago Tribune today on the prevalence of corn in Chinese foodways—including some rather strange applications—the phrase that caught my attention was “familiar food being used in unfamiliar ways.” The reference was to a popular pizza option discovered in Beijing during the Olympics: the Banana Supreme, a pizza topped with ripe bananas, extra cheese and corn.

Although I’m not anticipating a massive adoption of the Banana Supreme at Domino’s from coast to coast (although I’m sure they could use something to replace that Oreo pizza ... although I admit the ad campaign created a lasting impression, for good or ill...), the concept of using familiar ingredients and types of food to introduce U.S. consumers to new ideas is nothing new to product developers. And the article’s mention of corn cups on the menu at Asian McDonald’s refreshed my longstanding peeve about the dearth of available vegetable sides in QSR.

The second takeaway was the mention of a popular street food in China called wo tou (Chinese for “cute little head”), pyramid-shaped steamed corn cakes. I’ve been seeing a wide range of spins on corn-cake sides these days in foodservice, refreshing age-old American culinary applications for today’s consumers. (My spoonable jalapeño corn pudding—which also works well as a fried corn cake, easily spun in a Mexican direction—has gained quite a following over the years in my circle of friends and family.)

Despite the undercurrent of backlash against corn from some circles in the States of late (think “King Corn”), there’s no questioning the versatility of corn, one of our most-important domestic crops—a vegetable with perhaps more history in this country than any other. Yes, perhaps we are overly dependent on corn, but it just has so many uses. I don’t buy the whole “high-fructose corn syrup is the demon poster child of obesity” argument, but that’s not to say that we wouldn’t benefit from some more-sustainable methods of raising livestock (grass-fed).

At the end of the day, corn is undeniably American—and Chinese—and will continue to form the basis of many a tasty dish.

The list of benefits attributed to those delightfully spicy little pods, the highly diversified chile fruit of the many species in the care of Capsicum, continues to grow. A recent addition to the list involves the pungent fruit’s ability to affect thermogenesis—a unique feat—as noted in a recent study.

In related chilehead news, recent research at the University of Illinois supports the notion that the evolutionary path of chiles and their trademark heat has much to do with a defense mechanism against Fusarium. So the next time you embark on an endorphin-fueled journey through inner chile space, say a little word of thanks to our unintentionally benevolent fungi brethren.

I think I’ve finally figured out why we’re all getting so fat (and that goes for all of us as far as governmental-funded statistical studies are concerned .... yeah, that’s money well spent...). Turns out, based on a 2006 FDA/FSIS food survey (results just released), the majority of us are afraid to eat. Nearly a third of respondents think microbial contamination of food is a serious food-safety problem, and over half think it’s somewhat serious—and this was 2006. I bet we’d add at least 10% to those numbers today. (And—not that microbial contamination isn’t a big deal, albeit a lesser issue with proper handling and preparation of food—the study shows we’re also grossly misinformed about food safety ... take a look at some of the results to see what I mean...)

So how does fear of food make us fat? You’d think with that food fear coursing through our scattered brains, that we’d be getting thin as rails, afraid to take the next bite.

But physiology and psychology often throw down a tricky jitterbug. Selective attention to media sources could lead sleep-deprived consumers (with their increased ghrelin and lowered leptin levels) to believe that no matter what they do, food will eventually do them in anyway. If it’s not the trans, it’s the saturated. If it’s not the salt, it’s the artificial colors and other “additives.” And it’s all contaminated with E. coli, Listeria and Salmonella.

But we have to eat in order to live. And as we eat more (read: overindulge), the more satisfaction and pleasure (hello, dopamine) that begins to wash over our now comforted brains, soothing our fears and helping us forget our troubles (including money woes, so hello, cheap food...).

So we’re afraid to eat, but the more we eat, the less afraid we get.

Get it?