While trying to link up with a bunch of bimbos babes that cook at their Webring "Blogs That Cook". (Ha Ha Ha! They wanted me to insert some "code" in their "homepage".) I had to answer the question what is Danger! Men Cooking! About. I had to extemporize. What I CONJURED up is below:
Danger! Men Cooking, not at all exclusively for men; seeks to collect recipes that people like to joke around over, such as: "who has the best cheesecake" or World's Best Gazpacho Recipe. The site's objective is to collect such recipes from around the world as well as recipes for meats, cheese, fish and poultry and sausages and hams that are made by "farmhouse" methods. Which this weblogster believes is a vanishing art. Smoked foods are under attack as being unsafe. Hams and fermented sausages and cheese all made in old-fashioned methods are vulnerable as well. I have about 18 gazpacho recipes, although I suggest that M.F.K. Fisher's recipe is still tops, if you have a home garden.
END OF CONJURATION part.
As stated earlier in this weblog, the logster will attempt to help the reader come to a firm understanding as to why the consumer of food should be skeptical of fear laced or fear laden mass media representations as to the dangers of eating.
To see how the prior Administration fosters and perpetuates the myth of food as sickness, surf over to:
http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/2001/01/0020.htm (this page is now housed at
https://web.archive.org/web/20030219123618/http://www.usda.gov/news/releases/2001/01/0020.htm
Our tax dollars at work advising people who eat food (and who doesn't?).
I am cutting and pasting a portion relevant to this colloquy:
QUOTE:
Do not eat hot dogs and luncheon meats, unless they are reheated until steaming hot.
Do not eat soft cheeses such as Feta, Brie and Camembert cheeses, blue-veined cheeses, and Mexican-style cheeses such as "queso blanco fresco."
Cheeses that may be eaten include hard cheeses; semi-soft cheeses such as mozzarella; pasteurized processed cheeses such as slices and spreads; cream cheese; and cottage cheese.
Do not eat refrigerated pâtés or meat spreads. Canned or shelf-stable pâtés and meat spreads may be eaten.
Do not eat refrigerated smoked seafood, unless it is contained in a cooked dish, such as a casserole. Refrigerated smoked seafood, such as salmon, trout, whitefish, cod, tuna or mackerel, is most often labeled as "nova-style," "lox," "kippered," "smoked," or "jerky." The fish is found in the refrigerator section or sold at deli counters of grocery stores and delicatessens. Canned or shelf-stable smoked seafood may be eaten.
Do not drink raw (unpasteurized) milk or eat foods that contain unpasteurized milk.
ENDQUOTE.
My grandfather had a goat in the backyard. He milked the nanny goat everyday and drank her milk. He never got sick from that.
Pliny, the Elder, mentions blue veined cheese in 79A.D. So for one thousand nine hundred and 20 odd years, people all over the world have eaten blue veined cheeses. Who complained about a tummy ache?
How is it that just now so-called scientists are "discovering" that cheese make you sick? And if it does, where is the epidemic? If all the people who ate any or all of the above got sick, surely there would be a national, nay, world wide health crisis. What gives?
I'm not going to say to go without pâtés is to go without life, but, GIVE ME A BREAK!
IN POINT OF FACT:
Foods, raw materials, such as milk, meat, poultry, when healthy, all contain microorganisms that combat infection and disease; just as the human body has antigens and white blood cells to fight off infections and sickness.
If milk cows were kept properly grazing on "clean" grass, there would be less chance of tuberculoses and no need to pasteurize it. Raw milk contains, amongst other microorganisms lactobacillus lactis. This bug or germ or microorganism helps "sour" the milk unless the milk is kept at refrigerator temperatures. It also prevents the growth of harmful microorganisms (listeria and the like) and makes milk more naturally digestible in the human. By the way, the lactobacillus lactis is one of the microorganisms that turn milk into yogurt. While I can't be absolutely sure, I guesstimate that unpasteurized milk stays fresher longer in the fridge, than pasteurized milk. Same for sourdough bread; i.e.; any naturally leavened bread. The naturally occurring microorganisms in wheat help prevent bread from spoiling or staling.
You may well ask: "What is science doing about this?" Answer: food scientists, under attack from the food leery, generally aver that foods are safe and safer than ever. Yet every innovation comes under attack by non-scientists, non-specialists and the burdensome mass media which would love nothing more than to run another this food "is" or "is not" or "is" good or bad or good only on Fridays with cornbread stories. The genuine scientific research rarely even gets covered in reputable magazines like Science because the stories are seemingly so un-news-worthy.
In the coming week, I will do some surfing around the 'net and deliver some citations which you can check for yourself, as well as brief quotes to make my point.
More and more people I know act as though food was the "enemy". I don’t' contemplate dinner parties much anymore because many won't eat meat, or fat, or some can't eat fish, or some others shellfish, or what have you! And I don’t' believe they have allergies to these things. They are fastidious in their food habits, to the detriment of their ability to "sit down and enjoy a meal". They are also intolerant of food and believe that either "big business" or government is out to "do them". I'm not talking about more or less government regulations. I'm talking about how foods manufactured for nearly 2000 years are "all of a sudden" viewed with suspicion and disgust.
Of which, more another time.
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