All The Chapters Flashcards
(185 cards)
Geography & the price of wine
Geographical location makes wine expensive
No wine anywhere costs more than $20
Rarity & location increase price
American & Canadian Average Diets
1 in 5 Americans live on a diet of 10 foods or less:
- French fries
- Mac n cheese
- hot dogs
- hamburgers
- etc
82 grams (20 teaspoons) of sugar = average consumption
Canadian spending on food (1969 & 2009)
1969 = 19% of household expenses 2009 = 10.2% of household expenses
Agricultural Statistics
250 million farmers on the planet engaged in raising a large number of crops
2% of farmers directly involved in Canada
50% of farmers directly involved in developing country
4 Starches
- Potatoes
- Wheat
- Rice
- Corn
Monopolizing of the food market
Recipes with enormous commercial value are protected and kept secret
Example: Bask - principle supplier of fish because they kept the fishing location secret for hundreds of years
Brillat-Savarin
Author of Physiology of Taste
“Tell me what you eat & I’ll tell you who you are.”
Eric Schlosser
“A nations diet can be more revealing than it’s culture or history.”
Author of Fast Food Nation
Modern Industrial Agriculture is based on
Synthetic inputs
Artificial manure = artificial food = artificial animals = artificial humans
Cooking
Began = 150,000 years ago
One of the first revolutionary movements
Makes food more digestible; food becomes safer to eat; less energy used to digest food
S-methyl thioproprionate
Camembert cheese odour
Smells like the feet of God
Vegetarian Term Facts
Term Vegetarian = 18 centuries old
Before 18th century = Pythagorean Diet
Oscar Wilde
“Nature is a damp place over which a large number of ducks fly uncooked.”
Spaghetti & “The Spaghetti Harvest”
Video - broadcasted on April 1st
In 1957 - most of Britain believed spaghetti grew on trees
Major producers of Spaghetti = Italy
Lessons learned - ignorance of food is always there & will always be there.
Global Population Facts
57% - Asian 21% - European 18% - Americas 8% - Africa 70% - non white 70% - non Christian 70% - can't read 50% - malnutrition 80% - sub-standard housing 70% - have never placed a phone call 1% - post-secondary education 6% controls 50% of the wealth on earth
Food Consumption & Purchasing Facts
70 years ago = 900 items in a grocery
Modern Supermarket = 25,000 different items
$ spent on food has decreased from 20% of the household income to around 10%
Food spending went down when food prices increased
Food Market Facts
Large grocery chains - dominate the market & determine pricing
LCBO - largest single purchaser of alcohol in the world
Canada - major agricultural force; importers must compete with Canadian products
Hypothalamus
In the brain, controls hunger & anger
Isadore Da Silva
“Anything available in abundance is vile.”
Pleasures to widely shared quickly lose their attractiveness.
Facts about taste
Perception of taste = exercise of tasting food engages more of your brain than any other action
5 senses that play a role in flavour
- Taste
- Smell
- Pain
- Feel
- Temperature
Tongue Facts
Masseter muscle = strongest muscle in the mouth
5 cranial nerves are connected to the tongue: ingestion, mouth movement, lips, teeth
No ability to taste without water
Saliva production gives us the ability to taste - produce 2 gallons a day
Tastebuds/papillae
Nodules on the tongue
Average adult = 10,000 tastebuds
Average tastebuds last about a week
Umami
Taste receptors on the tongue specifically for umami
Translates as deliciousness
One of the 5 basic tastes
Umami = MSG (monosodium glutamate)
- amino acid;glutamic acid