So, here we are, halfway through the challenge that I set myself at the beginning of the month on blogging daily. I have only missed a few days, usually due to an event.
For instance on Thursday night, I was at Fermentations on the Danforth for a pretty cool event. A bunch of us, bloggers and beer people, were asked to come in and make a beer for the 20th anniversary of Fermentations. This was the culmination of that work. I came home tired and happy from the event. Got to meet some twitterers that I had been following or had connected with for the first time face to face. I was not quite sure what to blog about an event that passed and it does seem too introspective for a blog of this type. I will definitely get some posts based on conversations I had but I need time for them to marinate.
On Friday, it was Bowmore Fun Carnival. I had made a Cherry Beer and Bacon cake for the event and had a few food truck goodies. I spent an hour and a bit on my feet and wasn't really feeling up to blogging after that.
Thus, it comes to the crux of the matter, why am I doing this? In this first post of this month, Leave the Money, Take the Cannoli, I outlined why I thought I was doing this challenge. The criteria never included getting popular but the stats based on my posts showed me something that I had not expected. It seems that there are more people than I thought who find my stuff enjoyable enough to read it on a regular basis. Hello there! The funny thing is that they are split 60/40 between facebook and twitter. Every now and then some post will strike someone's fancy and I'll get a bigger uptick. These are generally restaurant reviews.
Anyways, I had concerns with what I was posting and talked it over with my wife. The issues that I was having was that some of the posts were more of an informational nature of something you could find out on the google. I wrote these posts because I had committed to this challenge. Some of them could use a bit more time to ferment. The posts I like to write and I am proud of are invariably personal and funny bits. The drunk reviews of restaurants where I can rant, the how to read a recipe where I can play and some of the experiments of stuff I am messing with are my favourites.
Blogging every day has helped me with a few things. I think more about what I am going to do next and focus on the structure and writing. I now make time for the blog in a more habitual way. I am more aware of themes. The negative to the everyday grind is that, sometimes, I am posting facts and forgetting the quirky flourishes or the thoughtfulness that I prefer in my posts. Maybe this will come as I round out the month and keep on trucking.
I will finish this month but when it is all done, I am sure that I will have found out some interesting thoughts about my connection to the written word and food. Already, this exercise has given pause.
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Gourmet, Gourmand or Glutton
Finished reading a collection of essays on gluttony, one of which was G is for Gluttony by M.F.K. Fisher. I forget sometimes what a great writer she was. It is her style of reporting that was honest and reported food as it was happening around her in both high and low culture. It is one of the reasons why I started a blog.
The gourmand would have taken a bit of everything and finished everything on their plate. Maybe they would have shown some gusto for a particular morsel and gone back or asked for seconds. There would definitely be a discussion on the food, pointing out the high points of the meal so far.
The glutton hovers and finishes first one plate and then another and maybe sits back until all others have had their fill. If there is a buffet, then they will be the first and last to sup greatly from the offerings. Often, they will be seen looking wistfully at an empty plate if at a sit down dinner. Maybe they will be stopping somewhere afterwards for a bit more.
Gourmet has lost its meaning. If you accept that being a gourmet is the highest of the words and most desirable then in today's vernacular, you will be disappointed. If it is intended to mean a person with a discerning palate or that what feeds them, then why is this word plastered everywhere. Are we to believe that discerning palates are so commonplace that it requires candy, bread and baby food to meet their high standards? Even pets are so discerning to deserve feasts foisted on them. It just means picky or nothing.
Gourmand has often taken heat. It means someone who enjoys food and sometimes eats too much. This was seen as a cardinal sin in earlier times. I put myself into this position and strive to be a good gourmand. I love eating at other people's houses. Given my own prowess and sometimes pickiness on my own cooking, some people worry that I hold them to that status. In reality, as long as someone tries, I am happy to eat at their table. I have been known to eat fish, which I avoid, when dining at a friend's because they are proud to have made me one of their favourite dishes. They do a good job and I appreciate it. Loving food isn't the sin but gluttony is.
Gluttony. Eating more than you physically should. We all do it at some point. There are whole holidays dedicated to unbuttoning pants or slacks with shifting panels. One of my earliest memories of a regretful meal was when I was about six or seven. There were burgers on parade. I believe that I almost ate my age in burgers on those Weston type buns with ketchup. The burgers were greasy and salty and I can almost still taste them. When I had reached a number similar to three, I recall my mother saying that I shouldn't eat any more because I was going to make myself sick. Luckily, my father interceded and allowed the excess to continue existing. I went to bed that night with stomach round and prideful. Two sins in one. I awoke in the middle of the night with pillow red and face warm from the bloody nose. I learned my lesson for a short while.
While I feel there is a fine line between gourmand and glutton, I do not believe there is any reason to never enjoy your food. I don't mean like the thing you are eating but enjoy the act of eating and receiving what is cooked for your enjoyment. You can be critical but not to the point of prejudging the food into not trying or taking some delight in dining. But, of course, as one twitterer put it, gourmet means nothing anymore. I suppose that sometimes we should just shut up and eat.
I doubt I will ever become as good as a writer as Fisher was but I hope that I can reflect what is happening with me and food. Hopefully, this will make a few people smile or think a little different.
Her description of a gluttony is when "I know I have had more than I want physically." Got me to thinking how I would define those three related terms; gourmet, gourmand and glutton.
Gourmets eat what they like, gourmands like what they eat and gluttons eat more than they like.So, at a dinner party where there is a buffet or sit down service, a gourmet would have a few things on their plate. At a sit down, maybe there is some scattered pieces of fish pushed around to make it look as if they had eaten it when in reality, it did not meet their standard. In other words, a picky or discerning eater, if one was being gracious.
The gourmand would have taken a bit of everything and finished everything on their plate. Maybe they would have shown some gusto for a particular morsel and gone back or asked for seconds. There would definitely be a discussion on the food, pointing out the high points of the meal so far.
The glutton hovers and finishes first one plate and then another and maybe sits back until all others have had their fill. If there is a buffet, then they will be the first and last to sup greatly from the offerings. Often, they will be seen looking wistfully at an empty plate if at a sit down dinner. Maybe they will be stopping somewhere afterwards for a bit more.
Gourmet has lost its meaning. If you accept that being a gourmet is the highest of the words and most desirable then in today's vernacular, you will be disappointed. If it is intended to mean a person with a discerning palate or that what feeds them, then why is this word plastered everywhere. Are we to believe that discerning palates are so commonplace that it requires candy, bread and baby food to meet their high standards? Even pets are so discerning to deserve feasts foisted on them. It just means picky or nothing.
Gourmand has often taken heat. It means someone who enjoys food and sometimes eats too much. This was seen as a cardinal sin in earlier times. I put myself into this position and strive to be a good gourmand. I love eating at other people's houses. Given my own prowess and sometimes pickiness on my own cooking, some people worry that I hold them to that status. In reality, as long as someone tries, I am happy to eat at their table. I have been known to eat fish, which I avoid, when dining at a friend's because they are proud to have made me one of their favourite dishes. They do a good job and I appreciate it. Loving food isn't the sin but gluttony is.
Gluttony. Eating more than you physically should. We all do it at some point. There are whole holidays dedicated to unbuttoning pants or slacks with shifting panels. One of my earliest memories of a regretful meal was when I was about six or seven. There were burgers on parade. I believe that I almost ate my age in burgers on those Weston type buns with ketchup. The burgers were greasy and salty and I can almost still taste them. When I had reached a number similar to three, I recall my mother saying that I shouldn't eat any more because I was going to make myself sick. Luckily, my father interceded and allowed the excess to continue existing. I went to bed that night with stomach round and prideful. Two sins in one. I awoke in the middle of the night with pillow red and face warm from the bloody nose. I learned my lesson for a short while.
While I feel there is a fine line between gourmand and glutton, I do not believe there is any reason to never enjoy your food. I don't mean like the thing you are eating but enjoy the act of eating and receiving what is cooked for your enjoyment. You can be critical but not to the point of prejudging the food into not trying or taking some delight in dining. But, of course, as one twitterer put it, gourmet means nothing anymore. I suppose that sometimes we should just shut up and eat.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
Book Review: The Windup Girl
So, I pick up this science fiction novel, The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi and I am really blown away by the characters, the setting and just the great writing. I could go on about some of the themes of GMO animals versus "real" animals or the underlying themes of what it means to be genetically modified with the current constraints on science but this is a food blog.
For those interested in food issues, there are three underlying assumptions of this universe that provides for provocative pondering...and additional purple prose from pundits.
1. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) are here to stay.
2. Calories are a basic unit of work and will be incorporated into our daily lives.
3. Localism turned to a global scale will bring interesting effects.
GMO is becoming a big thing. When I was doing a science radio show in the 90's, the producer and I would have arguments over this very thing. I am largely okay with GMO until it starts crossing lines in the Kingdoms. Adding fish genes to tomatoes would never happen in the wild and so the husbanding of this erzatz product, and it is only a product, seems ridiculous. If it is a more gentle coaxing then I tend to be okay.
The other point is that banning something tends not to work. Telling kids not to have sex doesn't work, so you should just go right into harm reduction mode. Think of it as a road to co-option. If you agree but only on these terms, then maybe we have a chance at ensuring a safer and more sane approach to messing around with our foods. Right now, the corporations will only be looking at ways of improving their bottom line without regard to such things as biodiversity, flavour, nutrition, and ancillary issues. If it sells and gets produced for cheaper then it works.
Calories have already started to make their way into our mindsets but generally as a negative thought, as in, reducing your calories to a minimum. Now, if you think of it a different way, as in how many calories did you create or use today, then the system starts to flip itself on its head. If a calorie became the unit of currency due to food shortages then certain jobs become more important namely agricultural, food production, and biochemical engineers. Also, your body becomes important when you die as a calorie source that should find its way back into the food system.
Not all of this is in the book but my mind turned to what an economic system based on calories would look like. I assumed many bad effects because I had recently finished reading The Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins, which is the same job as one of the protagonists in the novel.
The third foodie thought that came while reading this book was around a profound effect that could be had by making localism a norm and rule rather than a nice thing to do for the local farmers. If some place like Colombia said that it would no longer provide the world with coffee but that it would only produce enough for itself and convert the remaining plantations to food to grow calories for its own population, think of the impact.
It is not to far fetched as the climate changes and affects the coffee yield, it may be in their best interest to change to crops to something more sustainable and relevant to them. Given that food crops are now being affected adversely by the creation of the equivalent of stock markets that reward speculation that drives up real world prices. The producers cannot afford their own food as is the case for quinoa. I am only linking one example but if you start looking into that example and looking at the complex effects, I am sure that you will get what I am going on about.
Anyways, the book isn't about food but these three throw away ideas that don't even drive the novel are incredible by themselves. It just goes to show how deep and curious this almost like our world is. Read any of his stuff. So far, I am really impressed by the imagination and the writing itself. Worth a read.
For those interested in food issues, there are three underlying assumptions of this universe that provides for provocative pondering...and additional purple prose from pundits.
1. Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) are here to stay.
2. Calories are a basic unit of work and will be incorporated into our daily lives.
3. Localism turned to a global scale will bring interesting effects.
GMO is becoming a big thing. When I was doing a science radio show in the 90's, the producer and I would have arguments over this very thing. I am largely okay with GMO until it starts crossing lines in the Kingdoms. Adding fish genes to tomatoes would never happen in the wild and so the husbanding of this erzatz product, and it is only a product, seems ridiculous. If it is a more gentle coaxing then I tend to be okay.
The other point is that banning something tends not to work. Telling kids not to have sex doesn't work, so you should just go right into harm reduction mode. Think of it as a road to co-option. If you agree but only on these terms, then maybe we have a chance at ensuring a safer and more sane approach to messing around with our foods. Right now, the corporations will only be looking at ways of improving their bottom line without regard to such things as biodiversity, flavour, nutrition, and ancillary issues. If it sells and gets produced for cheaper then it works.
Calories have already started to make their way into our mindsets but generally as a negative thought, as in, reducing your calories to a minimum. Now, if you think of it a different way, as in how many calories did you create or use today, then the system starts to flip itself on its head. If a calorie became the unit of currency due to food shortages then certain jobs become more important namely agricultural, food production, and biochemical engineers. Also, your body becomes important when you die as a calorie source that should find its way back into the food system.
Not all of this is in the book but my mind turned to what an economic system based on calories would look like. I assumed many bad effects because I had recently finished reading The Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins, which is the same job as one of the protagonists in the novel.
The third foodie thought that came while reading this book was around a profound effect that could be had by making localism a norm and rule rather than a nice thing to do for the local farmers. If some place like Colombia said that it would no longer provide the world with coffee but that it would only produce enough for itself and convert the remaining plantations to food to grow calories for its own population, think of the impact.
It is not to far fetched as the climate changes and affects the coffee yield, it may be in their best interest to change to crops to something more sustainable and relevant to them. Given that food crops are now being affected adversely by the creation of the equivalent of stock markets that reward speculation that drives up real world prices. The producers cannot afford their own food as is the case for quinoa. I am only linking one example but if you start looking into that example and looking at the complex effects, I am sure that you will get what I am going on about.
Anyways, the book isn't about food but these three throw away ideas that don't even drive the novel are incredible by themselves. It just goes to show how deep and curious this almost like our world is. Read any of his stuff. So far, I am really impressed by the imagination and the writing itself. Worth a read.
Monday, June 10, 2013
Darwin Awards and Food, Part II
A couple of posts back, I cracked a little wise on poisoning myself with potato sprouts, making light of the dangers of trying new things. One sprout is not that dangerous especially since it is so hard to eat given the taste. The taste is the early warning system for most poisonous foods. Unfortunately, there are other more risky stunts that don't sound harmful but can cause some really nasty side effects and even death.
Let's start with chugging milk or water. Neither sounds too harmful. There are tons (or is that tonnes) of YouTube videos of kids trying to chug a gallon (3.78l) chug of milk in 60 minutes. Most end up vomiting. The most likely scientific explanation is that the human body can't hold that much liquid in the system. I haven't been able to nail down a conclusive study or medical journey citation but there are mentions everywhere about it.
Is it any liquid? Mostly, but water has a bit of a special trick. The funny part about the 60 minute challenge with water is that water does leave the system at about a gallon per hour, so it is possible to get water in and sometimes keep it down. As long as your body is operating optimally, you will probably vomit. The problem with drinking too much water is that it can kill you. It is called water intoxication. Too much water in a short period of time can cause something called water intoxication which can upset the electrolytes in your body and even cause death.
So water... seems innocuous. There are other challenges that seem doable. Take the cinnamon challenge. Just swallow a teaspoon of cinnamon in 60 seconds without water can cause coughing, irritation of the throat, breathing difficulties, risk of pneumonia and collapsed lungs. Riskier than crunching into that potato sprout.
Nutmeg, another common spice, can be used as an hallucinogenic drug but has so many bad side effects that it should not be attempted. The amount of nutmeg that would cause this effect is not too high that any person would think that it would cause such effects. Another common spice rack standard is alum. Alum (sodium alum) used in pickling can also be poisonous in large doses. And so it goes with many ordinary spices. Many of them require a huge quantity and the flavour would put you off before you got to a dangerous point.
I'll leave you with this last link about soy sauce and how drinking a litre of soy sauce can kill. This is more of a case of sodium poisoning. What scared me about the story was that it turns out that you can poison yourself long term with sodium. I'm not talking high blood pressure and all that but rather another case of upsetting the other salts in your system.
The thing is that none of these examples have a poisonous taste. It is the quantity of something that is considered good for you in most cases. I guess it just goes to reinforce the saying that everything should be in moderation.
Let's start with chugging milk or water. Neither sounds too harmful. There are tons (or is that tonnes) of YouTube videos of kids trying to chug a gallon (3.78l) chug of milk in 60 minutes. Most end up vomiting. The most likely scientific explanation is that the human body can't hold that much liquid in the system. I haven't been able to nail down a conclusive study or medical journey citation but there are mentions everywhere about it.
Is it any liquid? Mostly, but water has a bit of a special trick. The funny part about the 60 minute challenge with water is that water does leave the system at about a gallon per hour, so it is possible to get water in and sometimes keep it down. As long as your body is operating optimally, you will probably vomit. The problem with drinking too much water is that it can kill you. It is called water intoxication. Too much water in a short period of time can cause something called water intoxication which can upset the electrolytes in your body and even cause death.
So water... seems innocuous. There are other challenges that seem doable. Take the cinnamon challenge. Just swallow a teaspoon of cinnamon in 60 seconds without water can cause coughing, irritation of the throat, breathing difficulties, risk of pneumonia and collapsed lungs. Riskier than crunching into that potato sprout.
Nutmeg, another common spice, can be used as an hallucinogenic drug but has so many bad side effects that it should not be attempted. The amount of nutmeg that would cause this effect is not too high that any person would think that it would cause such effects. Another common spice rack standard is alum. Alum (sodium alum) used in pickling can also be poisonous in large doses. And so it goes with many ordinary spices. Many of them require a huge quantity and the flavour would put you off before you got to a dangerous point.
I'll leave you with this last link about soy sauce and how drinking a litre of soy sauce can kill. This is more of a case of sodium poisoning. What scared me about the story was that it turns out that you can poison yourself long term with sodium. I'm not talking high blood pressure and all that but rather another case of upsetting the other salts in your system.
The thing is that none of these examples have a poisonous taste. It is the quantity of something that is considered good for you in most cases. I guess it just goes to reinforce the saying that everything should be in moderation.
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Graphic Novels and Food
Just looking at my to read and just read piles and have discovered that there have been quite a few graphic novels in the past while.
I have read and reviewed both dirtcandy and Get Jiro!. dirtcandy is a vegetable cookbook with interludes of pictures while Get Jiro! is a straight up novel with chefs as heroes and villians. The other two books that remain unread at this time are: In the Kitchen with Alain Passard and Relish: My Life in the Kitchen. These final two are partially biography and partially cookbooks. The Alain Passard has been recently translated into English and is not his first foray into the graphic novel format. Relish is drawn by the author, Lucy Knisley and tells about her life with food and gives a few recipes.
These two mediums, food and comics, seem to be made to go together. Eating is, at first, a visual experience. So much of your expectation of a meal is bound up in our sense of sight. If something looks unappetizing, it may never make it to your nose or mouth.
I wonder if I have not noticed a whole bunch of these books before or if this is finally going to be a thing. So far, my experience has been pleasant and I look forward to more.
I have read and reviewed both dirtcandy and Get Jiro!. dirtcandy is a vegetable cookbook with interludes of pictures while Get Jiro! is a straight up novel with chefs as heroes and villians. The other two books that remain unread at this time are: In the Kitchen with Alain Passard and Relish: My Life in the Kitchen. These final two are partially biography and partially cookbooks. The Alain Passard has been recently translated into English and is not his first foray into the graphic novel format. Relish is drawn by the author, Lucy Knisley and tells about her life with food and gives a few recipes.
These two mediums, food and comics, seem to be made to go together. Eating is, at first, a visual experience. So much of your expectation of a meal is bound up in our sense of sight. If something looks unappetizing, it may never make it to your nose or mouth.
I wonder if I have not noticed a whole bunch of these books before or if this is finally going to be a thing. So far, my experience has been pleasant and I look forward to more.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Slow Down! Queen Street West Restaurant Study
This morning Gord Perks was on CBC talking about the Queen Street West (between Roncesvalles Avenue and Dufferin Street) - Restaurant Study. In Parkdale last year, the city put a moratorium on restaurant and bar licenses until they had a chance to study the impact this densification had on the current community.
Now, the recommendations will be presented by the Toronto and East York Community Council on June 18, 2013, a little over a week away. It will only take a few minutes to read the recommendations but basically boils down to restricting the density to a level of 25% as stated by Gord Perks. Full backgrounder is available here.
For the last week, I have been trying to blog each day. The easiest type of blog has been one where I produce a short personal story along with some tidbit of information. Most of these type are easy because it is easy to see where they fit into how I feel and think about food. Something like this takes a lot more time for me to develop my opinions.
Food blogging should require an amount of introspection that leads to a well thought argument. At best, I could say that it always seems that the complaints that come from a neighbourhood that is becoming gentrified is often from people who have not lived there long. Most often is takes the form of someone who moves into an area where there is - let's say - an abbatoir and then complain about the noise and the smells.
Another knee jerk response would be around the lines that this is the natural progression of a neighbourhood. If the area cannot support these restaurants then they will close. There is a counter argument that is similar to an anti-Walmart argument that states the addition of the restaurant will drive out other required services that make an area tick such as hair salons, convenience stores and super markets.
I guess one approach to writing a blog post would be just to report what is going on and what is available but somehow that seems like not a good enough reason. Another approach would be to take a side or opinion and show the story in that way. I could state that I am against bad restaurant and concentrated restaurant areas and this is why...but we already have too much of that happening in comment sections already around this city.
In reality, many blogs are trying to drive traffic in order sell advertising and make a living. This is my hobby and I want to take a think. It will probably take a while to process the impact. Living close to little India, I can see the effect of restaurants and neighbourhood services closing down. I can also see the effect of restaurants re-invigorating an area. Take a look where Burger's Priest, Queen Margherita Pizza, and Sausage Partners (now Oliffe) opened along the Beach.
So, for down, I am going to slow down and digest this meal. I'll relax and take in the scene with some coffee and an apres-dinner drink.
Thursday, June 6, 2013
Potato Sprouts and the Darwin Awards
Have you ever tasted potato sprouts?
DON'T DO IT. They are poison!!!
Having said that, I did that just the other day. Let me explain.
So, I was eating all sorts of stuff that you can find on your lawn and in your backyard in the last several weeks, even posted about some spring recipes. I started to feel a little giddy thinking about Noma and eating food that is going past its prime or just beginning the life cycle, depending on how you look at it.
I was peeling some potatoes that had started sprouting and cut out an eye with a small sprout. I put it to my mouth and bit down. I remembered the many times that I would pick on people telling them how raw potatoes are poisonous and still the jaws clamped down. Before we find out whether I die of the poison, let's go on a bit of an aside.
In this day and age, so many of us are too cognizant of the best before date. Any fermentable comestible becomes a problem regardless of its age. It is the date that seems to scare us. I have been reading a lot lately about fermentation and remembering my grandma's farm. They only had a few milk cows but it served their needs. A couple of times I was there to watch the milking or see the cream on the top of the milk pail the day after. One of the coolest things was watching the separator that had a small machine engine that would spin a centrifuge to mechanically separate the cream and the milk. There was even a milk churn that was wooden barrel with a bung in a metal frame that would allow the whole milk to be sloshed about until it turned into butter.
I remember seeing the milk pail sitting outside with no refrigeration overnight to let nature do its work. I don't remember anyone getting poisoned. I am sure that their could be food borne illnesses but there wasn't. Now, there is an element of risk with raw milk. Death is rare. Not trying to preach that raw is all just trying to outline the risk that we would accept previously was greater.
Poison is a little different than just getting sick due to bacteria. The truth is that many common ingredients are toxic. I suppose that in theory most things have a level of toxicity. We humans often use the toxic effects as recreation from drugs, cigarettes and alcohol.
Back to the potatoes. Green patches on potatoes and the sprouts contain two poisonous ingredients. One is solanine. There have been only rare cases of solanine poisoning in the US and seem to be due to eating green potatoes or using the leaves of the plant. In Britain, in the 1970's there was poisoning of boys at a school but no one died.
Here's the thing, most stuff that will poison you tastes horrid. As the sprout crunched and snapped in two in my mouth, the bitterness and crapitude of that one bite would prevent me from eating the crapulence of sprouts required to achieve the lethal dose, let alone a dose large enough to make me sick. It sucked.
Will this stop me from trying lethal foods that might cause me to win a Darwin Award? There are some really risky foods that can cause death at a small dosage and I am aware enough to know. So, most wild berries and mushrooms will make a pass until I can be incredibly reassured at their safety. As for the odd ingredient, most have a toxic dose that requires so much that I am sure to be sick before I could stomach enough.
Also, if you have immune problems, pregnant, or are a small kid, don't try this stuff. Just don't. But some risks are smaller than you think. I didn't suffer any ill effects from that sprout aside from five minutes of horrid bitterness in my mouth.
DON'T DO IT. They are poison!!!
Having said that, I did that just the other day. Let me explain.
So, I was eating all sorts of stuff that you can find on your lawn and in your backyard in the last several weeks, even posted about some spring recipes. I started to feel a little giddy thinking about Noma and eating food that is going past its prime or just beginning the life cycle, depending on how you look at it.
I was peeling some potatoes that had started sprouting and cut out an eye with a small sprout. I put it to my mouth and bit down. I remembered the many times that I would pick on people telling them how raw potatoes are poisonous and still the jaws clamped down. Before we find out whether I die of the poison, let's go on a bit of an aside.
In this day and age, so many of us are too cognizant of the best before date. Any fermentable comestible becomes a problem regardless of its age. It is the date that seems to scare us. I have been reading a lot lately about fermentation and remembering my grandma's farm. They only had a few milk cows but it served their needs. A couple of times I was there to watch the milking or see the cream on the top of the milk pail the day after. One of the coolest things was watching the separator that had a small machine engine that would spin a centrifuge to mechanically separate the cream and the milk. There was even a milk churn that was wooden barrel with a bung in a metal frame that would allow the whole milk to be sloshed about until it turned into butter.
I remember seeing the milk pail sitting outside with no refrigeration overnight to let nature do its work. I don't remember anyone getting poisoned. I am sure that their could be food borne illnesses but there wasn't. Now, there is an element of risk with raw milk. Death is rare. Not trying to preach that raw is all just trying to outline the risk that we would accept previously was greater.
Poison is a little different than just getting sick due to bacteria. The truth is that many common ingredients are toxic. I suppose that in theory most things have a level of toxicity. We humans often use the toxic effects as recreation from drugs, cigarettes and alcohol.
Back to the potatoes. Green patches on potatoes and the sprouts contain two poisonous ingredients. One is solanine. There have been only rare cases of solanine poisoning in the US and seem to be due to eating green potatoes or using the leaves of the plant. In Britain, in the 1970's there was poisoning of boys at a school but no one died.
Here's the thing, most stuff that will poison you tastes horrid. As the sprout crunched and snapped in two in my mouth, the bitterness and crapitude of that one bite would prevent me from eating the crapulence of sprouts required to achieve the lethal dose, let alone a dose large enough to make me sick. It sucked.
Will this stop me from trying lethal foods that might cause me to win a Darwin Award? There are some really risky foods that can cause death at a small dosage and I am aware enough to know. So, most wild berries and mushrooms will make a pass until I can be incredibly reassured at their safety. As for the odd ingredient, most have a toxic dose that requires so much that I am sure to be sick before I could stomach enough.
Also, if you have immune problems, pregnant, or are a small kid, don't try this stuff. Just don't. But some risks are smaller than you think. I didn't suffer any ill effects from that sprout aside from five minutes of horrid bitterness in my mouth.
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