The latest ads from Tim Hortons feature the “Bagel B.E.L.T.”, a breakfast sandwich with bacon, eggs, lettuce “and toh-may-toooe.” Aside from my friends’ unrestrained mocking of the sheer stupidity of the commercial and the name (more belt notches, anyone?), I can’t help but wonder how Tim Hortons aims to uphold their “Always Fresh” slogan (with questionable typography, I might add) when it’s clear that the ingredients for the B.E.L.T. are anything but fresh in the middle of a Canadian winter. In the past their “freshness” has been called into question with a little doughnut scandal: apparently they were being baked out east and shipped westward to be warmed up before sale. Maybe the Tim Hortons idea of “fresh” is more to do with not being “canned, frozen or otherwise preserved” and less to do with being “recently made or obtained” (fresh, Oxford American Dictionaries).
Continue reading “Always Fresh?” »
I’ve updated AfterTASTE (my other blog and grad project) with a tidbit about Thanksgiving dinner and a link to an article at the Globe and Mail, titled “The manufactured meal”. Visit AfterTASTE for more information and my thoughts on it.
No Monday lunch blog tomorrow, obviously, seeing as it’s a holiday up here… although maybe if you’re really lucky. 😉
It’s 1:30 am and all I want to do is eat pizza.
It’s true, I haven’t had pizza in months, but the reality is my kitchen smells like heaven and there’s leftovers in the fridge. It wouldn’t be called “leftovers” if the aroma hadn’t tempted me into sampling it — twice. Truth be told I already had dinner hours ago, with the rest of the sauce and pasta. Tomorrow is my family’s Thanksgiving dinner, and it’s a potluck, so I made roast potatoes and carrots with lots of olive oil and herbs. YUM! Obviously I sampled that aromatic dish, too. So where does the pizza come in? Monday is Thanksgiving dinner with the mister’s family, and apparently we’re having pizza. My heart sank… since I cannot eat commercial pizza due to dairy, sugar and soy sensitivity. (The first two make my skin panic and the latter makes my digestive system panic. Actually, all three make my digestive system angry at me to some degree.) I also am or was sensitive to corn. Anyway I took it upon myself to make my own pizza, knowing that otherwise I would a) sit there and whine and eventually eat it anyway because everyone else is, or b) just indulge, pretending I haven’t got a problem. So, problem solved.
I just realised it’s been 6 months since I started this “new diet.”
Well, Happy Thanksgiving everybody!
Britain follows suit on the current discussions of whether or not to administer the vaccine against HPV (human papilloma virus), several strains of which cause most cervical cancer. The article from BBC News, titled “Public in dark on HPV cancer link”, reveals how few respondents to a survey are aware of HPV as a risk factor for the prolific cancer, and even its STI nature. The title suggests perhaps that the public has been kept in the dark, but the article seems to me to do what everything else I’ve read does: it puts the blame on women for not knowing.
Continue reading Oh, you didn’t know? Shame on you! »
Welcome to my first installment of the Monday lunch blog. More on this later…
Last week my other half asked me why I’ve suddenly become so interested in natural and organic cosmetics. I had just come home with Burt’s Bees shampoo and conditioner, a mineral salt deodorant and some natural creams and lotions. Looking up some ingredients on Skin Deep: Cosmetic Safety Database, I discovered some unfavourable and increasingly risky items in two of my new purchases and started to complain. It was difficult to express, to begin with, why I was choosing the most toxic-free products I could get my hands on. Besides the obvious health and environmental impacts, I can’t bear knowing I’m using something bad for me, especially if I just spent $10 on it. Let’s face it, it’s not cheap.
Continue reading Get your green on »
“Everything you LOVE about QUAKER OATMEAL,” it says inside a graphical ribbon on the front. An illustrated steaming bowl of oatmeal and a poorly-drawn sprig of what appears to be wheat. (Brilliant.)
Oatmeal to Go: Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Oatmeal Squares. Sounds delicious, right? Its soft, dense texture just waiting to be handled like a moist oatmeal cookie. At the time, I succumbed more to the curiosity than the anticipation of pleasure; that and I knew I didn’t want my dearest eating this crud but I couldn’t bear to throw it out. So, I ate it. And it was good.
Not.
Continue reading Quaker’s Oatmeal Deceit »
There are a lot of things in this world I would change. Call me a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I may be the only one I’ve ever heard of, however, dreaming about the day that food—well, processed food—doesn’t contain allergens, crap and genetically-modified ingredients. I want my grain products without things like soy lecithin, corn syrup, modified milk ingredients, and x-y-z’s… without paying a premium. If everything was expensive, period, then organic cereal wouldn’t be such a big deal to pay for. The good news is, pure processed foods aren’t always bad: Gesundheit Bakery in Abbotsford, BC makes rye bread so good I ate four small pieces while waiting for the bus right after I bought it. I then went home and ate at least two more, plain. No scary crap or things I can’t eat on my food-sensitivity diet.
Continue reading I’m an unrealistic dreamer »
I’ve realised lately how much I value food that I’ve paid good money for. I don’t take it for granted and devour it to my heart’s content without due thought. We are in the habit of going for the cheapest price possible, with a few exceptions, so most items we eat don’t have to be moderated based on cost. This would include milk, eggs, and bread. Cereal, on the contrary, is an expensive food to be eating as a snack, so my indulgence was limited… until now.
Continue reading Expensive food on a small budget »
(By sugar I mean refined sugar from sugarcanes and/or sugar beets. The photo above is from awhile ago, so it’s with milk but before sugar was added.)
We like to make our oatmeal (aka porridge) with half milk, half water, but given my new “diet,” I can’t do that anymore. It’s just as welll, because I can walk off and do something else instead of standing around to make sure the milk doesn’t burn.
For two large servings, we follow the recipe on the package: 3 cups of water and 1 1/3 cups of oats, combined into a pot then cooked. Follow whatever portions you like. I find half of that amount is a bit too much for me, but the single serving can be too little. Anyway.
whole rolled oats (not quick oats)
water
topping: sliced banana, honey, cinnamon, and vanilla flavouring to taste. If the proportions are right, you won’t need milk or alternative milk.
or: sliced banana or apple, raisins (I forgot them again! shucks), and thick, plain (goat’s milk) yogurt, with honey if desired.
An article posted to CTV News says that most advertising that children and youth see are for foods that we are trying to promote as “eat less” and not “eat more.” While schools are implementing healthy eating programs with vending machines and cafeterias (not applicable to post-secondary, however!), the advertising they see on television is, according to the article, completely contradictory to health-positive messages.
It begins:
In a child’s buffet of food commercials, more than 40 per cent of the dishes are candy, snacks and fast food. Nowhere to be found: fresh fruit, vegetables, poultry or seafood.
Why no ads for fresh fruit, vegetables, poultry or seafood? Because fresh fruit and vegetables don’t get advertised. The money for it isn’t there, while processed and fast food companies invest billions into advertising to make sure you buy their products. The best you’ll get is a glimpse of wholesome food in a Safeway or Save On Foods ad. As for poultry, it seems to me a long time since I’ve seen a Maple Leaf chicken ad, and I can’t recall seeing anything about seafood beyond, what was it, KFC Popcorn Shrimp?
Continue reading “Nearly half of ads targeting kids show junk food” »
