Response to fake mashed potatoes

This blog post describes why fake mashed potatoes just don't cut it. They don't compare to the real ones. Real potatoes are a very healthy vegetable. Surprisingly, they haven't really started adding nutrients to the fake mashed potatoes. Actually, that is really surprising because companies have done that to everything else.

My mom always makes real mashed potatoes. Our family probably goes through five pounds of potatoes every week. Every once in a while, my mom will get me some food from the store that I can bring to college. It surprised me that a couple weeks back she bought me some fake powdered mashed potatoes that I can add water to and heat up in the microwave. I can tell you that if you were raised on real potatoes all your life, fake mashed potatoes taste like crap unless you get the ones that are sour cream or butter flavored. Those taste okay.

I totally agree with this blog post. Real mashed potatoes are so much better.

Post 5: Raw milk debate

Selling raw milk has been a top story in the news lately. People in the legislature want to pass the legalization of selling raw milk. There are both ups and downs to this bill and it is a hot debate.

The article I found that was against the selling of raw milk was based on the health issues that come along with it. Raw milk is unpasteurized, which means that all of the bacteria are sill alive in it. Before pasteurizing milk was widely adopted, 25% of all foodbourne illnesses were from milk. The article states that drinking raw milk "is like playing Russian roulette with your health."

The debate also goes the opposite way is saying that raw milk is healthy for ones body. The article for raw milk says that many vitamins are lost in the heating process of pasteurization. Milk allergies are also less common in raw milk.

I feel that the article against selling raw milk is more convincing. It uses multiple sources in its argument and many scientific proofs. After reading the two articles, my opinion on raw milk still hasn't change. Even though we used to drink our own raw milk, we stopped because my brother got salmonella. Now my mom buys milk from the store so nobody else gets sick. Raw milk is so dangerous and one can easily get sick from it. I am still against the legalization of raw milk. I am also afraid that if it is legalized and more people start drinking it, if people start getting sick, they are going to start going after the dairy farmer. We have made advancements in keeping people healthy. Why not keep it that way?

Response to Ryan's butter blog

I strongly agree with Ryan's blog. Butter is better. I am also from a dairy farm and dairy farmers know butter the best. I have even made butter myself. It just tastes so much more natural.

Ryan really explained the differences between butter and margarine well. I would be afraid to eat margarine because of all the fake stuff that is in it. Since I was raised on butter and I am from a dairy farm, I feel it would be a crime to think about even using margarine for anything. Sure, they say that it is supposed to be healthier for you because of the less fats and more healthy fats that are in it, but butter is just the fat that is from milk, and milk is good for you.

I have to admit that I have had margarine before, but that is only because that is what my high school had served at lunch. They didn't have butter. Margarine just didn't appeal to me. It seemed so greasy in my mouth and tastes so much different than butter. I was raised on homemade foods made with butter. Call me old-fashioned, which I feel I kind of am, but I love home cooked, real food.

"Real" food vs. "fake" food

The Western diet consists of many foods that may be considered "fake." These foods are processed and are not in their true form from nature. One "fake" food that I used to eat in the "real" form is bread.

Bread in its fake form doesn't look like real homemade bread. It looks to perfect and the slices are all cut evenly. Fake bread has a totally different taste than real bread. Real bread tastes so much richer and has more texture than the fake form. Even the smell is so much different. I love the smell of homemade bread. It makes me have a warm and relaxed feeling. Fake bread just doesn't do it for me.

Companies are now adding nutrients to their bread to say it is more healthy, such as calcium and iron. These nutrients just aren't the same that one could get from homemade bread. The nutrients one get from homemade bread are the ones found in nature. In fake, store bought, bread, nutrients are made and processed in a lab. It claims to be more healthy, but, as Pollan is trying to get passed in his book, is that processed food with added nutrients may be more harmful to your health.

I switched to eating the fake form of bread when my mom got very busy with the farm and she was unable to make homemade bread. I miss those days. It got a little easier for her when she bought a bread maker, but then that broke down and she hasn't bought a new one. Every once and a while she will buy bread from the bakery in the grocery store, but it just isn't the same. Bread right out of the oven is the best. Lately, I have been wanting to make some bread at home but I need yeast first. I keep forgetting to get some.