21 June 2008

I still don't believe that McDonald's is healthy.


Apparently, one Mr. Chris Coleson of Virginia was able to lose 85 pounds by eating exclusively at McDonald's. My reaction, in brief: Gross.

Though this is no Supersize Me, it's nonetheless somewhat jarring to wrap your brain around the fact that McDonald's is responsible for weight loss as opposed to weight gain. In the aforementioned film, the human guinea pig eats every single menu item before looping back around to the first (which was the Big Mac, of course). In Coleson's case, he confined himself to what he considered the "healthy" menu items. (He claims he chose McDonald's simply because it was "convenient"; also, that his inspiration was a blind Vet and, of course, his kids... anyone else smell a side of crazy? Thought so.)

Watching Supersize Me definitely made me want to investigate the claims made by Coleson a bit more closely, so I surfed on over to McDonald's corporate website. Once there, I was surprised at how accessible all the nutrition information was, but I also found out that a snack size fruit & walnut salad was
210 calories & 8 grams of fat in a tiny 5 1/2 oz. container. Still, avoiding the fried versions of wraps and eschewing the caramel sauce when procuring an order of Apple Dippers (does that need a ™?) might actually be okay for you. Of course, one has to remember the negligible nutritional value of iceberg lettuce, something by which the wraps are notoriously plumped up.

And if you're not lactarded like me, you can breathe easy that a kiddie cone is only 45 calories (?!), with one gram of fat and six grams of sugar. Do I sound like a corporate shill or what? Hey, note that I still couldn't bring myself to tag this entry with "golf clap", and anyone who loses 85 pounds usually merits at least that (relatively meaningless) accolade. Also, after reading the wet blanket the experts put on top of this story, it's not like I want to be accused of encouraging this wretched behavior. seize the cake is 100% anti-artificial flavorings and 95% anti-microwave. (Confession: I simply can't bring myself to preheat the toaster oven and wait 25 minutes for something silly like a Boca Burger. I know, I know, I'm a terrible person.)

14 June 2008

This could be the most amazing cake I've ever seen, ever.


Courtesy of Flickr, which has tons more close up photos that make my inner pastry chef wickedly jealous. Touché, Beth at Let Them Eat Cake. Touché.

13 June 2008

Stephanie kicks everyone's butt!

Finally, a Top Chef winner that I can emphatically agree with -- and she's also a woman! Last night, Stephanie Izard took home the prize over evil, self-absorbed Lisa "who turned off my rice?!" Fernandes and creative but scattered Richard "I choked" Blaise. The Onion A.V. Club has a morning-after interview with Stephanie, in which she remains as cool and classy as she had been during the course of the show. It's a good read, and it's their #1 emailed article right now.

While the introduction to the interview mentions that Stephanie is the first female winner of Top Chef, they don't ask her to comment on that at all, and I'm struggling to figure out why there's such a glaring omission in the article. As this October 2007 New York magazine article makes abundantly clear, there aren't a whole lot of lady chefs running kitchens, and it's very acutely still a man's world behind the stove. When it takes four tries to find a qualified woman from an evenly gendered batch of contestants at the beginning of each season, and it's apparent that the profession skews male -- no matter how many women they feature on the program -- it makes a person scratch their head a little.

I suppose the fact that three women made it to the final rounds of competition this time is an encouraging sign, seeing as no one would have batted an eyelash if the genders had been flipped, as they were last season when Casey was the only woman to make it to the finale. Perhaps we're just supposed to chalk it up to the mix of contestants? Hmm... I've got just a little bit of trouble swallowing that one whole.

Still, the best part about Stephanie winning has nothing to do with her being a woman. It's because she was definitely the chef who deserved the prize above all the others. In the penultimate episode when Dale left her meat out overnight and ruined it, she didn't whine or blame or scream, she simply reworked her meal and ended up doing well enough for second place in the elimination challenge. She was always humble, and seemed genuinely surprised that she was the winner when Padma announced her name. When someone so classy gets to take home the prize, you can't help but be happy for them, no matter what gender they are.

07 June 2008

Meat.


As a former vegan, pescavegetarian (no meat or dairy, except fish -- a short lunch break made the sushi place across from work semi-obligatory), and ovovegetarian, but currently an unapologetic meat lover, I've wondered how I can cut back on meat in a practical way -- still able to enjoy the occasional slice of bacon, without the side of guilt. Apparently, someone at the New York Times has been reading my mail -- this week saw publication of the article "Putting Meat Back In Its Place", which is basically a consumption guide for those of us who'd like a little less factory in our farm (or just feel guilty about eating so much meat, or whatever -- Mark Bittman lays out the irrelevancy of the readers' motives in the first paragraph), and are willing to cut back on the amount of flesh-based food in our diet.

Though longtime restricted-diet adherents will probably find most of the recommended steps to be old hat ("4. Buy more vegetables, and learn new ways to cook them"), there is an undercurrent in the article that demands we reconceptualize meat, perhaps think of it the way we're also being asked to think of fossil fuels -- something precious, a commodity not to be considered infinitely renewable, a luxury. I enjoyed the subtlety of Bittman's article. He's one of my favorite food writers, because he's never negative, just excited about coaxing his readers toward a positive, and that skill is displayed plainly in this week's article.

My favorite way to cut back on meat is to have vegan dinners at least once a week, which is surprisingly easy when you pool all the leftover veg from the meatier nights of the week. Throw the veg in a cast iron skillet, cook it down in a bit of wine or veg stock, throw it over couscous or quinoa, and add some pre-cooked garbanzos or lentils on top. Yum! And totally meat-free.

Of course, if I ever decide to return to my former meat-eschewing ways, I'll always have this to keep my palate happy.