This mechanically separated chicken will be re-colored, shaped, and flavored to create what you call edible chicken.

When I first saw this picture circulating Facebook I thought…are you joking me? This is nasty… how can anyone call this chicken. I was secretly hoping that it was really just strawberry frozen yogurt.  But alas, this and so many other “Foods” start like this. The epitome of our fast food nation. Needless to say this pic, and an email from my friend Kendall encouraging me to post on this topic, made me want to spill my guts about the truth behind FLAVORING FOODS!

The source I am using for this post is the book, Fast Food Nation.

What plant grows flaming Cheetos?

Did you know that about 10,000 new processed foods are introduced every year to Americans. Think about that. That is 10,000 new flavors like fiery jalapeno nacho cheese Cheetos. (What plant grows a jalapeno nacho flavored Cheetos?) Almost every new food that comes out requires a new flavor which makes me ask where are the flavors coming from?

Since the beginning of time humans have craved flavors. We fought wars over spice trade. The smell of food gives food 90% of its flavor. Taste was designed to help humans know a “good for you food” from a “bad for you food.” But today, taste has been hijacked by companies who design flavors to be added to foods so you the consumer will love, eat, and continue to purchase. (And we do purchase… 90% of money spent on food is allotted to processed foods.)

The America flavor industry makes about $1.4 Billion a year. These companies design, engineer, and modify chemicals that give food taste, look, smell, and feel to make you the consumer keep purchasing products. Look in your cupboards…on almost every label and ingredient list you will see the phrase “natural flavor” or “artificial flavor.” Guess what… both flavors are made in labs.

Fast Food Nation Key quotes on the topic:

• “Natural flavors and artificial flavors sometimes contain exactly the same chemicals, produced through different methods.”
• “A natural flavor is not necessarily healthier or purer than an artificial one.”
• “Complex flavors are being made through fermentation, enzyme reactions, fungal cultures, and tissue cultures. All of the flavors being created through these methods- including the ones being synthesized by funguses-are considered natural flavors by the FDA.”

I don’t know about you but this scientific flavoring of food doesn’t sit right with me. I grew up on a farm. I collected my eggs, pulled my carrots out of the ground, picked my plumbs from a tree, and was taught its best to know where my food came from. In todays age, its hard to avoid all flavored food but do your best to choose those foods that are really from nature. My husband and I love the saying…“shop the perimeter of the grocery store.” That tends to be where the food is real.

That's what I'm talking about...Fresh Yummy Real Flavor!

Let me leave you with this excerpt from Fast Food Nation…

“Then I inhaled deeply, and one food after another was conjured from the glass bottles. I smelled fresh cherries, black olives, sautéed onions, and shrimp. Grainger’s most remarkable creation took me by surprise. After closing my eyes, I suddenly smelled a grilled hamburger. The aroma was uncanny, almost miraculous. It smelled like someone in the room was flipping burgers on a hot grill. But when I opened my eyes, there was just a narrow strip of white paper and a smiling flavorist.”

In health,

Tara Arnold, RN