Food News Journal: Blogs
Food News Journal (FNJ) is basically a food news aggregator site. They gather the most relevant, new, and exciting food news from various online media sources and place it on their website M-F.
Besides their front page, where they list the numerous links to food news, they offer an Exclusives page as well as a Forum page.
The Exclusives page houses several articles written by FNJ staff, varying from food photography tips to cookbook reviews to cooking recipes. Readers have the option of commenting on any of the articles.
The Forum page includes more articles written by FNJ staff. Here, however, they usually will pose questions for readers to think about and contribute answers to via the comments box.
The primary purpose of FNJ’s website is to link to other food-related articles on other websites. But, they do give visitors the opportunity to check out their foodstuffs book of the day, recipe of the day (via another blog), and links to upcoming foodie events across the country.
Beef: It’s What’s for Dinner…I Think?!?!
I’ll be the first to admit my incessantly rocky romance with Taco Bell over the years.
I grew up with the stuff. The hard-shelled tacos, the burrito supremes, and the tostadas. Oh yes. The crunchy, messy, and menacingly-satisfying-at-2 AM-tostadas. God.
And, I guess I always sort of knew in the back of my head that it wasn’t truly good for me. But, it was late, it was quick, and I was hungry. And quite frankly, I didn’t care.
But, now that I’m older, I make a greater effort to ensure what I’m eating is healthful.
So, when I heard earlier this week about the lawsuit being slammed on Taco Bell with regards to the claim that their “beef” is really made up of only 35% beef, my on-again/off-again affair with Taco Bell came to a screeching and decidedly final halt.
Let me get this straight. If more than half of what goes into my nacho supreme ground beef isn’t beef, then what the hell is it?!
According to Foxnews.com,
Attorney Dee Miles said the meat mixture contained just 35 percent beef, with the remaining 65 percent containing water, wheat oats, soy lecithin, maltodrextrin, anti-dusting agent and modified corn starch.
Okay. I get the water and the wheat oats. But, maltodextrin? Anti-dusting agent? The latter sounds like something I need to wipe onto my hard wood surfaces. It would certainly cut down on my cleaning time.
I hopped on over to Wikipedia to get my learn on about maltodextrin. Here’s what it said:
Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide that is used as a food additive. It is produced from starch by partial hydrolysis and is usually found as a creamy-white hygroscopic spraydried powder. Maltodextrin is easily digestible, being absorbed as rapidly as glucose, and might be either moderately sweet or almost flavorless. It is commonly used for the production of natural sodas and candy.
Well, no wonder our youth is plagued by obesity. Even the beef is spliced with hidden, unnecessary sugars.
And the anti-dusting agent? From what I gather online, it’s supposed to help in the meat grinding process. The people at Answers.com surmised that,
“The anti-dusting agent is identified as soybean oil. It sounds like it is meant to keep the powdered spices from creating dust in the manufacturing process.”
My First Blog Post
Hello!
My name is Stephanie and I’m currently enrolled within the Culinary Arts Program @ WCC. I’m a graduate of San Jose State University, receiving a BA in Psychology and a minor in Child Development. After working many years in the Child Care field, I decided to leave it all behind and pursue my love for all things food.
This is my first Journalism class.
I’d ultimately like to pursue food writing as my end goal. I write a food blog @ okie dokie artichokie, where I share my stories, recipes, and food photography. I also write foodstuffs articles for an online magazine.
I hope to gain insight on ways to increase traffic to my site, expand my blog, and sharpen my writing skills.
– Steph
Stephanie Russell 