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Feb. 20th, 2012 01:14 amMy mother's 60th birthday was today (well, yesterday at this point, but that's irrelevant). There was a smallish gathering, to which I brought guacamole (one of my mother's friends was a professional baker, and I have no intention of competing with her on baked goods (let's just say there were marzipan carrots involved), and besides, cakes aren't really my thing). My approach to guac involves large quantities of both cumin and smoked paprika, and I noticed that the last batch I made was an unappealing tanish color as opposed to the customary green. In an attempt to correct this, I added some green (and a little yellow) food coloring, and the color was much better.
I have developed a deserved reputation as someone who bakes things that are strange colors. And I have no problem with baking or eating foods that are clearly unnatural in color. But I find myself pondering the consequences of using food coloring to restore a more natural appearance to food. I had less of an issue with this when I used green food coloring on lime bars. They came out somewhat unnaturally neon, but I still think the green coloring helped distinguish the type of citrus that this dish was (I wonder what would happen if I made them orange - the base is yellow because of the egg yolks in the recipe, so there's only so much I can do with the color).
I don't consider myself a "foodie" because my primary interest is food that tastes good. I generally don't get hung up on specific ingredients, processes, or presentations. But a meal is more than just taste - it's a visceral experience that involves several, if not all of the senses. So is it acceptable for me to add food coloring to something to make it appear more appetizing? And if I can do it, why can't major food producers? Or is there a difference between compensating for the addition of an ingredient that changes the expected color of a dish and making something appear to be something it's not?
Why stop at food coloring? If we synthesize all of the flavor compounds of saffron at 1/100th the price, does it take away all of the magic of paella? Aren't some genetic modifications just a more focused, more efficient technique for accomplishing the same things as cross-breeding species? I have much more of a problem with using GM to introduce immunity to certain diseases/pests/pesticides, and I've read The Windup Girl and hope that the Monsantos of the world know better than to pull anything like developing crops that require very specific additives for them to grow/survive/thrive.
Giant has installed boards advertising their home delivery service in several of my local train stations. One of them has been defaced with messages encouraging the labeling of GMOs and equating the GM process with cancer. I think the labeling is important - I had no problem disclosing that I added food coloring to the guacamole. And as long as I'm aware of what's been done to my food - and as long as I have an alternative - then I think I can accept bending the rules a little bit. But only as long as the changes are minor and in the name of appearance and flavor; mucking with the viability of a crop or critter seems extremely dangerous given the unpredictability of the evolutionary development of environmental factors and the non-permanence of human technology. Food is important, and we need to be able to fall back to basic food production should we lose the ability to perform or afford advanced methods of food production.
I have developed a deserved reputation as someone who bakes things that are strange colors. And I have no problem with baking or eating foods that are clearly unnatural in color. But I find myself pondering the consequences of using food coloring to restore a more natural appearance to food. I had less of an issue with this when I used green food coloring on lime bars. They came out somewhat unnaturally neon, but I still think the green coloring helped distinguish the type of citrus that this dish was (I wonder what would happen if I made them orange - the base is yellow because of the egg yolks in the recipe, so there's only so much I can do with the color).
I don't consider myself a "foodie" because my primary interest is food that tastes good. I generally don't get hung up on specific ingredients, processes, or presentations. But a meal is more than just taste - it's a visceral experience that involves several, if not all of the senses. So is it acceptable for me to add food coloring to something to make it appear more appetizing? And if I can do it, why can't major food producers? Or is there a difference between compensating for the addition of an ingredient that changes the expected color of a dish and making something appear to be something it's not?
Why stop at food coloring? If we synthesize all of the flavor compounds of saffron at 1/100th the price, does it take away all of the magic of paella? Aren't some genetic modifications just a more focused, more efficient technique for accomplishing the same things as cross-breeding species? I have much more of a problem with using GM to introduce immunity to certain diseases/pests/pesticides, and I've read The Windup Girl and hope that the Monsantos of the world know better than to pull anything like developing crops that require very specific additives for them to grow/survive/thrive.
Giant has installed boards advertising their home delivery service in several of my local train stations. One of them has been defaced with messages encouraging the labeling of GMOs and equating the GM process with cancer. I think the labeling is important - I had no problem disclosing that I added food coloring to the guacamole. And as long as I'm aware of what's been done to my food - and as long as I have an alternative - then I think I can accept bending the rules a little bit. But only as long as the changes are minor and in the name of appearance and flavor; mucking with the viability of a crop or critter seems extremely dangerous given the unpredictability of the evolutionary development of environmental factors and the non-permanence of human technology. Food is important, and we need to be able to fall back to basic food production should we lose the ability to perform or afford advanced methods of food production.
