October 20, 2011 | By Adam Roberts | 0 Comments
In all the debate that goes on in this country about what people eat and how we need to reform the American diet, it’s always taken as a given that people who attempt to nourish themselves and their children on fast food need to be educated, need to be reformed. There’s a sense that we who are enlightened about food, who subscribe to the philosophies of Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman and Alice Waters (I certainly do), are somehow in possession of a great secret and if only we could communicate this secret to the uninformed, we’ll spare them from diabetes and heart disease and cancer and all of the other blights inevitable for those who don’t buy organic produce, who gobble down Big Macs while we gobble down our brown rice bowls.
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April 20, 2010 | By Adam Roberts | 0 Comments
College is for experimenting, right? We know all about your gay make-out session and that time you tried to smoke catnip. When I was in college, I’d experiment with smoothies. I’d go to Smoothie King, right there in Emory Village (because I went to Emory, see) and order a Caribbean Way which was 5 squirts of this and 4 squirts of that and, if I wanted, a shot of protein powder. Then came Jamba Juice with a few more squirts of this and that and some other strange powders and I was hooked. Only, I always thought two things while consuming these smoothies: (1) what kind of junk is in this drink I’m drinking? and (2) Why is it so expensive?
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May 25, 2009 | By Adam Roberts | 0 Comments
Rob Siegel is a cardiologist who joined a big group of us last week, before seeing “Star Trek,” for dinner at The Brooklyn Diner (not the best place for a meal, but a decent option near the Ziegfield Theater). There were so many of us, we were split into two groups, and, unfortunately, I wasn’t at Rob’s table; Craig was, however, and he reports that Rob–again, a cardiologist–ordered a bacon cheeseburger. Rob, a thoughtful, funny guy, shrugged his shoulders and began explaining his theories about nutrition, health, and eating, theories that led to a discussion later that night which concluded: “Why don’t we do a Q&A on my blog?” So here’s that Q&A. And if you enjoy Rob’s sensibility, and want to read more, you can read his blog–Let Them Eat Cake–on the Psychology Today website.
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In Defense of HFCS — Slate has a compelling article by Daniel Engber which argues that "there's no reason to believe [High Fructose Corn Syrup] is any worse for you than cane or beet sugar."
January 22, 2009 | By Adam Roberts | 20 Comments
Dinner parties are rarely life changing events. Usually, you sit around a table with friends, drink wine, eat cheese, and talk about light subjects like abortion and torture and then you all head home. At least, that’s always how it’s been for me until this past weekend when our friends Dara and Kieran–who’ve kindly hosted us before– invited us to dinner.
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