Quackery In Cooking
I have the TV on most of the day, even though I'm not
watching most of the time. I'm usually working, and
just have the TV as sort of background music. And
of course, I like cooking shows. If Lidia Bastianich
had a 24 hour channel, that's what would be on my set
most of the time.
Sometimes I get desperate. Sometimes I'll tune in the
Spanish-language cooking shows from V-me. Or an
infomercial for the Magic Bullet. (I'd rather have
an infomercial with Ron Popeil in it -- where are
you, Ron?)
Rarely, I'll tune in to Cooking Time, the Korean
language cooking show. The host often uses obscure
or weird ingrediants, like oligosaccharide or
slim eel fish paste. But what really gets me is
the food quackery. She'll say this is food is good
for the joints, or that food is good for the muscles,
or this other stuff is good for your brain.
Yesterday, she was saying that because the salad
she was making was made with raw vegetables which
are still alive and have their life force, you
shouldn't mix the salad dressing into the salad
with your hands. You should use chopsticks.
If the vegetables had been cooked, you could go
ahead and use your hands. She wasn't clear on
whether the life force from your hands would
ruin the salad, or whether there was some ill
effect you'd receive from the salad through your
hands.
You learn something about other cultures by
watching their TV. Koreans are a bit kooky.
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