Cheese at 33,000 feet

On a recent flight from Phoenix to Newark, I didn't expect delicious food, and I didn't expect free food, but I also didn't expect cheese food!

The menu offered a small selection of snack boxes. I chose the "CaféSnack," which was supposed to include Swiss and Gouda cheese.

When the food arrived, I discovered that it actually included Glacier Ridge Farms brand "Gouda style pasteurized process cheese food, gouda-type flavor" and "Swiss style pasteurized process cheese food, swiss-type flavor."

So this was something similar to cheese, but with a few more adjectives -- and a few more ingredients. In addition to cheese, each package contained water, sodium phosphate, calcium proprionate and salt.

It didn't taste awful, but I would have preferred just plain cheese. Cheese isn't terribly perishable, but perhaps there's a good reason it's not practical to serve on a commercial flight. I decided I'd try to find out.

According to Cheese Market News, (yep, no kidding!), Glacier Ridge Farms is the brand name for a line of products manufactured by Dairyfood USA of Blue Mounds, Wisconsin. Their website has a helpful "contact us" form, where I submitted this question:
Hi. I recently ordered a CafeSnack snack box on a US Airways flight, which included Glacier Ridge Farms Gouda style and Swiss style pasteurized process cheese food. These tasted pretty good, but I noticed from the name and ingredients that they're not just cheese. I'd appreciate any information you can share about why US Airways offers this product rather than regular cheese.

The "contact us" form on the US Airways website was a little more challenging to use: I had to divulge my phone number, address and flight details. Still, I was able to submit a similar question there.

If I get a reply from Dairyfood or US Airways, I'll be sure to update this post.

Sad About Slaw: Beware the Deli Counter

I thought I had found a food product that was affordable, tasty and healthful. My local Shoprite's deli counter offers a salad they call "vinegar and oil cole slaw." It's chock full of shredded cabbage and carrots, and while it's clearly not low-fat, its oil-and-vinegar dressing seems lighter than that of mayonnaise-based slaw. I figured it might be high in sodium, but I assumed it was otherwise a good nutritional choice.

Last month, I decided to find out what this product is really made of. The adhesive label printed at the deli counter gave the name "Blue Ridge Vinegar & Oil Slaw." A Google search led to several online grocery sites offering Blue Ridge's conventional mayonnaise slaw, some of which listed the ingredients. But I had no luck finding the ingredients for the vinegar and oil version.

Eventually, I used the "Contact Us" page at shoprite.com to email an inquiry about the product's ingredients and nutrition facts. To Shoprite's credit, a Customer Satisfaction Manager (yep, that's his title!) replied within a few days. Here's the response in its entirety, except that I've omitted the manager's name and contact information to preserve his privacy.

Good Morning Mr. Steve,
The Blue Ridge vinegar and oil coleslaw ingredients are cabbage, high fructose corn syrup, soybean oil, carrots, red bell peppers, vinegar, salt, water, sodium erthorbate, potassium sorbata (as a perservative), sodium benzoate (as a persevative), modified food starch (corn), parsley, calcium disodium EDTA. contains: soy.

There are a few typos, but the message is clear. More corn syrup than carrots or peppers. And five chemical additives, three of which are sodium compounds, as well as salt itself. Since the reply didn't include nutrition facts, I'm still in the dark about the precise sodium content, but it's undoubtedly high.

I don't think I'll be buying this product in the future. What I thought was a wholesome vegetable salad is more like a chemical stew.

The larger point is that the deli counter is a labeling-free zone. Most supermarket products include detailed labels with ingredients and nutrition facts in accordance with FDA guidelines. The deli counter is an exception. Unless you do some digging, you don't know what's in the coldcuts, salads and other products offered there. Buyer beware!

Fall colors

At this time of year, it's not only leaves that display beautiful colors. Some amazing hues can be found in the produce aisle, as well.

One example is these orange-and-green acorn squashes, purchased from Whole Foods.

I haven't cooked them yet. I don't expect the preparation or flavor will differ from more ordinary-looking acorn squash, but they're certainly pleasant to look at.

A second example is purple -- yes, purple! -- sweet potatoes. These also came from Whole Foods and were grown in California. In this photo, I've cut the end off one of them, so you can see that the flesh inside is purple, just like the skin.

A sign in the store suggested boiling or steaming to preserve the color, but I went ahead and baked them as I usually do with sweet potatoes: about 45 minutes in a toaster oven at 400 degrees. They were still quite purple after cooking, as you can see from this one that's been baked and split lengthwise.

The flavor was like that of orange sweet potatoes, with one odd difference: the sweetness wasn't uniform throughout each potato. I noticed one end of my potato was very sweet, while the other end was only moderately sweet, with more of a starchy flavor. My wife found the same was true of hers.

One tip for handling these sweet potatoes: they exude a deep red-purple juice when cut while raw, almost like a beet. Even after baking, some juice of the same color dripped when they were cut open. I imagine the juice could stain fabric if you're not careful. On skin or a cutting board, though, it rinsed away with no fuss.

Interestingly, both these beautiful produce items didn't come with premium prices. Each was around $1.50 per pound, a good deal considering they were a feast for the eyes as well as the palate.

Whole wheat pasta: the cardboard conundrum

"It tastes like cardboard." That was my lovely wife's assessment the last time I served whole wheat pasta. My teenage son didn't like it any better, and, I must confess, I wasn't crazy about it myself.

I chose penne rigate of a reputable brand -- DeCecco, whose refined-flour pasta is consistently excellent -- and carefully followed the package directions. Yet I found the results unappetizing. The flavor was decidedly bitter. The texture was strangely crumbly: the pasta disintegrated into small, faintly slippery morsels when chewed. With some tomato sauce, I was able to choke it down, but I really didn't enjoy it. I had better luck using it as a base for a flavorful dish of sautéed chicken thighs with peppers and onions, but it still wasn't nearly as good as conventional pasta.

Here's the strange thing: I've had whole wheat pasta in a couple of different restaurants, and it tasted better than what I made at home. Now I think I know why. I looked closely at another brand of whole grain pasta, Barilla, in the supermarket recently. The words "Whole Grain" appear on the front of the box in giant letters. Also in fairly large type, it states "EXCELLENT SOURCE OF FIBER." It's much smaller text that admits "MADE WITH 51% WHOLE WHEAT." That's in contrast to the DeCecco product, which contains only whole semolina and some vitamins and minerals. I'm guessing that the products I enjoyed in the restaurants were not 100% whole wheat.

I wonder, by the way, why DeCecco fortifies its whole grain pasta with added nutrients. Shouldn't that be unnecessary when the flour is unrefined?

I also wondered, of course, what definition of "whole grain" allows Barilla to label its product as whole grain pasta. I found some sources (such as this one) stating that the USDA's definition is -- no surprise -- at least 51%.

I'd really like to enjoy whole wheat pasta. And I'd really like it to be 100% whole wheat. Readers, if you know a brand, cooking technique or recipe that makes whole wheat pasta delicious, please comment. I want to eat something that's good for me -- and tastes better than the cardboard box it came in.

Daikon

It's disappointing how few of the world's edible plants and animals make up most people's diets, so when the chance comes along to try something new, I usually take it. Although I've eaten daikon before, I never bought it or prepared it myself until now.

It's the long white sticks on my crudité platter shown in the photo, which I served with guacamole and hummus for dipping. Wikipedia has a photo of whole daikon, but mine wasn't as pretty as theirs. The greens had been removed, and the skin was rough-textured with some brownish coloration in areas. It looked a lot like a parsnip, or like a carrot if carrots were off-white. It was a bargain at $1.29 per pound, less than a dollar for a large daikon.

I peeled it and cut it into strips suitable for dipping. Daikon is sometimes known as daikon radish or Chinese radish, and I found the taste and texture very similar to a "regular" radish: crunchy, a bit watery, and providing a moderate sensation of heat on the tongue. My wife compared the flavor to celery; however, it lacks any stringiness.

Wikipedia says daikon is low in calories, and higher in vitamin C than regular radishes. I suspect the red skin of regular radishes harbors some antioxidants that aren't found in daikon, but I'm just guessing about that. Readers, please weigh in if you know. In any case, daikon is probably a more healthful choice than a lot of things I eat. It wasn't the most delicious thing I ever had, but I would try it again.

The strip mall trifecta

There are three desirable characteristics of food: good flavor, low cost and good nutrition. It's rare to find one dish that offers all of these.

My hopes for good eating were particularly low yesterday afternoon. I was on the road and didn't have a chance to get lunch until after 3:00. In an unfamiliar town and too hungry to be choosy, I pulled into a strip mall and perused the storefronts. I settled on Frank's Trattoria, which looked like any other pizza joint, with a counter, a few tables, and pizza by the slice. I assumed I'd wolf down a couple of pieces of pizza and be on my way.

But then I noticed a chalkboard on which a single lunch special was offered: grilled salmon with sautéed vegetables. Amazingly, this meal was priced at only $7.50. When the food arrived, the portion was huge, and it tasted great! Furthermore, it was loaded with sautéed fresh vegetables: broccoli, spinach, carrots, peppers, mushrooms onions and garlic. It wasn't greasy or particularly salty, just flavorful and satisfying.

So although it's unusual to find taste, affordability and healthful ingredients all together, sometimes good meals come from unexpected places. Three cheers for the strip mall trifecta!

Is Boston Market more healthful than other fast food chains?

I was away from home at dinnertime today, and although I'm not usually a fan of chain restaurants, I gave in to a craving for Boston Market. I don't think of Boston Market's food as healthful, but I always figured it was a bit less unhealthful than "traditional" fast food like McDonalds or KFC. After finishing a fatty, salty meal, though, I was wondering whether that's true. I decided to look up the nutrition facts for what I had just eaten.

Boston Market provides access to an online nutrition calculator, which is actually pretty slick. I entered my entrée (Rotisserie Chicken - Three Piece Dark, which automatically added cornbread to my meal and sides (Garlic Dill New Potatoes and Garlicky Lemon Spinach). The calculator generated this nutrition facts report:


The calorie count was actually less than I expected. I can certainly handle 760 calories at dinnertime, unless I've had an unusually large breakfast and lunch.

The fat and saturated fat numbers are pretty high, but (I'm embarrassed to say) no higher than some of the dinners I cook at home. The cholesterol, at 108% of daily value, is a bit alarming. The chicken accounts for 290mg of the cholesterol, about double what USDA's Food-A-Pedia estimates for a similar quantity of roasted dark-meat chicken.

It's no surprise that the meal included nearly a day's worth of sodium. The 15 grams of sugar did come as a surprise. The only thing that tasted slightly sweet was the cornbread, which turns out to contribute 13 of those 15 grams.

On the positive side, the nutrition facts significant amounts of vitamins and minerals, as well as 6 grams of fiber. These nutrients mostly came from the two side dishes. However, I'm skeptical whether the stated amounts of these nutrients really survived processing and cooking. Also, I noticed vitamin A palmitate in the ingredient list, so not all of the vitamin A is from the actual vegetables.

Speaking of the ingredients, I was going to count how many there are, but I actually found it too difficult. Many of them have lists of sub-ingredients, some of which overlap. Suffice it to say there were more than 20 ingredients in my meal, and they included such delights as modified cornstarch and mono and diglycerides. It's never a good sign when Google's spell-checker doesn't believe something you ate is a word.

One definite benefit of this dinner: between the Garlic Dill New Potatoes and the Garlicky Lemon Spinach, I won't have to worry about vampires tonight!