Watching Food

I quite often spend my weekends with my television tuned to cooking shows and I've found that I like some more than others. While I truly adore Bobby Flay, Giada and Paula, they cook very little food that I find myself wanting to reproduce. I've recently started watching Hungry Girl and while she gives me great ideas on simple foods I wouldn't have thought about, I don't like all the prepared items that she uses in her recipes.

My favorite food shows? I think I have two. First, Cupcake Girls. Yes, Cupcake Girls! This is show about two friends in Vancouver who have a chain of cupcake stores. They share a lot of insights into growing and maintaining a chain and balance with just enough personal information to let you know they're real people. While they don't really share recipes or cooking techniques, the do provide an inside view into the business side of things.

Probably my most favorite food show is Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. I liked the show when it first began but he was basically just drinking his way around the world. Now, he visits places around the world and uses food as a way to commence a dialog about culture, politics and current events.

I think if I were to have my own food show, I would travel with one or all of my children and we'd compare high and low cuisine in various places around the world. We'd look at how menus are designed, the use of restaurant space and developing food trends. Maybe we could get local chefs to do a cooking segment and share recipes. Yeah, that would be nice!

yes, we're a community!

I just read this article in the NYTimes on food communities and I thought, yes! That's us @ itsjustfood! O! The possibilities!

Breakfast Meeting

I think the ugliest times our family had when I was a girl was when my dad tried to make me eat breakfast. It was so bad! He knew I needed to eat and I had absolutely no appetite. And, I was a teenager. It would start at home and often last the entire car ride to school. Dad knew the importance of the first meal of the day, but I knew I felt fine without it.

Not so much anymore! I can lose steam real quick with no food, no calories to give me energy. What's that they say? Eat like a queen for breakfast, a princess for lunch and a pauper for dinner.

The PBS Breakfast Special reminded me how, well... how special breakfast is! When I travel to new lands, I like to figure out the breakfast foods. Most of my favorite breakfast restaurants these days serve only breakfast and they're quaint little places to which I'd love to take my dad.

So, here's sort of a meme to get us all re-acquainted. Cut and paste it into the comment section and answer away! My answers are here to get things started.

What's your favorite breakfast?
What's your favorite place to eat breakfast?
Describe you favorite breakfast beverage.
What do you do to make you breakfast healthier?
Do you ever skip breakfast?

What's your favorite breakfast? It's a toss up between sausage and waffles AND rice and steamed salmon

What's your favorite place to eat breakfast? my all time favorite place is this place in Pingtung, Taiwan. I posted a picture of breakfast from there in one of my first blog posts. I never was real sure what I was getting for breakfast because I can't read Mandarin! Plus, what you would actually get on your plate would depend on what was actually available. Meals were served inside or out and you were free to sit with friends and linger the day away.

Here, now I really enjoy Three Sisters, a house converted into a restaurant that serves breakfast all day!Describe you favorite breakfast beverage. coffee with sugar and warm milk

What do you do to make you breakfast healthier? I'll eat oatmeal with soymilk and walnuts

Do you ever skip breakfast? not anymore!

The Debate over High-Fructose Corn Syrup's Name

You read well. High-fructose corn syrup producers asked the Food and Drug Administration the authorization to use the name "Corn Sugar" instead, on food labels.

Here is a fact: The American Medical Association says our bodies process high-fructose corn syrup just as they process cane sugar. In other words, the-maybe-soon-to-be-called "corn syrup", which is widely used in processed food, is not to blame for a weight intake or obesity. Because it hasn't been scientifically proven otherwise.

Okay.

That said, a Princeton University research, introduced in an article written by Hilary Parker claims otherwise: High-fructose corn syrup prompt considerably more weight gain. True or False?

Then why change the name?

Because regardless high-fructose corn syrup is singled out by some health-conscious persons. Not dietitians, but still people who just don't want it in the food they consume. HFCS is said to sound "too scientific," not natural enough... Would calling it "corn syrup" really make a difference in that case in people's minds? I am not sure. I actually doubt it would.

What do you think?

If you'd like to read more about it, check the following articles:

- Sun Sentinel Article: Corn Syrup or Corn Sugar, by David Martosko

- Princeton University ariticle: A Sweet Problem, by Hilary Parker

- An interesting blog dedicated to high-fructose corn syrup (though not updated regularly): High Fructose Makes You Fat.