BuzzFeed posted a video on the site entitled Disturbing Facts About What You're Drinking.
I encourage you to watch it, and let me know what you think.
I saw this video, and it neither surprised me, nor disgusted me. Clearly, it was designed to gross out everyone who saw it, and that simple fact made me think about the priorities that we hold in our food choices. (In fact, I took an entire class on food values this last summer with Ellen Messer, one of the best professors I've had.)
It occurred to me that I don't have a problem with using animal products in foods in place of chemicals that will do the same job. I would rather have little bugs crushed into my red flavored beverages than a chemical mixture that would never occur in nature. Dried fish bladder doesn't super bother me either... Obviously, fecal matter in the tubes of fountain soda machines is gross...so I'm not going to agree that everything in the video is ok, but it's interesting how we are supposed to be disgusted by some things that are more "natural" than the commonly used alternatives.
What do you guys think? Would you rather inject chemicals or animals? How does the size or type of the animal change your thoughts?
-Bethy
I'm thinking of how different these facts would feel if they were presented in a kind "Check out the fascinating processes and inputs that go into food processing!" way, like a How It's Made episode or something. like, the fecal bacteria thing - okay - but we also have interesting studies being done now about fecal transplants being used to treat C. Difficile infections. Basically, I agree with you - we bring a lot of food values to the table, and while those values are occasionally accurate in terms of health effects, they're not always. It's pretty interesting.
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