A lot of people still believe this but it just ain’t so. There was some validity to it long ago, before refrigeration, when oysters headed to market were more likely to spoil because of the warm weather. And back then, oysters were wild-harvested and there was a greater chance of them being contaminated with red tide or or bacteria, which flourish in warm water. With today’s regulated farming techniques, oysters are monitored for contamination. And, of course, with refrigeration they can be kept nice and cold from ocean to table.
Safety aside, however, some oyster aficionados stay away from oysters from May to August because of the taste–they claim that cold month oysters are tastier and plumper. Be that as it may, don’t let the time of year deter you if you are jonesing for oysters.
This is legal but somewhat deceptive labeling on the part of manufacturers, likely because some people try to avoid MSG (but see below). Check the ingredients–if they include hydrolyzed soy (or vegetable) protein (HSP), then you’ve got MSG. Seems that MSG is an unavoidable byproduct of the manufacture process for HSP and in fact is the main reason that HSP is added to foods. Let’s face it, there’s no denying that MSG makes many foods taste better.
So why isn’t MSG on the label? It seems that it is not required to list things that are “ingredients of ingredients.” For example, if a product contains milk, the ingredient list does not need to say “milk proteins,” and the same for anchovies and salt.
Now onto the sidebar. Why do some people want to avoid MSG? There’s this fantastical idea that MSG is bad for one’s health, for which there is precisely zero evidence. And some claim to get “Chinese restaurant syndrome” from MSG, a phenomenon that seems to be purely psychological. You can read more here.
Many people just plain hate the taste of liver, that’s fine–although in my experience this is almost always because they have eaten overcooked liver, which is indeed awful. But others avoid liver because of the myth that the liver contains lots of toxins that have been concentrated from the blood. It just ain’t so.
The liver does in fact extract toxins from the blood, but then these toxins are converted–metabolized– to waste products and excreted from the body. They do not accumulate in the liver. So if you are like me and love liver, munch away! Just be sure to cook it properly, which means not overdone.
This notion has been around since 1922 and many parents will swear that it is true. However, numerous scientific studies have shown it to be false. The few studies that seemed to support this idea have been discredited as having methodological flaws and/or alternative explanations of the results. The evidence that sugar intake is not linked to hyperactivity is rather substantial.
How and why did this notion originate? Two possible contributing factors may be:
- Situations where kids are likely to consume excess sugar, such as birthday parties, vacations, and holidays, are also when children’s excitement runs high and rules may be relaxed.
- Parents who believe the sugar-hyperactivity link may see hyperactivity when it does not really exist.
Hyperactivity aside, there are still reasons to limit your child’s sugar intake, such as weight and diabetes.
The simple fact is that you cannot make things like bacon, corned beef, lox, and ham without curing. The confusion arises because the US Government defines curing as treatment with synthetic nitrates/nitrites to inhibit bacterial growth, and that’s all. So food without those things is legally called “uncured.” But for centuries, curing has traditionally meant rubbing meat with salt, spices, and maybe sugar, or exposing it to a brine, and letting it sit for a while before cooking, and that’s still what’s done. So, in the store, “uncured” means simply “no synthetic nitrates/nitrites.”
But to complicate things, note that I specify “synthetic” nitrates/nitrites. If naturally derived nitrates/nitrites (usually from celery) are used, the meat can still be called uncured. Of course, the synthetic and natural chemicals are exactly the same, so this is just silly, but what can you do.
And if you are worried that nitrates/nitrites are bad for health, please see Avoid cured meats because of nitrates/nitrites.
It seems to be a common belief that once frozen meat has been thawed, freezing it again is unsafe. This is false. There may be some loss of quality and texture, but the refrozen meat will be perfectly safe. This is of course assuming you always follow the usual precautions regarding meat while the meat is thawed.
We have already dispelled the myth that gluten is somehow bad for your health–aside from the small percentage of people with celiac disease this is simply not true (see here). There’s another gluten-related myth, however: that gluten-free foods are somehow more healthful than their “normal” gluten-containing counterparts. In fact, over 30% of Americans surveyed say they sometimes buy gluten-free because they believe this. But it is not so. In fact, gluten-free foods are very often less healthful because they contain less protein, fiber, and vitamins and more fat! And of course they are more expensive and usually don’t taste as good.
If only. Fact is, there are numerous toxic pesticides (insecticides, herbicides), both natural and synthetic, permitted on organic crops, with the full blessing of the organic certification agency. This includes pyrethrins, nicotine, spinosad, and copper sulfate. And some organic farmers are pressuring the FDA to allow additional pesticides. Don’t get me wrong, many nasty chemicals are indeed banned in organic farming, and that is surely a good thing for the farm workers and the environment. But don’t be deluded into thinking that organic food is pesticide-free.
This myth is so embedded in our culture that it may be impossible to get rid of. How many hundreds of films, TV shows, and books show us a drunk person being fed “strong black coffee” to get them sober. But it just ain’t so.
Being “drunk” with the attendant loss of mental and physical abilities and loss of judgement is directly related to the amount of alcohol in your system. Once you have had a drink (or two, or three, or eight), the amount of alcohol in your system slowly decreases due to metabolism of the alcohol by several enzymes including aldehyde dehydrogenase and alcohol dehydrogenase. Coffee does nothing to speed these processes. Drink all the coffee you want, you’ll be just as drunk in an hour as if you had not. But … and here’s the rub … the caffeine in coffee tends to make people feel more alert and more in control even though they are just as drunk and just as impaired. So, they think they can do things that they really cannot, driving being the prime example, and they go out and cause an accident.
So, if you have a drunk person on your hands, don’t give them coffee. Give them some ibuprofin and a big glass of water (hangover prevention) and put them to bed.
Nitrates and nitrites have been used for centuries as part of the meat curing process (bacon, corned beef, sausages, etc.). They inhibit bacterial growth (particularly the deadly botulism bacterium), improve taste, and give the meat a nice color. But there’s been this “anti-nitrate” movement for a couple of decades now, claiming that nitrates cause cancer and all sorts of nasty stuff. They even pressured Whole Foods into not selling any nitrate-containing meats. The evidence for this health danger? None. A huge number of studies have been done, and while a few suggest a possible problem the large majority have found no negative effects of nitrates on health. But of course the “anti-nitrate” folks always focus on the few studies that support their preconceived ideas and ignore those that don’t.
And think about this: many vegetables contain nitrates, as does much drinking water. Fact is, the Centers for Disease Control has estimated that 90% of the nitrates we consume come from these sources and not from cured meat. Eat a few meals with arugula, butter lettuce, celery, or beets and you’ll get more nitrates than from several hundred hot dogs. But I don’t see Whole Foods removing those vegetables from their shelves.
