Lost in a Lost World (Page 28)

Zanjan: Yay, rain, finally! Somebody else must have danced.

Zanjan: Ghost, reminds me of alchemy. When scientists figured out how to make gold out of some other kind of metal, they discovered the cost to do it wasn't feasible. Back to the old pan.

Scientifically creating muscle and skin tissue was originally intended for helping humans recover from devastating injuries. Then they discovered fish skin works great for burns and specialized diets work better than chemical compounds.

There's a reason Churchill was never re-elected. The idea is to be economical.

Wasting less means to use more - there's a market for organs, bones, eggs, milk, hides, hair, and feathers. However, moderns live in a polluted world which has upset natural immune systems; consequently, many suffer from environmental disorders and people are allergic to those things.

Artificial meat and dairy is now plant-based product. While not an equivalent replacement, they taste pretty good these days. Futuristic science is bound to come around full circle and we'll all end up being vegetarians.

chronology: Soya used to be the big hope for the future zan. You could make it taist and look like anything.

At one time the Americans were considering planting forests of something they called The Miracle Tree. Seems you could make all kinds of products and foods from the tree. Don't know why they never got round to it. According to some estimates America could make a fortune if it grew cannibis. Not just to smoke, but for food and industry.

ghostgeek: I don't know if it's the same elsewhere but in the UK something's changing. It seems Dark Kitchens are on the rise:

Dark kitchens, also known as ghost and cloud kitchens, refers to food that is prepared at separate takeaway premises rather than a restaurant. Compared to a usual takeaway format, however, orders are placed online, without the option for the public to enter the premises.

The workspaces are usually windowless which, coupled with the fact that consumers often aren’t aware that their food has been made here, has given rise to the name ‘dark kitchens’. ...

Apps are now responsible for 39% of delivery visits – a total increase of 14% year-on-year. Deliveroo is at the forefront of the dark kitchens boom with its ‘Editions’ premises, launched in 2017. The company finds and equips these locations with industrial equipment and rents them out to restaurants. The restaurant owners are then responsible for employing and training kitchen staff. ...

These commercial workspaces are often in prefabricated structures, such as shipping containers, on industrial estates in the outskirts of towns. They provide a space for established and new eateries to fulfil online orders without the requirement of an expensive high street kitchen, explaining why they are also dubbed ‘virtual restaurants.’

[ https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/what-are-dark-kitchens/ ]

ghostgeek: Throw in some lab-grown food and you've got Frankenstein dining at home.

Zanjan: Soy - > "You could make it taist and look like anything."

Only if you put enough Kimchee on it. I love edame - don't mess with perfection.

"something they called The Miracle Tree".

If you're talking about the Moringa Tree, apparently, there was some controversy over growing it in the West due to it's edible fruit (pods). According to the Miami Times, the untold story in foodie circles:
" The FDA banned miracle fruit in the '60s under pressure from the sugar industry, which didn't care to contemplate an alternative sweetener with so much marketable potential. The tale includes industrial spies, car chases, and clandestine midnight break-ins. "

Back in the 80's, I bought a hemp shirt, which still hangs in my closet due to its indestructibility - it's stiff, itchy and impossible to iron. Maybe clothiers have since found a way to make hemp more user friendly for us delicate folks but its way better than wool and is an excellent insect repellant.

Fractured fairy tale: That's all that's allowed here gost these dark kitchens

Zanjan: I'm not getting the point of "dark kitchens". When food is traveling, it can't possibly stay in peak form. How do you get Yorkshire pudding or sizzling fahitas on an iron griddle to stay crisp? I don't like steak that tastes like its boiled....etc. Surely, the given restaurant and its warmed-over soggy food won't be given a pass by even the most forgiving gourmand.

The trend here is order on-line a box of ingredients with a recipe delivered to your front door. Cook dinner yourself. Costs the same as a restaurant meal but they say you save time by not having to buy groceries and save since there's no wasted food. Dinner solved. Sure - for the mathematically challenged and quarantined.

If I'm forking over that kind of money, somebody will be serving me like the Princess I am!! That includes desert.

I just found out there's no dine-in Chinese restaurants anywhere in my region - many have closed and the remainder are all takeout. Despite having the table space and dividers, they have no plans to open those tables. Covid must have knocked them almost flat so they can't afford the extra staff.

ghostgeek: I don't know how things work in the wilds of Canada but here in soggy, cloud-grey England there's always crap being pushed throught the letterbox advertising take away pizza and other inedible culinary delights. Same ingredients, same greasy look, irrespective of who's doing the cooking. So, if you want to try your hand at killing the population with your junk food offerings but don't want to fork out for premises, you hire space in a dark kitchen and start brewing up your botulism.

ghostgeek: Maybe the new trend will be somebody coming to the grotty box you call home and actually spoon feeding you pap off of a cardboard tray. If it goes down a treat with babies it should work OK with the up and coming generation of so-called adults.

ghostgeek: If it's pricey enough, people are bound to think they're getting value for money.

Zanjan: Define "value". If its made by a Michelin star Chef, you get a very small amount on a very big plate, presented with such artistry and finesse, it beats a Monet. You eat with your eyes.

You don't want to touch it but, you're paying $35 for this gorgeous appetizer. After 20 minutes, you work up the courage because you know the taste will blow your mind yet it's so complex you don't know where to begin the destruction.

Yeah, I'd pay for that experience. It's the rarity. You almost have to go to France to find a cook like that.

ghostgeek: Sorry but I think I'll stick with a can of chickpeas.

Zanjan: I recommend you drain them first

ghostgeek: I'm a sophisticate. I not only drain my chickpeas, I add soy sauce to them.

Zanjan: Blech!

ghostgeek: I'm guessing here but you sound like someone who likes munching on dried peas.

Zanjan: Nope. I turn them in to hummus. These teeth are into softer foods - they still bite nicely and can take a piece out of somebody's arm but I chew with great respect for the costly dental work at the back.

chronology: First Nation Americans used to have the saying that 'a man lives as long as his teeth' . Once you cannot chew your food you are a gonner.

Zanjan: I think they were speaking of the women - they were the ones who chewed leather to make it soft, which eventually wore out their teeth. Mind you, she'd be fairly old by then - Indigenous menus didn't include sugar so the men must have had great teeth.

In a world without electric blenders, one can only imagine how difficult it was to make babyfood.

There was a dental technician who was scolding me about my cavities, saying our teeth should last a lifetime - this was based on some history, I guess. I asked her, "How long should a lifetime be?"

chronology: England has the worst tooth decay problems in the world. It may have improved but Americans often winced at the rotten teeth people had here. The dentist said it was because of all the sugar people eat.

Don't know Zan, people were always telling me I would rot my teeth with all the citrus fruits I eat every day. I I love my lemons and grapefruit. But it has done me no harm. Must admit tho after blending some lemons one day I spilled the juice onto a table. The lemon juice scorched all the varnish on the table. I thought 'blimey what is that doing to my stomach' .

Zanjan: Heh, I can assure you that lemon juice is no match for the hydrochloric acid in your stomach.

ghostgeek: Could be what's floating inside you controls how many miles you get to clock up:

People who live to age 100 and beyond may have special gut bacteria that help ward off infections, according to a new study from Japan.

The results suggest that these bacteria, and the specific compounds they produce — known as "secondary bile acids" — could contribute to a healthy gut and, in turn, healthy aging.

Still, much more research is needed to know whether these bacteria promote exceptionally long life spans. The current findings, published Thursday (July 29) in the journal Nature, only show an association between these gut bacteria and living past 100; they don't prove that these bacteria caused people to live longer, said study senior author Dr. Kenya Honda, a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Keio University School of Medicine in Tokyo.

"Although it might suggest that these bile-acid-producing bacteria may contribute to longer life spans, we do not have any data showing the cause-and-effect relationship between them," Honda told Live Science.

[ https://www.livescience.com/centenarians-gut-bacteria-aging-bile-acids.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB ]

ghostgeek: There again maybe that's all pie-in-the-sky, so that how many miles you get to put on the clock depends on how many dried peas you munch your way through.

ghostgeek: Without soaking them first.