Today I learned +

[Bohandas]

My other issue is climate change. If climate really is that important to these foods then they need to be monitoring the climate and periodically redrawing the allowed boundries to make sure that they continue to reflect the area with the appropriate climate and not just the area with that name

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

My other issue is climate change. If climate really is that important to these foods then they need to be monitoring the climate and periodically redrawing the allowed boundries to make sure that they continue to reflect the area with the appropriate climate and not just the area with that name

That might happen…IF people in those areas start commercially producing those foods, AND climate is the/a major defining factor in what a particular food is.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Also…

 

[Dioltach]

Sure, it only takes years of experimentation to get close to right, consumes far more resources to produce smaller quantities and isn't scalable. There are technically small batches of arabica being grown in the UK, but they aren't replacing my bag of single origin Kenyan.

And you'd have a much harder time marketing "single-origin Guildford greenhouse".

 

[Ruin Explorer]

The influence of New York's water is often claimed to make the bagels and/or pizza crust distinctive.

It is "often claimed" but like, it's kind of total bollocks that only New Yorkers of the most chauvinistic kind really believe, because like, neither of those things are actually distinctive to New York, let alone NYC. I mean, I've been to NYC many times and eaten many bagels there.

They taste like bagels.

There is absolutely nothing distinctive about them - they're not even reliably better than say, bagels in LA or Chicago. Are they better than you'll probably find in some moderately-sized town in the Midwest? Sure, but firstly, not by much (the quality of the toppings is much more likely to be higher in the big cities in my experience, not the dough/bagel itself), and secondly, it ain't the water doing that.

I'm struggling to find this hysterical parody article I read once about ridiculous NYC chauvinist tendency to pretend certain dishes or ways of doing food at in some way unique to NYC or better in NYC than everywhere else (it was about ice water).

I think there was a bread variety that can only be made in NY because the yeast would change anywhere else in the world and lose the specific bitter tase or something?

That's definitely something certain New Yorkers would claim but equally definitely it wouldn't be true.

 

[overgeeked]

And you'd have a much harder time marketing "single-origin Guildford greenhouse".

Yep. Most of that is unregulated nonsense. Even when it is regulated, there’s a huge financial incentive to lie.

This article is a few years old, but most self-labeling is just as questionable if not more so.

The Olive Oil Scam: If 80% Is Fake, Why Do You Keep Buying It?

It's a safe bet that all that extra virgin, high quality olive oil you've been buying in recent years is not that at all but, rather, poor quality, mixed oils - or maybe not even olive oil at all in a global industry that's rife with corruption.

www.forbes.com

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Yep. Most of that is unregulated nonsense. Even when it is regulated, there’s a huge financial incentive to lie.

This article is a few years old, but most self-labeling is just as questionable if not more so.

The Olive Oil Scam: If 80% Is Fake, Why Do You Keep Buying It?

It's a safe bet that all that extra virgin, high quality olive oil you've been buying in recent years is not that at all but, rather, poor quality, mixed oils - or maybe not even olive oil at all in a global industry that's rife with corruption.

www.forbes.com

I mean, this is much, much worse in the US with olive oil. As that article points out, the majority of the fraudulent olive oil is sent to the US and Japan. Why? Because the EU has regulations and tracking, and whilst that isn't perfect, it's insanely more than the US does (even before recent... er... setbacks), and more than I assume Japan does re: foreign goods. And the article points out that the real test is in your kitchen - you can tell if it's rubbish, so long as you know what it's supposed to taste like.

The EU in general regulates quite a lot of these claims - albeit not coffee AFAIK because it's not grown here. The biggest scandals here recently have all been around honey, which had (and kind of still has) weaker regulation. I think it's probably easier to reliably get single origin non-adulterated honey in the US right now.

That said it is pretty easy to tell, say, Ethiopian single-origin coffee apart from, like Colombian. Certainly since I got an actual coffee grinder. I know it is because I've forgotten what kind of beans were in the grinder before and then been like "Oh wow this definitely X", then checked the package in the bin and it is (I prefer Ethiopian to other kinds, it's got a lighter to me somehow more coffee-like flavour)

 

[billd91]

It is "often claimed" but like, it's kind of total bollocks that only New Yorkers of the most chauvinistic kind really believe, because like, neither of those things are actually distinctive to New York, let alone NYC. I mean, I've been to NYC many times and eaten many bagels there.

They taste like bagels.

There is absolutely nothing distinctive about them - they're not even reliably better than say, bagels in LA or Chicago. Are they better than you'll probably find in some moderately-sized town in the Midwest? Sure, but firstly, not by much (the quality of the toppings is much more likely to be higher in the big cities in my experience, not the dough/bagel itself), and secondly, it ain't the water doing that.

I'm struggling to find this hysterical parody article I read once about ridiculous NYC chauvinist tendency to pretend certain dishes or ways of doing food at in some way unique to NYC or better in NYC than everywhere else (it was about ice water).


That's definitely something certain New Yorkers would claim but equally definitely it wouldn't be true.

Any food-oriented city (or region) with a chip on its shoulder is similar in it's chauvinistic claims - being from the upper midwest, we hear it mostly from Chicago rather than NYC.

But, the one major thing NYC has going for it with its water is it is generally soft - naturally. And that's great for working with dough. But that's just about getting a good start on what you're making, and it can be matched with softened water many other places.

 

[MoonSong]

That's definitely something certain New Yorkers would claim but equally definitely it wouldn't be true.

I've since being corrected. I was thinking about California sourdough.

I mean, this is much, much worse in the US with olive oil. As that article points out, the majority of the fraudulent olive oil is sent to the US and Japan. Why? Because the EU has regulations and tracking, and whilst that isn't perfect, it's insanely more than the US does (even before recent... er... setbacks), and more than I assume Japan does re: foreign goods. And the article points out that the real test is in your kitchen - you can tell if it's rubbish, so long as you know what it's supposed to taste like.

The EU in general regulates quite a lot of these claims - albeit not coffee AFAIK because it's not grown here. The biggest scandals here recently have all been around honey, which had (and kind of still has) weaker regulation. I think it's probably easier to reliably get single origin non-adulterated honey in the US right now.

That said it is pretty easy to tell, say, Ethiopian single-origin coffee apart from, like Colombian. Certainly since I got an actual coffee grinder. I know it is because I've forgotten what kind of beans were in the grinder before and then been like "Oh wow this definitely X", then checked the package in the bin and it is (I prefer Ethiopian to other kinds, it's got a lighter to me somehow more coffee-like flavour)

Specifically thinking about olive oil, all of the false oil in the market just made me switch to avocado oil. Less corruption, more locally available, and more stable for cooking.

 

[Bohandas]

I wonder if they make any distinctive baked goods in Flint....