S/o food that isn't what it pretends to be.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I don't eat things made in other people's homes. Even if they mean well, there is probably gluten (or any other allergen/dietary contaminant) all over their kitchen and thus in the cookies.

 

This is what I figured.  Anyone with a true allergy would not risk something like that.  I couldn't even enjoy eating it wondering if it were going to kill me.  And I as the baker am not going to claim anything.  I'd feel terrible if something happened. 

 

I think it would be nice to maybe bring packaged cookies with the labeling. 

 

I just don't understand why they didn't allow for a "regular" cookie category.  I didn't want to be a brat and whine about it, but grrrr.

[KungFuPanda]

What really annoys me are labels that are absurdly vague, such as "spices" or "flavoring". I'm surprised at how common that is.

 

I was just informed (by a professional) that yeast extract is really some sort of natural form of MSG. I'm not sure whether she meant in flavor or in terms of actual chemical properties, but, awesome. Ds is starting an elimination diet and yeast is one of the many things being temporarily eliminated. In certain food categories, it's everywhere. I'm ticked because the dairy-free "cheese" has yeast extract in it - off to the natural grocery store in a few minutes to look for a different one, if it's even out there. Pizza is a serious issue here. Don't get me started on the crust issue, but I may have finally found one.

I once received a case of chicken broth because my friend couldn't eat yeast. It wasn't even on the label, she had to call the company and ask to find out it was in there.

 

I'll admit to not seeing the 'Mayo' label as deceptive. It's enough of a clue that they didn't put 'mayonnaise' on the jar. However, if you live somewhere where people say 'mayo' instead of 'mayonnaise' maybe it's more confusing? Can you even buy a mayonnaise that doesn't contain weird ingredients? You HAVE to make it at home to ensure it's a true mayonnaise. Store bought will always have odd additions or deletions.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Yeah like cans of nuts that contain nuts.  Who would have thunk...

[LaxMom]

Oh, and while we're complaining...

 

Full sugar (as in, not "diet" or "sugar free" varieties) hot chocolate. With splenda. WTH??

[EmseB]

I need to vent about something sort of related.  I know/believe people mean well, but why do they bother with gluten free, dairy free, and nut free items for a group snacky food type party?  I had to sign up to bring something for the party following the xmas choir show.  These are going to just be snack foods.  I wanted to make cookies.  We were told this will be mostly a baked good sort of thing.  But every category in the cookie section involved dietary restrictions.  So they wanted someone to make nut free.  Someone to make dairy free.  Someone to make gluten free.  There was no category for just cookies of whatever freaking kind you want to make.  Now again I think the intention is in the right place, but if I'm truly allergic to these things I'm not going to eat cookies that some stranger made in their home.  Most can probably not guarantee that they verified every ingredient they bought to be free from the allergens and that their home equipment didn't come into contact with an allergen.  I can't guarantee that and I'm not even going to dare to try.  If my kid had an allergy I would not let him eat those homemade cookies.  So now everyone only gets funky cookies in the funky categories because someone came up with this idea to appear to accommodate. 

 

This makes me so flipping mad.  Do they just not know how this really works?  It can't possibly be a person who has a kid with an allergy that come up with this idea. 

 

Bring a package of Oreos.  :)  No nuts, no dairy, no eggs. They couldn't process the wheat and soy out, though, so there is that. 

 

But, no, as a mom of an allergic kid, I probably wouldn't let my kid eat something that some random person was assigned to bake as "allergen free".  First of all, he has multiple allergies, so eliminating nuts doesn't do anything if the cookies still have eggs.  Plus there have been too many times when well meaning people have said, "Oh, I made these and I think your son can have them, no dairy or eggs or nuts!!".  Then I ask for a little bit of detail because I'm always looking for new recipes for him and they will say, "Well, it did have one egg, I couldn't figure out how to get them to hold together without that, but it's just one."  :huh:

[Mrs Mungo]

Can you even buy a mayonnaise that doesn't contain weird ingredients? You HAVE to make it at home to ensure it's a true mayonnaise. Store bought will always have odd additions or deletions.

I think this is closer to homemade mayo than something that doesn't contain egg at all and has peas instead:

 

Hellmann's ingredient list:

SOYBEAN OIL, WATER, WHOLE EGGS AND EGG YOLKS, VINEGAR, SALT, SUGAR, LEMON JUICE, CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA (USED TO PROTECT QUALITY), NATURAL FLAVORS. GLUTEN-FREE.

[Shamzanne]

I read labels all the time even though I don't have any allergies (except when I specifically DON'T read a label because I want to eat something whether it has crappy stuff or not).

 

I just feel for people who are uninformed and oblivious as to what to look out for. It took years of telling my grandparents that Sunny Delight is NOT orange juice before they stopped buying it. To them, it was just the cheapest orange juice on the shelf. These companies are assuming that most of the consumers out there are too uninformed or oblivious to pay attention, and unfortunately they are correct.

 

There is a blog I've read that lays out the most egregious examples of terrible packaging, like Strawberries and Cream flavored instant oatmeal packets that contain zero strawberries or cream. http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/05/03/real-food-tips-3-deceiving-food-products/

[Ausmumof3]

when my son was younger - he didn't tolerate foods processed with nitrates/nitrites. he reacted to them. we knew if he'd been eating them! (that was how I realized we needed to keep him away from them!)

he didn't react the same way to those labeled as "uncured".

 

I've become a lot snobbier about chemical/molecular forms of the supposedly "same thing". e.g. vitamins. tons of stuff are listed as containing vitamins, and have been for years. some forms are very bioavailable, and many aren't. (e.g. vitamin water is a total joke - though the labels can be funny). we have a mutation in our family that doesn't tolerate folic acid. do you know how many things folic acid is added to? it's a cheap form of folate - but it's 100% synthetic. the body can't use it until it's been converted to another form of folate. except we can't convert it to the useable form of folate and it's mere presence reduces our bodies ability to use any actual folate we get.

 

certainly explains why when I did a diet years ago that as a byproduct avoided folic acid 'enriched' foods I felt so good.

I was a bit annoyed when the gov here mandated adding folate to bread. Can't we figure out ourselves whether we need to take vitamins or not... I was already taking pregnancy multivit which had folate in it.

[Tsuga]

Mayo(in all its forms) should not even be a food. Blech.  :tongue_smilie:

 

Have you had homemade mayonnaise? It is a traditional sauce, like Hollandaise and Bearnaise. It can be very tasty. I don't mind Best Food's (Hellman's) but you should try homemade, just for a kick.

 

As for us, yeah--we read all the ingredients and try to buy local and it's a lot of work but we do it. Honestly, when we buy prepared food we don't even bother to do "healthy" because it's just not going to be in most cases.

 

As for spices, we don't buy mixes--only whole spices, dried if necessary.

 

Not to say we don't buy any junk, but I'm a point where I'd rather just buy cookies than fake health food. Why live a lie?

[SparklyUnicorn]

Have you had homemade mayonnaise? It is a traditional sauce, like Hollandaise and Bearnaise. It can be very tasty. I don't mind Best Food's (Hellman's) but you should try homemade, just for a kick.

 

 

I prefer jarred.  I don't know what they do with the jarred stuff (and I don't want to know), but I prefer the texture over homemade.  One of the odd things I prefer jarred. 

 

[KungFuPanda]

I think this is closer to homemade mayo than something that doesn't contain egg at all and has peas instead:

 

Hellmann's ingredient list:

SOYBEAN OIL, WATER, WHOLE EGGS AND EGG YOLKS, VINEGAR, SALT, SUGAR, LEMON JUICE, CALCIUM DISODIUM EDTA (USED TO PROTECT QUALITY), NATURAL FLAVORS. GLUTEN-FREE.

That was my point. Almost any prepared foods contain something that doesn't belong there. I don't know what Calcium Disodium ETDA is, but I'm guessing it's not added for my health. I don't think I have any in my cabinet.

 

I still think using slang or an abbreviation is enough of a clue that something is weird. It's like when they sell tofu 'chicken' and give it a name like chik'n. I don't think a company's responsibility extends to labeling a product in an unappetizing way. 'Fake Vegan Goop' just isn't gonna sell even with a market that wants it.

[gardenmom5]

I was a bit annoyed when the gov here mandated adding folate to bread. Can't we figure out ourselves whether we need to take vitamins or not... I was already taking pregnancy multivit which had folate in it.

There is a HUGE difference between folic acid and folate. They are not the same! !! They are two different things and should not be used interchangeably.

 

Folic acid is what is added to food. It's also the form most often found in multi vitamins.

 

folic acid is to folate like aspertame is to fructose.  it's 100% artificial.

[applethyme]

Its 2014 not 1014.  Food should not be this hard. :glare:

[Mrs Mungo]

That was my point. Almost any prepared foods contain something that doesn't belong there. I don't know what Calcium Disodium ETDA is, but I'm guessing it's not added for my health. I don't think I have any in my cabinet.

EDTA is a widely used preservative that is in lots of things.

 

 

I still think using slang or an abbreviation is enough of a clue that something is weird. It's like when they sell tofu 'chicken' and give it a name like chik'n.

But, it usually says something like vegan chik'n or soy chik'n. It doesn't say "Just Chicken." Morningstar Farms labels their stuff "chik'n," but it says "veggie chik'n nuggets" on the front of the box:

http://www.kelloggsfamilyrewards.com/content/dam/common/products/MorningstarFarmsChiknNuggets_320.jpg

 

The "Just Mayo" only says "Just Mayo" on the front of the label:

http://www.xconomy.com/wordpress/wp-content/images/2013/12/just-mayo-1100x732.jpg

 

 

I don't think a company's responsibility extends to labeling a product in an unappetizing way. 'Fake Vegan Goop' just isn't gonna sell even with a market that wants it.

Miracle Whip has a wide following without having any form of mayo in the name. I'm sure there are as many appetizing ways of labeling things as unappetizing ways. If they called it "Vegan Mayo," then I would be fine with the label.

[Tsuga]

I prefer jarred.  I don't know what they do with the jarred stuff (and I don't want to know), but I prefer the texture over homemade.  One of the odd things I prefer jarred. 

 

 

I myself like Best Foods as well (it's one of the few things I don't buy organic), but I have converted some people with my homemade mayonnaise. I just want them to know it's not a junk/processed food at heart!

[Lisbeth]

We notice because one of my children has so many food allergies.  Soy is lurking everywhere, and unfortunately, soy is one of her anaphylactic allergies.  On the plus side, this pushes us to make more from scratch, which is healthier.

[KungFuPanda]

. If they called it "Vegan Mayo," then I would be fine with the label.

If the argument is that it can't even be mayo without eggs, then how can you support 'vegan' and 'mayo' on the same product ????

[shawthorne44]

If the argument is that it can't even be mayo without eggs, then how can you support 'vegan' and 'mayo' on the same product ????

 

I can understand what she was getting at.  By adding Vegan to the name you are explicitly up-front saying that it is a modified version of Mayo.  But, the labeling as is makes it sounds like it is as close to real, homemade, original as can be put in a jar, when really it is entirely opposite.  

 

It is like a vegetarian sausage could be named, "Meatless Sausage", but "Best Sausage" would be disgustedly misleading.  

[Mrs Mungo]

If the argument is that it can't even be mayo without eggs, then how can you support 'vegan' and 'mayo' on the same product ????

What I am talking about is letting people know what they are buying. A label that says "Just Mayo" makes people think they are buying mayonnaise. A label that says "Vegan Mayo" would make people aware that it is not exactly mayonnaise, but something else.

[shawthorne44]

I thought of this thread at the grocery store yesterday.  We have spiral ham for Christmas dinner, and we always keep sliced ham around.  I am almost always look at labels, but ham is one of those I thought I didn't have to look.  Now I know better.  Although, I still suspect that spiral ham is all ham.  

[bolt.]

I think the Mayo problem is that some people think that "Mayo" is a whole word, that is the name of a specific product, and therefore should have those properties. Other people think that the name of the product us actually "Mayonaise" and therefore saying "Mayo" is a cute diminutive like "Chik'n" and therefore fair game for a Mayonaise-replacement product.