Eat This Newsletter 201: Nourishing Information
Hello
I’ve been digging into databases, with some little success.
Never Mind Apples and Oranges, Let’s Compare Chickens and Chickpeas
A chart from the USDA’s wonderful Economic Research Service notes that “eggs became an increasingly expensive source of animal protein” over the past year or so. And it is true, with only ground beef and boneless ham now more expensive per gram of protein. Chicken legs, bone in, remain far and away the cheapest source of protein, according to that chart. (More on that in next week’s podcast.)
But hang on. I know the report is from Livestock, Dairy and Poultry, but if you’ve gone to the trouble of standardising around price per gram of protein, rather than, say, per gram overall, then why limit yourself to animal source protein?
Forget about plant-based meat substitutes. Even for actual plant protein, comparable figures are not easy to find. I did some digging into the USDA’s Food Central database, which lists all the chemical constituents, but not the producer price or the cost of a prepared portion. Most pulses, cooked, contain 8–9 grams of protein per 100 grams. A whole egg is around 12g protein per 100g, while a chicken drumstick is about twice as much, about 24g protein per 100g. I failed to find any useful information on cost per serving. USAPulses, which obviously has skin in the game, says simply:
The cost per serving of lentils is $0.10 vs. $1.49 for beef, $0.73 for pork, $0.63 for chicken.
But of course, what constitutes a serving, and thus how much you’re paying for a gram of protein, is not stated. Whatever the details, I’m pretty certain that pulses are the cheapest source of protein. Of course, you need to know how to cook them, but that’s a can of worms for another time.
By the way, I know I sound like a broken record (ask your parents) on this, but if you have something interesting to share, why would you choose to do it as 55 separate tweets? Someone called Ty Beal thinks he has something interesting to say about "animal vs alternative protein products and their environmental and economic sustainability". I wonder what it is.
School Meals and Nutrition
Another chart told me that in the US, “meals, snacks, and other foods obtained at school were the richest source of fruit for children ages 2 to 19”. On the one hand, I’m happy to see that, because I’ve been reading about the Oslo Breakfast, popularised around the 1930s, which suggested that one could supply children with all their nutrition in a single school meal, so it wouldn’t matter what they were — or were not — getting at home. On the other …
Marion Nestle recently shared her thoughts on the contrast between the School Nutrition Association, which is not quite what you might expect it to be from its name, and the USDA’s actual nutrition standards for school meals.
The SNA should be leading the country on encouraging schools to serve the healthiest meals possible. That it is not doing so is a disgrace.
Helena Bottemiller Evich’s latest Food Fix newsletter contains a round up of state efforts to implement universal free school meals, which might please Marion Nestle.
Rotating Sandwiches
Here is a wonderful resource, when you need a break from the serious stuff.
I asked the tough questions, on your behalf: "Deeply mesmerising. But why? And how?"
How: Place sandwich in photographer’s lightbox with a rotating jewelry display. Record video on tripod with iPhone, set timing and color grade in premiere pro, rotoscope out background in After Effects, export as a Quicktime file with alpha layer enabled and create the infinite loop gif with Photoshop.
Why: Dunno really. Realized I could so I should.
Best possible answer; thank you, to the Rotating Sandwich Person.
Take care.
