Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated into What America Eats
by Steve Ettlinger
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Book Summary Information
Author: Steve EttlingerEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2008-02-26
ISBN: 0452289289
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Plume
Book Reviews of Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated into What America Eats
Book Review: Fascinating and Fun
Summary: 4 Stars
This is probably the best book that you'll find detailing on how our food is made. The process is complex and world-wide for even simple things. The Twinkie stands in as a perfect example food. This isn't an expose book. Ettlinger briefly mentions how many of the chemical makers have moved their environment-unfriendly processes to other countries. Many caustic chemicals are used somewhere along the line in these processes, but supposedly none leave any harmful effects. Ettlinger doesn't delve in these topics, concluding that everything is very safe. Many ingredients are safe, but then again many are called "safe" by the makers and then the FDA stamps approval.
There are those who take this too far and say everything is terrible for us. This is a good book to read with The Hundred-Year Lie: How to Protect Yourself from the Chemicals That Are Destroying Your Health so you can find some reasonable path between the two. In any case, Twinkie is an interesting and fun read.
I did take away from this book the following observation: What if we were to put all of the energy, resources and brain power that we do into something as simple as a Twinkie into say, making V6 cars get 55 mpg or mining Helium-3 on the Moon or some other important thing? In that sense, Twinkie is a statement on what our society has become. A book that explores this a bit is Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology (P.S.).
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Summary of Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated into What America Eats
A pop-science journey into the surprising ingredients found in most common packaged foodsLike most Americans, Steve Ettlinger eats processed foods. And, like most consumers, he didn't have a clue as to what most of the ingredients on the labels mean. So when his young daughter asked, "Daddy, what's polysorbate 60?" he was at a loss-and determined to find out.
From the phosphate mines in Idaho to the oil fields in China, Twinkie, Deconstructed demystifies some of the most common processed food ingredients- where they come from, how they are made, how they are used-and why. Beginning at the source (hint: they're often more closely linked to rock and petroleum than any of the four food groups), we follow each Twinkie ingredient through the process of being crushed, baked, fermented, refined, and/or reacted into a totally unrecognizable goo or powder-all for the sake of creating a simple snack cake.
An insightful exploration of the modern food industry, if you've ever wondered what you're eating when you consume foods containing mono- and diglycerides or calcium sulfate (the latter a food-grade equivalent of plaster of paris), this book is for you.
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