Deconstructing

Big Mac:

The Bun:

Enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, enzymes), water, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, soybean oil and/or partially hydrogenated soybean oil, contains 2% or less of the following: salt, calcium sulfate, calcium carbonate, wheat gluten, ammonium sulfate, ammonium chloride, dough conditioners (sodium stearoyl lactylate, datem, ascorbic acid, azodicarbonamide, mono- and diglycerides, ethoxylated monoglycerides, monocalcium phosphate, enzymes, guar gum, calcium peroxide, soy flour), calcium propionate and sodium propionate (preservatives), soy lecithin, sesame seed.

Noteworthy:

Hydrocarbons (gasoline byproducts) are listed in the ingredients. What’s all the scientific sounding stuff? Azodicarbonamide is banned in Australia and in Europe. In Singapore, the use of azodicarbonamide can result in up to 15 years imprisonment. (The U.S. currently allows up to 45 ppm or .0045% concentration in food.) What it does: Causes asthma and increases allergic reaction to other foods. In the U.S. it’s legal to use untested additives in food. Chemicals yet to be determined a health risk. After all, they aren’t food so they are regulated the same. Did I read that right? 2% or less? A whopping 20,000 parts per million (or less) of azodicarbonamide may be contained in my bun!?  Should someone be inspecting this? Benzoic acid is an ingredient in other parts of this meal:  Benzoic acid + ascorbic acid = benzene. What’s benzene? A colorless and highly flammable liquid with a sweet smell. It is a known carcinogen and an important industrial solvent. Bet your stomach loves that.

The Patty:

100% pure USDA inspected beef; no additives, no fillers, no extenders.

Noteworthy:

Lopez foods and Keystone are the listed suppliers. No known info on what cut/part of beef is included in McDonald patties- it is propriety information and closely guarded. What does this mean? Beef is a misleading term not directly indicative “meat”. Beef may include: skeletal tissue (what you and I think of as “meat” when we see it in the store), fat tissue, cow lips, intestines, organs, anuses, vaginas, sinus tracts, flaked and formed gristle and tendons, limp nodes, cyst sacks, etc. Percentage of skeletal tissue in McDonald’s beef is unknown. The good news? USDA inspects 100% of this beef.  Is this a typo? The USDA inspection is 100% pure or is the beef 100% pure or is the beef pure and the inspection is 100%? Isn’t it supposed to say 100% pure beef, USDA inspected?  They MUST have an editor on staff. Wait a minute….

Seasoning:
Grill seasoning: Salt, pepper

Noteworthy:

Recently removed from grill seasoning ingredients: partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (cottonseed and soybean). This one appears a lot in the ingredient list so pay attention to the “magic combo”: Cottonseed and soybean. Two of the Big Four GMO crops grown worldwide- mostly Monsanto stamped products. Cottonseed oil undergoes intensive treatment after extraction to reduce the level of gossypol found in untreated cottonseed oil; consuming gossypol may produce undesirable side-effects.  On the plus side, gossypol is undergoing studies to be used as a drug because it does have anti malarial and anti cancer properties! Soybean oil on the other hand is solvent-extracted with hexane—a significant constituent of gasoline.

Big Mac Sauce:
Soybean oil, pickle relish [diced pickles, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, vinegar, corn syrup, salt, calcium chloride, xanthan gum, potassium sorbate (preservative), spice extractives, polysorbate 80], distilled vinegar, water, egg yolks, high fructose corn syrup, onion powder, mustard seed, salt, spices, propylene glycol alginate, sodium benzoate (preservative), mustard bran, sugar, garlic powder, vegetable protein (hydrolyzed corn, soy and wheat), caramel color, extractives of paprika, soy lecithin, turmeric (color), calcium disodium EDTA (protect flavor)

Noteworthy:

Soybean oil, corn syrup. GMO again. It’s everywhere. Magic oil again. Sugar! EDTA. Another known carcinogen.  Metabolizes benzene creation—EDTA, Benzoic and ascorbic acid—the perfect trifecta of Big Mac carcinogens: the meat, the cheese, the sauce. EDTA is recommended for industrial use only. Of course, McDonald’s could be classified as industrial so maybe that counts….

The Cheese:

Pasteurized Process American Cheese
Milk, water, milkfat, cheese culture, sodium citrate, salt, citric acid, sorbic acid (preservative), sodium phosphate, artificial color, lactic acid, acetic acid, enzymes, soy lecithin (added for slice separation).

Noteworthy:

Here it is! Sorbic acid. Meat and cheese really IS a bad combo. This is what’ll create your benzne…aka industrial solvent. Artificial color. Not a food. No list of composition needed.

The Pickle:

Cucumbers, water, distilled vinegar, salt, calcium chloride, alum, potassium sorbate (preservative), natural flavors (plant source), polysorbate 80, extractives of turmeric (color).

Noteworthy:

This natural flavoring is popular stuff….At least the extractives of turmeric are natural.

The Lettuce and Onion:

100% shredded Iceberg lettuce. Sliced white onion.

Noteworthy:

13 year old Mexican-American Augustino Nieves worked on a farm in California supplying to the fast food industry. He missed months of school that year, working from 6:30 am until 8 p.m., with a 20-minute lunch break, six days a week, at less than the minimum wage. His story is not the only one. Most kids, some as young as seven, use hazardous equipment. A business can expect a visit by a federal inspector checking labor laws and minimum wage compliance once every 50 years.⁵ Farm workers at the supplier farms have reported forced labor, slavery, human trafficking, and exploitation. These are mostly illegal immigrants. McDonald's is getting a humanitarian award for using these minority based businesses.Fast food restaurants are aware of these conditions and have inaccurately reported penny-per-pound laws.⁶

Ketchup:

Tomato concentrate from red ripe tomatoes, distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, water, corn syrup, salt, natural flavors (vegetable source.)

Noteworthy:

Ta Dah! More natural flavor!!!

Mustard:

Vinegar, water, mustard seed, salt, turmeric, paprika, spice extractives. 

The Combo:

Fries:

Potatoes, vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives]*, citric acid [preservative]), dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (maintain color), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent. *(Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients)

Noteworthy:

My fries need an antifoaming agent? Does McDonald’s have a problem with foamy fries?? Again, the magic veggie oil. TBHQ. Think Twinkies. It’s how they stay so preserved. Natural BEEF flavor in fries? Natural flavors can be pretty much anything approved for use in food including chemicals, actually mostly chemicals. It's basically impossible to tell what is in natural flavors unless the company has specified it on the label. McDonald’s declined to send information in writing on what this contained except to say:"[t]he natural flavor used in French fries is from an animal source." Does that worry anyone? Summary on ingredients: The chemicals, yes chemicals, used prevent fries from spoiling and from digesting properly in your system. 

100 Circle Farms grows the perfect potatoes in circles so big around, they’re visible from space. Then our trusted processor, Lamb Weston, cuts them into fries-at 70 miles per hour. –McDonald’s

“We can dig anywhere from a thousand to twenty four hundred tons of potatoes per day…and the majority of these will go into McDonald’s Fries.” - Troy Grimes, Director of Farm & Dairy Operations, Lamb Weston

Tons?!!  How do you spell potato? G-M-O. How else can you produce up to 2400 tons of perfect fries a day? Question is: How has this been genetically modified and potentially more than one way? No one seems to know… I don’t even want to think about is required to produce that many potatoes in one day.

Soda:

Coca-Cola

Carbonated water, high fructose corn syrup, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavors (vegetable source), caffeine.

Noteworthy:

The default 21 oz soda contains a little over ½ cup of sugar….sorry, high fructose corn syrup- a GMO corn is used. Natural flavors show up again. And all this time I thought natural flavors meant “naturally occurring, these ingredients belong here.” Caffeine and phosphoric acid combo reduces bone density.

I’m lovin’ it^tm:

Dirty packaging:

A typical McDonald's restaurant serves an average of 109 customers each peak hour, with every customer producing an average of 56.7 grams (2 oz) of trash. Consequently, an estimated 6.35 kilograms of trash is generated from food sales alone each (peak) hour, so across the world, at least 196,821 kg (433 lbs 14.65 oz) of trash are being generated every hour! Paper packaging lasts for approximately five minutes before it is discarded by consumer. How much paper must be produced to create the 28.8 billion articles of McDonald’s only trash each year? ¹

Consider the hydrocarbon usage included in and used to produce 400 million pounds of chicken, 260 million pounds of beef, and 25 million pounds of fish a year in the U.S. alone?² What about all the other menu items? Worldwide? That’s a huge global carbon footprint.

Fast Food Culture:

Evolved with mass urban development and growing working population.  Feeds the working population—employs 2 million workers.  Mickey D’s has received humanitarian awards for employing minorities: blacks, Hispanics, and women make up most of the workforce.⁸ Benefits from economic meltdown.  Reinforces fast-paced lifestyles, expediency and “value” for the dollar as cultural qualities. Unprecedented degree of power over nation’s food supply.³ Has promoted the Slow Food movement to counteract the saturation of fast food in daily life.  The Slow Food movement is about producing honest food in a sustainable manner, getting rid of homogenization and the forces of globalization which invade almost all areas of life today.⁴

At any given time, 1/3 of our calories are from eating out. 1 out of 3 calories we consume are from eating out!⁷ Based on a 2000 calorie daily diet, that’s 660 calories! Daily!

Big Mac combo:

 See also; Industrialization, cultural globalization, GMO, pesticide, insecticide, child labor, hydrocarbon technology, food additives, obesity, heart disease, politics, business, illegal immigrants, poverty, global warming, labor laws, nutrition laws and labeling, capitalism, monoculture, free market.

1. http://www.theconcordian.com/2.4740/mcdonald-s-environmental-mcnasty-1.637323

2.http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/food_quality/see_what_we_are_made_of/meet_our_suppliers/keystone_foods

3.http://bukisa.com/articles/147358_the-detriments-of-the-fast-food-culture

4. http://transitionabroad.com/publications/magazine/0609/slow_food_in_italy.shtml

5. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1993/04/05/77695/index.htm

6.http://www.tradio21.org/news/2006/0711/mctrafficked-the-fast-food-industry-modern-day-slavery-in-the-us

7.http://npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyid=1497083

8. http://www.psucomm473.blogspot.com/

Death. And Life.

There is a woman crying somewhere behind me, mourning. I cannot see her—I am sitting in an alcove, alone. It is fitting for October, the month celebrating everything morbid, the sky is overcast and dreary. Maybe it will soon rain. Then we’ll leave and it will be silent again.

As I write, two falcons have swooped dangerously near my head. I’ve never seen a falcon so close. The cat-squirrel and I had a staring contest; he decided I was no threat and has been scampering around scaring off the birds. I’m just waiting for a rabbit to peek out his head. They are everywhere here. My father chose this spot—a quiet cemetery nestled in the east foothills of Provo with sweeping views of the valley.

Driving the winding road this afternoon, I came with purpose.  Solitude. Tranquility. This morning we discussed death rituals in China. We discussed the ideologies, myth, magic, and religion of death and dying in China. It drove me here.  I am unfocused and angry.

It is ironic that I would seek refuge at the foot of my father’s grave. He died three years ago this month and I still haven’t gotten over the shock of seeing him unnaturally age beyond his years and watch his heart beat for the last time. I think of the journey I have been on since that day—the years I cannot remember before he died and the years since that I’ve spent remembering: I mean to live.

   I am reminded to live well visiting my father.

Each culture deals with death and the rituals of death differently. In what ways do you view death? Is it, like me, associated with feelings of good life to the living, an increase in character, or a reverence of what is gone and a respect and/or loss for the past or even anger? Collectively, what does that do to us, for us, individually and as a society?

What is language?

Wat up yo!  Peep dis...Ebonics is on point and tru to da game! 

Language reflects culture. Check da thang! if’in language show culture, Ebonics iz English. We be same peeps, diff'nt wordz. Ebonics chills wit Propers, da thang puts one wicked idea into one wicked word, an ‘isolating language' --jus' da same. Cultural emphasis iz pimp-tight! Ebonics is all originating ebony (black) an’ showin' da sweetness o’ da language o’ black peeps 'n all diz cultural sickness. No way diz be crizzaz whack words and all Uncle Tom, it represezentin’ homiez an dat off da hook. Nobody sauced by Ebonics.

Ebonics iz afrocentric. Da thang wackin' a sense o’ identity hardcore. Da thang iz ya’ll be an’ pimp-tightness when ya’ll use da thang. There iz no confusing hoo ya’ll iz, how ya’ll waz raised, an’ where ya’ll iz from. Pride in ya’lls heritage an’ pride in ya’ll's homies. Check dis yo! Freedom. Freedom from crizzaz wordz.  Ya'll individe yourselves.

Powerful iz wordz, n' smattered, in '96, Oakland School Board prided wordz 'stead o’ 'Propers. American Standard English waz all autopushed on da shortiez. Oakland School Board hit it up and gave a massive autoburial to da haters.

Ebonics iz no rec'd as wordz by ya'll. Bernie Mac says—ya’ll’s got two languages one ta pass ya’lls job interviews an’ one ta chat up ya’lls peeps an' shorties. Ebonics don’t’ be trippin’!! Iz dissed cuz it a’int all d-lo. Peeps iz less smart fo’ using da language an’ no way proper English?! Whatev! Ebonics be wordin' it’s own- wa’tch Propers haz no sickness fo’. Check it: pronasty. “She pronasty.”  Ya’ll’s ponderin’, “Who you callin’ pigeon chicken head, yo?.” Translate, pronasty short fo’ professional nasty or high grade, quality. Not nasty. She a shortie with a capital :S, son! Serious steeze.

Pop C idolizin' Ebonics ta shape stuff (slogans an’ sayings.) Hizzle dis-- Merriam Webster Dictionary peeps goed through ‘Zines find'n words dat iz sicking ta popular an’get 'em more s'pose'd M-stream. Da peeps get all crunked on pimp words. Language reflects culture. Ballin'!

The REAL Facebook Experiment

I’m sure there have been plenty of “academic” studies about the effects of Facebook on society. Here’s my take. I can guarantee you it’ll be a lot more fun to read.

Facebook, for all the great things it is, has completely changed my life. I’m sure I’m not the only one out there who can say this. I got addicted. I started wondering why. I think I accrued six friends at the height of my Golden Age of  Myspace usage. I now perform routine “cleanings” of my friend list if it tops 200. Personal preference.

Facebook is all about personal preference. Ironically, as personal as it gets sometimes. Does no one else find it odd that some people post all the intimate details of their life on Facebook and yet in real life, it would be completely awkward and out of place to share? It’s amazing how a social networking site has made us think it’s a great idea to be personal with a bunch of people we mostly never talk to and who would likely never know that much about us even if we did. I prefer using the privacy settings feature to take care of this. I confess- I am terribly lazy and hardly ever do. So, friends of my Facebook page, you know all about me in ways you may not care to know.

Johnny says: “I am posting something ultra vague that no one will ever get except you, Stacy. xoxo.” Come on!!! Seriously?!? Does any else feel the need to pull the plug on some status posters? I did. That was until I got curious about the language of Facebook status postings. What do they say about a person? Well, for starters, a lot. Once again, guilty as charged. I’ve posted the 5 jillion status updates in one day, the ridiculously stupid, the profound, the funny, and the angry posts. Do I mean to tell the world? No. I can’t stop myself. I just want to express myself to the void. However, it hardly ever is just a void. Somebody’s reading. Most the time, you’ll never know who. I get the occasional reminder when I hear friends-of-years tell me, “How is such and such going? I love being able to keep up with what you are doing on Facebook, it looks like you are having so much fun!” My immediate reaction is inevitably shock. I figured silence meant no one was listening. So, as the unseen reader, I peruse posts doing a little anthropological survey of status and wall postings. My findings will have to wait for another blog posting.(How's the for a hook?) In the meantime, you should try it.

For the single’s out there: Raise your hand if you’ve ever A. obsessively “stalked” your hopeful-to-be latest-and-greatest on everything facebooked.  B. looked at your chat list and gone over in your head the rules to chatting aforementioned love interest. Do you wait to see if they chat first? Do you chat first? What does it mean if they don’t chat first and go offline? Is that the black spot of Facebooking???? Have I just been rejected?!? What just happened?? If you answered A and B, you’re pretty normal. (p.s. as a tangent, spell checker does not recognize Facebook. I just added to my dictionary since the red squiggly was starting to take over the page.) Facebook has created an interesting social interaction dating dilemma that doesn’t exist in the person-to-person world. Can you imagine meeting an interest in real life and attempting the same thing? Solution: That’s why the friend lists were created; so you can “block” any ‘awkwards’. Thank you Facebook for thinking of that. 

For everyone else: How did you learn the rules of chat/messages/posting/status updates/responding/pokes? It took me awhile to figure out the poke rule. In fact, my last boyfriend used the Facebook poke as a status of our relationship. We didn’t even communicate via Facebook while we dated, only prior to dating to establish his interest. I knew the moment two days went by without a poke, the relationship was over. True story. How did I know? The Rules of Facebook I intuitively picked up on told me so. I was right. Facebook is instant. So is texting. Now that most of us are intravenously fed Facebook through our cell, there is no downtime. Time will tell you everything you need to know. Facebook has changed the way we communicate with each other, even the very language we use. Sometimes even our behavior. I'm a LOT more impatient now...

Ever since logging on, my interpersonal relationships have gone way down hill. It’s the best way to keep in touch with everyone you never see. Even people you never saw. It’s a great way to network, yes, but how useful is it to have all your friends, coworkers, bosses, religious leaders, and people you hardly know conveniently packaged into the same space? Moreover, since finding the friends I never thought I’d find, I became less excited about “I wonder how they are doing” and daydreaming about what ends of the earth I would go to track them down to find out. That rare sparkly coin suddenly became less valuable just because, well, there they are. You can just pull up their page any time. You always know what they are up to. Just by befriending each other that counts as keeping in touch. Right? Right???

My Facebook page is an outward expression of my inward self. False. I try but it always comes up a little short, I like to keep it a little artsy. Not that I am artsy, but you know how it is. I am creating a page of my life like you would a collage of pretty things and it’s not quite there yet. Maybe a few more pictures in NYC, Thailand, my fashion shoot, and that brand new Camaro I bought would do the trick…. I try to keep it real. Facebooking has become almost a hierarchal way of establishing status—the number of friends you have, the type and look of the friends you have, the postings you have on your wall, the status updates, your gps locations, definitely your pictures and pictures you allow yourself to be tagged in, activities you "maybe" are attending (is there any other option for responding!? Of course not!), and your privacy settings for outsiders. Don’t forget the all important profile picture. That one is key.

All in all, Facespace is quickly becoming a BIG social experiment for all us behavioral science nerds out there. If you find any of this interesting, check it out! But, you don’t have to take my word for it…


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUe3sbtqI2Q 

Life In Pictures

During the holidays, I had some free time. Being antisocial and not knowing what to do with all that time I looked for pictures that described my life. My life in pictures:

This is me. (I'm the blonde.)

This is who I want to grow up to be.

This is where I live.

And the canyon I drive everyday...

To work at Snowbird.

This is where I spend most of my time.

 Studying Anthropology from texts like this so I can have

a degree like this

This is my laptop. I tote it everywhere during school but...

I downsized my technology usage...

 And much prefer this pack to my school bag.

But this is my favorite way to use a pack. Life goal is backpacking when I am 60. I will.

I love shoes. These are my favorites. They get used.

This is my snowboard.

I'm still working on the skis...

 I ski. I'm not that good but I love it.

Things about me: I love fashion and love to get dressed up but feel just as great going with my natural self. 

I love food! I love the activity of eating food with good company. I love the gathering of people to share food and conversation. I am also a movie junky. Give me a midnight showing and I'm there. Mostly for the vibe of fans gathering in one place.

I love this place. So many reasons.

I am crazy passionate about the arts.

Things that terrify me:

 Aquatic life! Morray Eels and Kelp Forrests. If I had nightmares, this is what they would be filled with.

Being burned again. I get sick to my stomache thinking about it. Pain. So much pain.

Things that are really wonderful:

Dog sitting Nacho.

One of the most zen moments in my life caught on camera.

Austria. I've never been here. But I fell in love the moment I saw this place.

I will go here too.

I want a library like this.

And if I could have any vehicle, my first choice is the wood panel Grand Wagoneer. The second, well...at a cool $150k it BETTER be made by AMG.

This is my baby. I love my Jeep.

But, most importantly, the one thing I've discovered is what I am all about.

People. Every kind. The human condition. Discovering we are all

part of humanity. Finding out What Makes Us Human?

And, knowing every person has a different take on the world and what a great life there is to live by finding out what story every one of us has to tell. I intend to spend my life finding out just that.