Amanda Takes Off...

Did you know that 42 oz of mushrooms turned into a mushroom cream sauce makes a lot of sauce? I could serve a small army. (I found three packs of mushrooms today on the store's "please buy these before they go bad" rack and I couldn't pass up 36 oz of mushrooms for $3.13. We had another three packs of mushrooms in the fridge, so I added another 8 oz.)

Mushrooming aside, food in America annoys me. I've been reading a lot of articles about food, so I've been thinking about food in America lately. (See "Unhappy Meals" and "The Fast Supper" for especially interesting reads.)

1) When I left for Korea, there were eight servings of pasta in a box. I came back from Korea and found that boxes did not change dimensional size (nor price, of course), yet there are now "about 7" servings in a box. "About 7" meaning 6.625, which would be better described as "about 6 1/2."

2) The back of said pasta box says that "4 portions" uses a "full box." So is this some way to get around labeling regulations? A serving is not a portion?

3) A box serving and/or portion does not match a Food Pyramid serving.

4) What in the heck does it mean when chicken breasts have a "15% solution?" 15% solution to what? Fascism? Oil? The socks lost in the dryer problem? And what is the other 85%? A placebo?

5) Why are American chicken breasts as big as mine? Have chickens turned into walking boobs? How come the chicken breasts at the Korean market are smaller? (I promise, this is not a joke. Korean market chicken breasts are smaller.)

6) A serving of fruit is a "medium" piece of fruit (generally speaking). Have you seen the variation in, say, apples? First, American apples are going the way of American chicken. Second a medium Gala apple is a lot smaller than a medium Granny Smith. Third, a "medium" apple in a five pound bag is often smaller than the "medium" apples that are loose in the bin, right next to the bagged apples.

7) There is now some "Raspberry Almond M&M premium" product on the market. I love chocolate. Oh, do I. But couldn't they have put any actual raspberry in it? Lindt actually uses raspberry concentrate and orange pieces in their flavored chocolate. OK, M&Ms vs Lindt, not a fair comparison. OK, this also isn't really "food," but hey...