Hi, my name is Earl. This is where I analyze food politics, experiment with molecular gastronomy, and advocate healthy eating. Look around for recipes, reviews, and photographs!Milk Kills Odor; Edible Dirt
In the September 6, 2010 issue of time magazine, Alice Park stated that “A study found that milk lowers the concentration of volatile odor-emitting compounds from garlic in the nose and mouth.” Park’s statement is quite the godsend for garlic lovers—including me. Although I have not tracked the study Park is referring to, I have began drinking milk after eating other odorous foods such as kimchi. Hopefully, milk kills odors in general, not only garlic odors.
Park also stated that “fat is an effective deodorizer,” asserting that whole milk packs the odor-killing properties of both milk and fat. In my opinion though, it’s not worth consuming more fat simply to get rid of odors.
Also, in this article, TIME magazine’s David Kaufman expounds on a new phenomenon of “edible dirt.” I myself have tried edible dirt at David Chang’s Momofuku Ssam Bar in New York (see picture above). The edible dirt I tried was very crunchy, like Wonka Nerds candy but not as hard. The dirt paired well with the silky, smoothness of the yogurt served in compliment.
Kaufman argues that edible dirt is the new molecular gastronomy, but I disagree. To compare a type of dish to a field of science is like comparing apples to Italian food.
Comments (6)
It's really interesting to see how dirt has gone from poor people's food to up scale restaurants. What is it about dirt that makes people want to eat them (or in the poor people's case, have to eat them?) In Sept. 2008 article on Haiti in the National Geographic, there was a picture of a woman making what they call Dirt Biscuits, essentially made of soil (clay/mud/dirt), vegetable oil, and salt. Yes, they actually sell these on the side of the streets in Haiti so people have something to eat to stay alive (especially after the horrifying disaster that swept away all of their farmlands). It's actually quite sad. Geophagy is the technical name for the act of eating earth and its components.
Wow, that is very interesting. I had no idea what geophagy was or that people sometimes eat dirt. You are right about the observation that haute cuisine seems to going "back to the roots." My assumption is that because dirt is such an unexpected food item, restaurants are succeeding by surprising diners with their own creative spin on dirt. In addition, dirt seems wholesome and natural, which may subconsciously draw people to eating fake dirt, since there is great emphasis on eating organic and locally nowadays. Thanks for the comment! Learned something new today!
By the way, here's the article I was talking about: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/09/soil/bo…
I thought coach buxton's son had collected a bunch of dirt food in his jellyfish net today.
They were actually dried up worms.
Wait Earl..why eat edible dirt?
As in like….health wise