Food Psychology
This is what it’s like to eat only potatoes for 60 days
A man does an extreme diet to prove the nutritional value of spuds. But he's losing his mind
Topics: Food, Food Art, Food Psychology
First there were hunger strikes to protest brutal injustices. Then there was “Super Size Me,” an all-McDonald’s regimen captured on film to show us what fast food is doing to us. But now Chris Voigt is bringing the extreme diet noise to … promoting potato sales.
For 60 days, all the executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission will eat are potatoes, seven pounds a day of them, to demonstrate that potatoes are so nutritionally whole that you can live off them for months. Sure, his body might live, but what about his mind and spirit? I don’t know, but when our friends at Eater.com referred to Voigt’s potato-diet blog as a document of “an increasingly broken and desperate man,” well, we had to take a look at the slow-motion car crash.
Continue Reading CloseFrancis Lam is Features Editor at Gilt Taste, provides color commentary for the Cooking Channel show Food(ography), and tweets at @francis_lam. More Francis Lam.
Gwyneth Paltrow prefers crack to canned cheese
The Joan Crawford of the kitchen talks drugs, alcohol and the ultimate danger to her children -- McDonald's
Topics: Alcoholism, Celebrity, Drugs, Food Psychology, Gwyneth Paltrow, Movies
Gwyneth Paltrow doesn't even own a can opener... just a knife. Everything in moderation, especially moderation. That was the truism passed down to me from my father when we would turn into the McDonald’s drive-thru and order our occasional Big Macs and Happy Meals. And despite what macrobiotic mommy dearest Gwyneth Paltrow might think, I somehow grew up without any Mc’Deformities.
During a conversation with former BBC host Jonathan Ross for the iTunes Festival earlier this week, Gwyneth confessed that she never let her kids pass through the Golden Arches, something that shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who hears the self-confessed “foodie” talk about her healthy culinary home.
Continue Reading CloseDrew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew. More Drew Grant.
How comfort foods work like Prozac
The psychology behind why we turn to fatty staples like French fries and fried chicken when life gets rough
Topics: Food, Food Psychology
When the recession hit, you could hear the words buzzing from the cell phones of every restaurant consultant in America: “It’s time for comfort food.” But under the mashed potatoes and meatloaf lies a question: What does “comfort food” really mean? What about it actually comforts us?
Let’s look at some big-time comfort foods: Fried chicken. French fries. Chocolate cake. When people talk about comfort food, the obvious explanation is that it’s all about nostalgia and missing Mommy. But that’s also cultural. Look at lutefisk, natto and the reddish-black blood sausage I was served once by a sad Belgian who took comfort in what struck me as something you might see in a hospital. And really, it takes more than this to create the rush of sensations that make us feel safe, calm and cared for. It’s a complex interplay of memory, history and brain chemistry, and while some basics apply — most of us are soothed by the soft, sweet, smooth, salty and unctuous — the specifics are highly personal.
Anneli Rufus is the author of several books, most recently "Magnificent Corpses: Searching through Europe for St. Peter's Head, St. Stephen's Hand, St. Chiara's Heart and Other Saints' Relics" (Marlowe & Co.). More Anneli Rufus.
“Freaky Eaters’” JJ Virgin on shock therapy and french fries
We spoke to the TLC show's nutritionist about the science of food addiction -- and her "shock therapy" approach
Topics: Food Advice, Food Psychology, Food television, Interviews, Reality TV, Television
JJ Virgin and Dr. Mike Dow on "Freaky Eaters." JJ Virgin has one of the stranger jobs out there: After spending 25 years studying health and fitness, she now spends her time on TLC, turning around the lives of food addicts on “Freaky Eaters.” (No, that’s not the show about people who eat laundry soap, a similar program on the same network called “My Super Strange Addiction.”) “Freaky Eaters” documents the life of a person addicted to a certain type of edible food — french fries, meat, and corn syrup have all been on the menu — as well as their recovery with the help of two specialists, Virgin and Dr. Mike Dow.
Continue Reading CloseDrew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew. More Drew Grant.
911 called over botched Chinese food order
What do you do when your dinner isn't delivered properly? Call the police, of course
Topics: Food Business, Food fights, Food Psychology, Food safety, Television, Viral Video
The police are not here to deal with your delivery mix-up. How many times has this happened to you? You go home and try to enjoy a nice dinner of Chinese food delivery. But when your meal arrives, they’ve got the order completely wrong!
Do you:
A) Call back the restaurant and ask for a refund;
B) Just eat the food and promise to deal with it next time;
C) Call the police
If you answered C, you are not alone. A woman in Savannah, Ga., called 911 to rectify her dinner order yesterday. This was the result:
Continue Reading CloseDrew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew. More Drew Grant.
The five most ridiculous defenses of Ronald McDonald
A watchdog group is calling for the clown mascot's retirement, but is being creepy grounds for firing?
Topics: Food Business, Food fights, Food Psychology, Food television, Food traditions, Health, Television
Who wouldn't accept food from this guy? McDonald’s is under attack again for force-feeding our nation’s children greasy, delicious fries. A group called Corporate Accountability International took out full-page ads today in several prominent newspapers, titled “Doctor’s Orders: Stop Marketing Junk Food to Children.“
And while this grievance might not seem new, exactly, CAI is launching another campaign on Thursday against Ronald McDonald himself, whom the watchdog group called a “Deep Fried Joe Camel.” They claim Ronald’s the equivalent of a drug pusher for MSG-addicted kids.
Continue Reading CloseDrew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew. More Drew Grant.
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