“Everyone wants to indulge,” commented a food industry newsletter in 1990. “This way, you can indulge and not be so bad.”
THE HEAVY TRUTH
But to a large extent, lite food was a hoax. It didn’t have to be better for you, because legally, lite and light didn’t mean anything at all. The terms could be applied to any product for almost any reason.
A “light” margarine might be lighter in color…or sold in a smaller package (which would make it lighter in weight). A “light” pudding might be lower in calories…or higher in calories, with a “lighter” texture. As the customer relations manager of Kroger Supermarkets tactfully put it: “It’s kind of confusing for customers. When they pick up something that says ‘Light/ it may not be at all what they expect.” For example: According to published reports, on a shopping trip in 1990-91 you could buy…
Carrots come from Afghanistan.
• Klondike Lite Frozen Dessert Bars. Cutting down on fat? These babies had 7 grams of fat per serving—more than triple the FDA’s recommendations for low-fat claims.
• Bertolli Mild & Light Olive Oil. Light in color, but no change in calories.
• Lipton’s Lite Cup-a-Soup Chicken Soup. Had exactly the same amount of calories as their regular chicken Cup-a-Soup.
• Fleur-de-Lait “Ultra-Light” cheese spreads. “Ultra-light” referred to the consistency of these whipped cheeses. Actually a high-fat item.
• Sara Lee Light Classics cheesecake. Had more fat and calories than its regular products. This product was so misleading that the attorneys general of nine states sued the company over it.
Not satisfied yet? You could always choose “Pillsbury Lovin’ Lites” cake mixes and frosting, “Hostess Light Cupcakes,” or “Spam Lite” (fat was reduced from 16 grams per serving to 12). It seemed like there was no end in sight to the fad.
But there was.
THE LITE AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL
In 1986 Jim Cooper, a bachelor congressman from Tennessee, arrived in Washington determined to stay in shape. He bought “light” food as part of his routine. When he got married a few years later, his wife suggested he read the fine print on the labels, to see what he’d really been eating. He was shocked, and began introducing legislation to regulate the use of terms like “lite” and “low-fat.”
Gradually, the idea gained acceptance. The FDA, revitalized under President Bush, worked with Congress to develop a label law that would make it easy for consumers to see what they were getting. In 1993, after plenty of compromising, they came up with a set of rules that regulated nutrition claims, required nutritional labeling (at the time, 40% of all packaged foods provided no nutritional info at all), and gave specific definitions to words that Consumer Reports called “overused and underdefined”—such as “reduced,” “low-cholesterol,” “low-fat”…and of course, “lite” and “light.”
One escalator carries as many people as 13 elevators.
As a result, we can now compare apples with apples…or low-fat salad dressing with low-fat salad dressing. And we know what it means when a label says Lite.
Here are some of the rules to remember the next time you go shopping:
Low-fat: Contains three grams of fat or less per serving
Low-cholesterol: One gram or less per serving. Plus, gets no more than 15% of its calories from saturated fat.
High fiber: Contains at least 20% of the required daily fiber—i.e., 5 grams.
Reduced or Less: Contains 25% less fat, sodium, cholesterol, or calories than the regular food.
More: Contains 10% more protein, minerals, fiber, etc. than the regular food.
Free: “Applies to foods that have none of the substance cited, or a nutritionally insignificant amount.”
Light or Lite: Contains 1/3 fewer calories, and at least 40 fewer calories…or contains 50% of the fat in the regular product. If “light” describes a color or texture, it has to be specifically stated that way on the label—for example, “Light in Texture.”
SKIRTING THE ISSUE
Labeling laws are important. But they don’t keep food manufacturers from trying to pull a fast one. Case in point: When products calling themselves “light” failed to qualify for the term under the 1993 guidelines, the manufacturers tried to fake it. “They’re turning to other words they hope sound almost as good,” warned Consumer Reports. So Pringles “Light Chips” became Pringles “Right Chips;” Kraft “Deliciously Light” Dressing became “Deliciously Right” Dressing; and so on. “In the end,” said one consumer advocate,” the only protection you have is your own common sense.”
80% of American adults consume at least one caffeinated product—food, drink, or pill—each day.
THE TOMATO: FACT & FICTION
You’d be surprised how tough it is to find good information on the subject of tomatoes. After months of searching, we found a book called The Tomato in America, by Andrew F. Smith, in which we discovered these interesting facts and fictions.
FACT: Tomatoes originated in South America.
Explanation: The first tomato plants grew wild in Peru. They weren’t much like today’s tomato—they were small and smooth. It took naturally occurring mutations to make them into the fruits we eat now. The mutated tomatoes were cultivated by native Central American farmers. Spanish explorers “discovered” them there and brought them to Europe.
FACT: Tomatoes were once considered an aphrodisiac.
Explanation: The first mention of them in Europe was in 1544, by Italian herbalist Pietro Matthioli. He called them pomi’d’oro (“golden apples”) and classified them with mandrake (a member of the often-toxic nightshade family), which was widely regarded as an aphrodisiac. The result: Tomatoes were also regarded as a sexual stimulant. They acquired the nickname “love apples.”
FICTION: Europeans thought tomatoes were poison and refused to eat them.
Explanation: Mostly a myth. The belief was limited to Britain (and later, British colonies). The reason: In 1597 an English physician and herbalist named John Gerard wrote that tomatoes were toxic—even though he was totally aware that they were eaten in Spain and Italy. Many English took his word for it, and carried the idea with them to the New World. Until about the 1700s, tomatoes were grown only for ornamental purposes in England. Then they gained a mild reputation for healing inflammations, ulcers, running sores, and gout. By 1728 the British were adding tomatoes to soups.
In what state can you find the Alabama swamps? New York. Wyoming Valley? Pennsylvania.
FICTION: Thomas Jefferson was the first to cultivate tomatoes in America.
Explanation: He was definitely an early advocate of the tomato in America—he was growing them in Monticello by 1809—but didn’t introduce them; they were already here. The rumor probably started because Jefferson didn’t hesitate to serve tomatoes to guests—many of whom tasted them for the first time at his home.
FICTION: In 1820, a man named Robert Gibbon Johnson announced he was going to eat a tomato on the courthouse steps in Salem, New Jersey. Until that time, people thought the tomato was poisonous, so, as Andrew Smith tells the story, “hundreds of onlookers gathered to see the spectacle of Johnson eating a tomato, expecting to see him fall frothing to the ground, then die a painful death….But much to everyone’s surprise, Johnson survived and launched a new and mammoth tomato industry.”
Explanation: In his book, Smith demonstrates that this is just a myth. True, the English didn’t eat tomatoes—but the English weren’t the only colonists in the New World. The Spanish had brought tomatoes to Georgia and the Carolinas; they were also brought by the French.
• By 1800, South Carolinians were exporting both seeds and recipes to other states, and many New Orleans gumbo recipes included tomatoes
• An 1806 American Gardener’s Calendar trumpeted the tomato as “much cultivated for its fruit, in soups and sauces, to which it imparts an agreeable flavor.”
FACT: Tomatoes became a permanent part of American culture whe
n they were the focus of a health fad.
Explanation: In 1834 a book by Dr. John Bennet made big health claims for tomatoes. It caught the public’s fancy—both quoting and debunking him made good newspaper copy. So many editors and commentators were touting the tomato’s health virtues, that suddenly, they were hot. Within two years of Bennet’s book, The New York Times was predicting quadruple sales for the coming year. The Times was right.
• In 1837, patent medicine “tomato pills” came out. Two rival manufacturers, Alexander Miles and Guy Phelps, engaged in heated tomato-pill wars, accusing each other in print of not really including tomatoes in their formulas (among numerous other charges). A massive ad campaign for tomato pills brought tomatoes to public attention like never before. The once-suspect pomi’d’oro was media-blitzed: cookbooks, newspapers, magazines, horticultural books, gardeners’ calendars, agricultural periodicals, botanical texts—all now raved about the wonder fruit. Doctors actually started prescribing them. Miracle-cure tales sprang up: tomatoes had cured chronic coughs, liver trouble, dyspepsia, paralysis, consumption, even cholera. And they probably did help with some of these things because of the vitamins they contained.
Largest empire in all of human history: the British empire of the 19th century.
MORE TOMATO HISTORY
• “Tomato-mania” died down over the next decade, but by then tomatoes were widely popular and a great cash crop in the United States. Growers’ profits kept rising, and farms near big cities often abandoned other produce to grow only tomatoes.
• By the early 1850s, New England was growing millions of bushels a year, and tomatoes were considered one of the easiest and quickest vegetables to grow.
• Tomatoes began riding the transcontinental railroad in 1869, fresh from California, straight to New York. The next year, tomatoes ranked among the top three vegetables in America, along with peas and corn.
• Within a decade, 19 million cans of tomatoes a year found their way into U.S. pantries, and in another few years the number was four times that.
TOMATO BITS
• Settlers in Oregon ate their tomatoes pulverized into a thick paste they poured over hotcakes.
• In 1984 NASA sent 12 million tomato seeds into space for six years. Later, the seeds were given to schoolteachers across the country to grow in their classrooms. Public uproar over possible mutations led NASA director Gregory Marlins to recommend that students not actually eat the tomatoes.
• The world’s biggest tomato, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, was grown in 1986 by Gordon Graham and weighed in at nearly 8 pounds.
The first tennis balls were stuffed with human hair.
TOP-RATED TV SHOWS, 1991–1997
More of the annual Top 10 TV shows of the past 50 years.
1991-1992
(1) 60 Minutes
(2) Roseanne
(3) Murphy Brown
(4) Cheers
(5) Home Improvement
(6) Designing Women
(7) Coach
(8) Full House
(9) Unsolved Mysteries
(10) Murder, She Wrote
1992-1993
(1) 60 Minutes
(2) Roseanne
(3) Home Improvement
(4) Murphy Brown
(5) Murder, She Wrote
(6) Coach
(7) NFL Monday Night Football
(8) Cheers
(9) Full House
(10) Northern Exposure
1993-1994
(1) Home Improvement
(2) 60 Minutes
(3) Seinfeld
(4) Roseanne
(5) These Friends of Mine
(6) Grace Under Fire
(7) Frasier
(8) Coach
(9) Murder, She Wrote
(10) NFL Monday Night
1994-1995
(1) Seinfeld
(2) ER
(3) Home Improvement
(4) Grace Under Fire
(5) NFL Monday Night Football
(6) 60 Minutes
(7) NYPD Blue
(8) Friends
(9) (tie) Roseanne
(9) (tie) Murder, She Wrote
1995-1996
(1) ER
(2) Seinfeld
(3) Friends
(4) Caroline in the City
(5) NFL Monday night Football
(6) The Single Guy
(7) Home Improvement
(8) Boston Common
(9) 60 Minutes
(10) NYPD Blue
1996-1997
(1) ER
(2) Seinfeld
(3) Suddenly Susan
(4) (tie)Friends
(4) (tie)Naked Truth
(6) Fired Up
(7) Monday Night Football
(8) Single Guy
(9) Home Entertainment
(10) Touched by an Angel
Long shot: Only one person in 2 billion will live to the age of 116.
WHAT’S A BLUE MOON?
You’ve heard the saying “once in a blue moon.” And you’ve probably heard the song “Blue Moon.” So what are these guys talking about? The diligent staff of the BRI has been searching the skies for the answer.
THE EXPRESSION
According to the Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins, the term “blue moon” first appeared in England in 1528. The source: A book (or booklet) entitled Read Me and Be Not Wroth, which said: “If they say the mone is blew / We must believe that it is true.”
The term once in a blue moon was apparently derived from this sarcastic little rhyme about the upper class. It originally meant “never.” But by the early 1800s it was used to describe “a very rare occurrence.” This meaning is actually more correct, because two kinds of blue moons really do exist.
THE FACTS
• The moon does occasionally appear blue. In The Moon Book, Kim Long writes:
This phenomenon [is] associated with unusual atmospheric conditions. A blue-colored moon, or one with a green color, is most likely to be seen just before sunrise or just after sunset if there is a large quantity of dust or smoke in the atmosphere. These particles can filter out colors with longer wavelengths, such as red and yellow, and leave green and blue wavelengths to temporarily discolor the moon.
• The term “blue moon” was once commonly used to describe a full moon that appears twice in one month. “This occurs approximately every 32 months,” says Christine Ammer in Seeing Red or Tickled Pink. “A full moon comes every 29-1/2 days, when the earth’s natural satellite is opposite the sun in the sky. Thus any month except February could see two full moons.” However, in 1999 Sky and Telescope magazine admitted this was a mistake.
* * *
Musical Note: Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart wrote the song “Blue Moon” in 1934.
The foreign city most visited by Americans is Tijuana.
“TONIGHT SHOW,” PART VIII: SPECIAL GUEST HOST PROFESSOR PEAR
Uncle John is sorry to announce that there’s been a slight change in plans, and Johnny Carson will be on vacation until the next Bathroom Reader. Fortunately, we were able to recruit as a special guest the illustrious Professor Pear, who’ll fill you in on all the wonderful things you can do with pears. And so, without further ado, heeeeere’s…Professor Pear.
Thank you, Uncle John. It’s great to be here.
“The pear must be approached with discretion and reverence; it withholds its secrets from the merely hungry.” This observation, attributed to Paul Bunyard, is testimony that pears are one of the more mysterious of the fruits we commonly encounter. Unlike an apple, which is ready to eat from the day it is picked, a pear must go through a series of changes before it can deliver its full splendor. It would seem that the pear was not made for humans to easily enjoy; it must be manipulated in order to present us the flavor, texture, and juiciness that we consider attributes of high quality.
For one thing, pears do not ripen on the tree to our liking. If allowed to tree-ri
pen, pears typically ripen from the inside out, so that the center is mushy by the time the outside flesh is ready. In addition, the texture of tree-ripened pears is often more gritty than that of pears picked before they are ripe. So the frequently heard notion that pears are picked when they are still hard and green as a convenience for enduring the long truck ride to market misses the point. Pears are harvested when they are “mature,” which in pear language means when they have reached the point where, after picking, they will ripen to good quality, sometimes with a little help, but definitely off the tree.
Now the next step after harvesting mature pears is to cool them down. Commercial storages cool them way down, to around 30°F (like drunks sleeping in the snow, they don’t freeze at 32°F because they have so much dissolved material in their juice—in the case of pears, it’s sugar). The colder they are, the longer they’ll stay in good condition. One unique quality of pears is that they need to be cooled in order to ripen properly. In the case of Bartlett pears, that cooling need last only a day or two, which evens out the ripening within each fruit and sychronizes the ripening of all the fruit in a box. “Winter pears” such as Anjou, Bosc, and Comice, must be cooled for two to six weeks to get the same effect. If one of these pears is picked “mature” and allowed to sit on the kitchen shelf, it will sit and sit and eventually decompose—without ever “ripening.”
What’s the longest English word you can type with only the left hand? “Stewardesses.”
Ripening a pear must be a closely watched process, since there is a relatively narrow window between “too hard” and “too soft” where the glory of the perfect pear texture lies. The best quality is experienced when the pears are ripened by leaving them at 65 °F-75°F. The amount of time varies from about five days for a typical Bartlett, to six or seven days for Bosc or Comice, to anywhere from seven to ten days for Anjou. As ripening begins, pears, like many fruits, begin to produce “the ripening hormone,” ethylene gas, inside the fruit. This speeds the ripening along. In fact, the whole pear-ripening process can be kick-started by putting freshly bought or picked pears in a bag with a ripe banana or apple, both of which give off copious quantities of ethylene gas. The bag keeps the apple or banana ethylene around the pears, which soak it up and quickly begin producing their own.
Uncle John’s Giant 10th Anniversary Bathroom Reader Page 46