I love these guys...

Some way or other, I recently found my way to The Food Blog, maintained by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough. These are the guys behind the book Real Food Has Curves, which is totally going in my letter to Santa this year.

First of all, they crack me up. And they seem to share a good chunk of my personal food philosophy. Need recipes? Laughs? Inspiration? Check them out...

In this post, Mark talks about how to distinguish between processed foods (like proper cheese or cold-pressed olive oil) and "processed foods" (like cheese food product and refined olive oil). The difference boils down to the ingredients and the -- ahem -- process, used to create a packaged item.

As we keep saying, "convenience shouldn't be discounted, just examined."

And while we're on it, the olive oil in that [pizza] crust is processed. No doubt. The olives are pressed. But Bruce and I use only "first cold-pressed olive oil." If you use olive oil from "refined olives," it means the manufacturer used chemical solvents to extract the oil from inferior or unripe olives. What was merely processed food suddenly became "processed food." (If that makes any sense.)

They advocate careful label reading -- basically comparing an item's ingredients to what a person would use making it at home. Simple, right? And it helps so much in the kitchen. It's much harder to screw up a dish if you start out with quality ingredients. Nature makes delicious things; it's the job of the cook to get out of the way.

The whole discussion makes me think of something my cousin Wannie once told me: "I got to reading about all those preservatives, and I thought, it's like they're trying to embalm me before I die." Both hilarious and on point.

Red beans and rice tonight, which I haven't made in ages. I'll let y'all know how it turns out...

---