Neo Kobe Pizza

The Domino’s pizza tainting incident is a disgusting reminder to be careful who we hire to prepare our food in restaurants.  What people may not be aware of is that food is being legally tainted in the production line.  The food industry lately has gone to Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle level lengths to cut production costs.  Natural diet enthusiasts of many persuasions are warning people to read food labels, and be careful about what they’re eating.

Soy

Soy flour has become a very popular addition to many commercial breads and doughs.  In modern, industrial countries, it’s hard to find any bread in stores of bakeries that doesn’t have soy flour.  In some countries, like Israel and Columbia, bakers are required by law to add soy to their bread.

Soy oil is also becoming an increasingly popular addition to canned tomato sauces.  Many white sauces have soy powder, soy milk, or soy lecithin.

Read more about the dangers of soy, and how food marketers have conned the world into eating more of it.

High Fructose Corn Syrup

High fructose corn syrup is replacting glucose and sucrose (white sugar) in many commercial doughs and sauces.  It does make a difference.  Excess fructose that gets converted to fat tends to build up around the organs and abdomen rather than getting deposited evenly.

What can you do about it?

1. Make your own food from scratch.  If you make it, you know what’s in it.
2. Encourage your local restaurants and chains to make their own pizza dough and sauce, or to get sourced by companies that don’t use soy or high fructose corn syrup.
3. Vote with your dollars, and don’t buy products that contain soy or high fructose corn syrup, even if it’s very tempting.

Be careful out there.

Since it is impossible to find a food mill for a reasonable price here, I used to press my boiled tomatoes through a strainer.  This was very messy.  Then I realized that there was probably an easier way.  I thought it would be a risk because if you boil tomatoes for too long, they will melt into the water.  So I added a few minutes, bringing them to a boil, and then turning down the heat, and letting them simmer until they looked like they were going to fall apart.

Then, with a slotted spoon, I transferred them to a bowl, and peeled each one, and crushed them with a regular old mashed potato mashing weapon.

This turned out to be a lot easier and a whole lot less messy than pressing them through a strainer.  It tastes just the same, and isn’t any wetter.  I’m very happy with the results.

Making your own tomato sauce is very easy.  All you need is a pot, water, and a strainer.

Get some tomatoes that are very ripe.  They should be almost at the end of their edible life, very red and soft.  Boil them for about 15 minutes or until the skins start to split apart, and then press them through the strainer, discarding the peels.

At this point, it might be thinner than you like.  To thicken it, just simmer it slowly while stirring, to reduce it.

From there, you can use it just like you’d use canned sauce.  It just won’t have as much salt, and is very much tastier.