Rise of the Frankenfruits

frankenfruits....jakalope food?

Frankenfruits ???   Are we on about California again ??? Or is Al running for something else now .......

WW: The strawberries taste like strawberries, and the snozzberries taste like snozzberries.
VS: Snozzberries? Who has ever heard of a Snozzberry?
WW: We are the music makers and we are dreamers of dreams.

I learned while visiting a museum in Alto, TX, celebrating the Mound Builder civilization that the introduction of corn allowed a hierarchical social structure to exist (with all the divisions of labor we associate with 'civilization'). It also destroyed the health of the population. (Try living on corn tortillas and beans and see how well YOU do...).

We live in a 'dance' with the foods we eat. Some benefit; others suffer. New forms of food evolve under the stimulus of the creative hand of the human brain. Some are great (for humans); others are not. All these 'new foods' are 'natural' (they're certainly not supernatural!). Whether or not the ancient and slowly evolving biological structures of our bodies can handle the innovation... well, that's another story. [See paragraph one...]

We all live in 'a greenhouse' ourselves. It's called civilization, and our 'greenhouse' is a construct in most ways divorced from human biology. In other words, we're all lab rats living in a laboratory, one designed we have collectively built for ourselves! Food is only one 'input'. We ingest not only foods we have invented, but electricity, fuels, drugs (both lifesaving and lethal), and many, many other things. The jury is still out on the grand experiment we call civilization. Ditto on the drugs and foods we ingest.

The ship has sailed, and none of us can hope to really get back on the pier. Those who never made the boat (like North America's natives population after 1492) will not live the life of 'the noble savage'. Did you know that 95 percent of that population died in wave after wave of 'imported' disease before they ever met a 'white person'? Their little lab (their little greenhouse) proved a failure, at least in Darwinian terms. Corn-based diet didn't 'do the trick'. Exposure to other species did.

A diet of trans fat, corn syrup, burgers and fries, and so on will not kill off the human race. On the downside, it will make many humans diabetic, help them die early from heart disease, and so on. On the plus side of the ledger, these innovations will help others live better (positions are open in a variety of fields at 'food companies' worldwide -- and they pay well!).

I'm convinced that we are all evolving toward Solent Green, the ultimate expression of a recyling society. This is another aspect of the experiment called civilization; it devours its own.... we are our own lab rats.

We're messing with nature again.  This can't be good.

As I am in search for the perfect Bloody Mary, I would experiment openly with Lematoes in that quest.  Since the avg. life expectancy has increased from 28 in Classical Greek and Roman times to 67 worldwide and 78 in the U.S. now, I believe that progress has been made and I feel I prefer the here and now though I sometimes dream of being a pirate.   Hybrids are okay in many cases and humans and products were for centuries separated by culture and geography. But integration and methods of transportation usually result in greater variety and experiementation with natural order by government and entrepreneurs.  Often they reap good results. Pure bred pets are rarely as virile as mutts and most folks are of multiple cultural backgrounds mixed together, Frankensteins, one and all in the proverbial "melting pot" called the USA.  I think maybe there could even be an "alien" in the experiment called Tommy T. Bottom line if there is not a market for the products of today's discussion and/or the FDA finds any unsafe, then they will fall to the wayside.  Yep, I observed way back in Elementary School that some folks mix the food on their metaphorical plates and some folks won't let their food touch. The lexicon increases daily on this discussion page with hybrid terms of all sorts. Keep it up!  Makes you unique and that is a rarity. 

JALOPKIN- you do know I was joking about the 12 oz. cheez curls right?

Franken anything = creepy to the 3rd power...

BEBE:
 
Ditto!!!
 
Don't mess with my food.

Too late, korthal and bebe... Humans have been messing with food for 14,000 years; it's just the rate of change is growing exponentially (and not only in foods!).  Some would say (e.g. Nassim Taleb and behavioral economics folks -- among others) that the human brain isn't able to keep up witht he complex economic environment that we are creating (cf what has happened in the financial world).  Others like surgeon Atul Gawande ('The Checklist Manifesto, http://gawande.com/booklist-review-of-the-checklist-manifesto ) make the same point about medicine -- with recommendations from the aircraft/flight industry to overcome the inability of our sorry brains to keep up with our creations. And yet others have commented on our very rickety Internet, held together with patches, ingenuity, a lot of 'chewing gum and string'.  We all live in a very tenuous world, and we're all in a race to keep up with the technologies we have invented but haven't quite mastered.  Alternatives?  Well, 'jumping off the boat' means ending up like Haiti or Somalia or Afghanistan.  We're stuck in our historical context. -- as we always have been --paddling in the middle of the river, but carried along by currents far beyond our paltry individual efforts.  We might as well enjoy the trip..... 

The eternal mystery of the human machine. Kierkegaard thought we had enough genius, What we needed was awakening. 

Sometimes I get a basket of strawberries from the grocery store.  If they were grown in California, they are large (brodering on HUGE), have hollows in the center, and don't taste quite right.  During the summer, I'll go to the Farmer's Market and buy a flat of strawberries, grown on a farm nearwhere I live.  They're much smaller, more solid, and just-right-tart-and-tasty.  What's the difference?  One was human-engineered, the other naturally-grown.  The human-engineered one was done with all the best intentions: feed the hungry (maximize profits), make the best use of the land (maximize profits), get rid of the diseases (maximize profits).  [I sometimes feel that I'm talking about the Ferengi School of Business.]  Doc's right in his assessment of trying to live on a diet of corn and beans.  You can do it, but eventually you'll die of malnutrition.  It's the same as trying to subsist on a diet of rabbits in the winter.  If the rabbit doesn't get much in the way of nourishment, neither will you.  You can starve while eating rabbits. All this is an age-old struggle to feed the hungry and provide more nourishing food in the bargain.  Franken-fruits are just speeded-up evolution, mostly to make more of the good things in the food product, while making the food more resistant to disease and fungus.  We can now harvest exponentially more wheat per acre than we could 100 years ago.  Thanks to the efforts of botanists and chemical engineers.  With more than 7 billion people to feed, that's kind of important.

DOC NOLAN:
 
Then I'm never going to eat again. LOL!!!

in the land of the hungry . . . . .

...."want fries wit dat?"

Omnivore's dilemma, a great Michael Pollan book. We ARE the people of the corn.   .   He goes very far int how corn is involved in our lives and commerce.   .   Makes you look very closely at labels, like salt that contains dextrose(corn sugar),why would it?

So the next generation really will be Children of the Corn?

Julia~probably the last two,as well as the next rest of our culture...if you knew of the origin of all the chemicals that become,eventually,into ,say, the quarter pounder with cheese,and the drink,as well as the oils used to fry the potato(probably the closest thing on that menu to "Natchural"){tho I think some or all of the pesticides are corn derived}.... It is a wonder of modern science.   .   Start every day- breaking the fast--with fresh fruit or vegetables...Your body will take what it needs from the complex mix of elements.THEN you can eat and drink whatever...Hunger will keep you from completing your mission/concentration... And the worse the food is for you: hard to digest/break down and void, the longer between hungers

If I want something that tastes like grapes, I'll eat grapes.

BEBE:   I apologize profusely ....... I simply thought that you were addressing and/or curious about something that you have no real interest in .......  Didn't think you were a dummy, just truly uninterested ....... Very much like when this smartass from Chicago asked me, in his loudest voice demonstrating disdain for Texans and any thing Texas, if it were true that I didn't know about- whatever the hell it was ... and I told him a Cigar Band Fact, that it was NOT that I don't know ... it was purely that I do not CARE to know ....... And I figured thats where you were, and I missed the pun altogether ... I AM sorry .......

JULIA:  Where I come from, The Children of The Corn, are the people who make Sour Mash Whiskey ... An Age Old Tradition, and Honored in these parts .......

off topic......
 
it's 60 degrees, the sun is shining, the air is crystal clear, crisp and clean from yesterday's rain and i've opened all the windows and doors.............aaaah.....a light at the end of the tunnel...food of a different sort for the soul..

But why mess with something that is just so good as is?  Though, admittedly, I did buy the grapple for my grandchildren who pronounced it "just alright" and said they preferred the regular apple.  Besides, it costs more -- so back to my original question:  why bother?

Cuukoo, speaking of food for the soul, my newest grandson just came over (with his father) for a visit -- still smiling.

NACHISTA ... you made a comment about a photo I posted wayyyyyy back ... different user name then (deeceebee) .. you're correct, Proposal Rock at Neskowin. MAJOR storm ongoing as I post this note. Waves pushing up the two creeks and right up under my deck. If I had remembered my digital camera I'd post a photo. 65 MPH winds tonight. Arrrrhhhh, Long John Silver. Make ready to get under way!!
BTW, that photo you have looks like my grade school in Portland, Or ... couldn't be .. right?!?!

How  exactly  do  Frankenfruits  reproduce?   When  I  used  an  example  of  grafting  roots   of  2  plants  together  to  get  the  best  of  both  species'  features,   Miss  Blue  indicated  that  such  plants  would  be  sterile,  and  incapable  of  reproducing....

JALOPKIN- no apology needed- just wanted to make sure you knew I wasn't a dizzdoll- that's all. I could not imagine being offended by you!
 
I read "Children of the Corn" when I was a teenager & it was really scary.  I also remember it was written by this incredibly rugged & handsome guy. memories....

BEBE:  Thank You !!!  You have given me hope !!!  If you thought Stephen King was, "incredibly rugged & handsome ..."  Then there is certainly hope for me !!!
 

I went to B&N, just to make sure it was written by Stephen King, and it was, and now I've got to wonder:  BEBE:  do you really think Stephen King is incredibly rugged and handsome?
 
He's a good writer and all, but handsome and rugged? 
 
ha ha?

JALOPKIN- I am sure it's not Stephen King, but another guy. Even a desperate woman would be hard pressed to say S.K. is ruggedly handsome. Although he seems like an incredibly nice & interesting person. By the way -his wife is an excellent writer- one of her books was stunning.

Ok, I have never read C of the C. My book was about a small New England town where the children had some ritual involving crops. Children of the wheat fields??? the soybean fields, the pumpkin patch????????? a mind is a terrible thing to waste...

I'm suffering from brain drain, so don't hold me to this, but was "Children of the Corn" written by a former actor, Thomas Tryon?

Hi!
 
I thought it was written by Stephen  KIng, and it was about some spooky kids in the corn fields in a small New England town.
 
??
 
Thomas Tryon was an actor?
 
 

BEBE:  I have no qualms about the Talent of Stephen King, in fact my favorite of his produce is, MISERY ... and I know his wife is accomplished as well ....... but he looks like an Android having a Bad Wire Day .......  Of course, Guys do nothing for me anyway, and I can poke fun at other unfortunates because my "CUTE" Days are long over

And yer sure it wasn't the Jolly Green Giant?

PARK4 - You win a free beverage of your choice.  Children of the Corn - a very creepy story and even creepier movie (and I love bad horror/sci-fi movies) was written by Stephen Kingand appeared in one of his short story collections.  There have neen six sequels of the movie in total... each worse than the last. T. Tryon was an actor and author  Peace out .. .. ..

O-kay.  I remember who he was (Tryon) as an actor, I recall seeing him.  But he wrote The Other and that's how I remember his name best.  That book scared the whatever out of me.  That one, and Stephen King's "evil children" books really spook me, evil children, I don't know why, but they're worse that most anything I can think of, scary wise.
 
Except that CHUCKY doll or whatever he was, WOW, too scary for me.  And Pet Cemetery (Stephen King), that book made me swear off evil kiddie books forever.  I'm getting palpitations just thinking about them...
 
Anyhow, here's Thomas Tryon, if anyone's interested.  (Good call, Andy!):
 
 
"Disillusioned with acting, Tryon retired from the profession in 1969 and began writing horror and mystery novels. He was successful, overcoming skepticism about a classically handsome movie star suddenly turning novelist. His best-known work is The Other (1971), about a boy whose evil twin brother may or may not be responsible for a series of deaths in a small rural community in the 1930s. The novel was adapted as a film the following year, starring Diana Muldaur, Uta Hagen, and John Ritter. Harvest Home, about the dark pagan rituals being practiced in a small New England town, was adapted as The Dark Secret of Harvest Home, a television mini-series starring Bette Davis, in 1978."

Tom Tryon, was also I think, Ambassador to Czechoslovakia for a while ... and the Author of a very interestin Book called, THE OTHER ... about a truly adventuresome Brother and Sister ...

Book is really more interesting if one has his own Trapeze .......

PARK & ANDY- you both crack me up! YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was Thomas Tryon & he was delicious looking. It must have been "Harvest Home". glad to know I have some of my faculties intact. Which ones -I'm not so sure about that....

PARK4 - Who played Chucky?

P.L.~wasn't it Jimmy Stewart,in the Spirit of St. Louis?

A tangent:  [Aside] I've read that freeze-dried dinners for camping (available at REI, etc) are 'nutritionally deficient'... so I read the label.  Well, yeah!  One had 350 calories and the other had 250 calories -- for the entire dinner!  Sitting on one's backside, one needs about 2,000 calories a day to 'maintain'; walking 15 miles eats up another 2,000 calories.  Hmmm... two meals totaling 600 calories; daily requirement of 4,000 calories.  Well, that's one way to lose a pound a day (3,000 calories = 1 lb of body fat).  Let's hear it for the highest density sources of energy enjoyed by humans: nuts!  (Did you know the word 'gorp' is an acronym standing for 'Good Old Raisins & Peanuts'?)  I did warn you this is an 'aside', right?

Whale blubber, food of choice by those who need it , for the last few centuries.....

Whale blubber? Uh Doc, pass the walnuts and raisins please.

PL- I think George Clooney played Chucky... Or was it Pia Zadora?

I love the Golden Globes- it's the beginning of my transformation into an awards season gay man.

Hey Bebe ... I spent an afternoon with Pia Zadora many years ago. She was witty and kind-hearted. It reminded me of the time I realized Tom Jones probably did the best version of The Tennessee Waltz I ever heard. Sometimes we get the best surprises.

LUDDITE- I saw Frank Sinatra in an outdoor concert in the early 90's & Pia Zadora was on the bill- along w/ Don Rickles. I do remember that she had a sense of humor & seemed like a delightful person. You're correct- those situations are nice surprises.  Thanks for making me think of that evening which was very special to me...

As I age I am more and more grateful for the moments (do they have to be SOOO numerous?!?!) where I realize my presumptions were wrong. What's next? Guy Lombardo festival attendance?

PETER LAKE: It was Billy Barty .......

JALOPKIN - I think you may be right on that one. There was a definite resemblance

"We'll be back in a minute with some music for you, but in the meantime, here's a message or two."
 
Anyone have the lineup for this summer's GUY LOMBARDO MUSIC FESTIVAL?