# Absurd Food Myths and Rumors **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 22, 2013, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967 "2013-10-22T20:14:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/161 "2013-10-26T04:40:12Z")
> [@Agent\_Foxtrot](#): > > Christ on a cracker. I have no idea how to sweeten food anymore. At first, I thought Splenda was good for me. Then my aunt told me I should quit that shit and put honey in everything. The quoted post says that’s not much better than granulated sugar. My girlfriend swears by Stevia. I hear sometimes you can find traces of ricin in stevia. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/162 "2013-10-26T10:33:06Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I’ve been doing some unrelated reading. From what I can tell, vegetarianism isn’t that big in Theravada (the sect followed by the vast majority of Thai people), compared to other forms. It forbids only a few types of meat that most of us don’t eat anyway, so an orc converting to Buddhism would have to give up manflesh. I guess that’s why you don’t see many Buddhist zombies. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/163 "2013-10-26T14:32:41Z")
Let’s not forget the horros of [aspartame](http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/06/aspartame-most-dangerous-substance-added-to-food.aspx), “the most dangerous substance added to food.” Heath Ledger died of it! Michael J. Fox got it from all that diet Pepsi! ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/164 "2013-10-26T15:07:48Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Dude, a few years ago, I bought a bottle of _water_ labelled ‘gluten free’. For last year’s Super Bowl party, we got gluten free plates. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/165 "2013-10-26T15:38:11Z")
A very popular diet idea a while back was protein and carbohydrates should not be eaten together because the human body cannot digest both at the same time. The basis of The Beverly Hills Diet, Fit for Life Diet and Marily Henner’s diet books. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/166 "2013-10-26T16:13:47Z")
> [@Undead Annie](#): > > Let’s not forget the horros of [aspartame](http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/06/aspartame-most-dangerous-substance-added-to-food.aspx), “the most dangerous substance added to food.” Heath Ledger died of it! Michael J. Fox got it from all that diet Pepsi! I don’t mean to alarm you, but everyone who has ever ingested aspartame, even once, will die someday! ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/167 "2013-10-26T16:48:55Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I’ve been doing some unrelated reading. From what I can tell, vegetarianism isn’t that big in Theravada (the sect followed by the vast majority of Thai people), compared to other forms. It forbids only a few types of meat that most of us don’t eat anyway, so an orc converting to Buddhism would have to give up manflesh. Other meat is supposed to be not killed on your behalf (I’m not sure how that works). > > Of course, that doesn’t explain meat eating in Mahayana countries. Isn’t there a historical belief amongst some Buddhists that Sidhartha Gautama died eating pork? So Buddha himself wasn’t vegetarian… Interesting thread. The Pollan Rules - Eat Food, not too much, mostly plants - seem to make sense in a common-sense sorta way. Getting more obsessively specific seems to be a recipe for woo. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/168 "2013-10-26T17:32:33Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > That sounds … satisfyingly plausible. The olive thing was something I always wondered about: “Who figured out that soaking these inedible fruits in poison would make them edible?” (Kind of like when I read the process for turning coca leaves into cocaine - “Who figured that out?” Similar idea with soaking corn kernals in lime (calc) to get nixtamalized corn, which not only makes for great tortillas and related products, but it also increases the nutritional content of the corn, AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/169 "2013-10-26T17:36:21Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I don’t mean to alarm you, but everyone who has ever ingested aspartame, even once, will die someday! The same as anyone who has drank Dihydrogen Monoxide. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/170 "2013-10-26T19:32:25Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > The same as anyone who has drank Dihydrogen Monoxide. It’s way worse than aspartame! According to my calculations, I have determined that **almost everyone** who has ever died has ingested DHMO at least once. Everyone living who has _will_ die. Everyone living who hasn’t _will also die_ (evidence of second hand exposure?). What’s worse, I hear about some people who have it forced on them by their mothers before they can consent, and often before they are even born! Terrible. Plus DHMO killed the Titanic. (Seriously though, aspartame _can_ harm you, as well as cause mental retardation in children. But only if you have [phenylketonuria](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylketonuria), that is.) ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/171 "2013-10-26T19:50:36Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > It’s way worse than aspartame! According to my calculations, I have determined that **almost everyone** who has ever died has ingested DHMO at least once. Everyone living who has _will_ die. Everyone living who hasn’t _will also die_ (evidence of second hand exposure?). What’s worse, I hear about some people who have it forced on them by their mothers before they can consent, and often before they are even born! Terrible. > > Plus DHMO killed the Titanic. > > (Seriously though, aspartame _can_ harm you, as well as cause mental retardation in children. But only if you have [phenylketonuria](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylketonuria), that is.) If you’ve ever seen what DHMO can do to a simple inorganic electric circuit, you wouldn’t want to imagine what it can do to living systems. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/172 "2013-10-26T20:18:30Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > If you’ve ever seen what DHMO can do to a simple inorganic electric circuit, you wouldn’t want to imagine what it can do to living systems. :eek: Hitler drank it every day. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/173 "2013-10-26T22:28:41Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I don’t mean to alarm you, but everyone who has ever ingested aspartame, even once, will die someday! You know what the leading cause of death is? Birth. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/174 "2013-10-27T03:26:28Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I’ve been doing some unrelated reading. From what I can tell, vegetarianism isn’t that big in Theravada (the sect followed by the vast majority of Thai people), compared to other forms. It forbids only a few types of meat that most of us don’t eat anyway, so an orc converting to Buddhism would have to give up manflesh. Other meat is supposed to be not killed on your behalf (I’m not sure how that works). > > Of course, that doesn’t explain meat eating in Mahayana countries. I can’t think of a single meat item a Thai won’t eat. I’ve even seen them eat elephant jerky! Really, although that was only once. (I declined.) This whole Buddhists-as-vegetarians meme is vastly overblown. But then, Thai Christians who have never actually been to a Christian country have some pretty bizarre notions about their religion too, so it evens out. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/175 "2013-10-27T05:33:28Z")
> [@Raguleader](#): > > Huh. I had no idea that olives off the branch were inedible. Ignorance fought! It isn’t that they are toxic, they are amazingly bitter, sort of like acorns. Both needprocessing to makethem palatable. Now manioc root is toxic until it is processed, and a few other plants, I hate to thinkihow hungry people must have gotten to experiment with poisonous plants. ---
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/176 "2013-10-27T08:10:00Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > Wheat flour always has to be sifted so that the measurement will be correct. (Taught in middle school.) Actually, it is true that how you measure flour (by volume) can result in different measurements, and thus affect your final cooking result (baking especially turns out better with more accurate measurements). Especially if the flour has settled/compacted in its’ container, then scooping out or packing a cup full of flour will give you a “cup” containing a larger amount of flour. Compared to “fluffing up” or sifting flour, spooning it into the measuring cup lightly, and leveling it will result in a “cup” that has less flour in it. Different people suggest different ideal ways of measuring flour. Really, the most consistent way is to use a scale and measure by weight. If you don’t have a scale and need to measure by volume, spooning the flour into the measuring cup works better. I don’t think you actually need to sift - most recipes I’ve used that call for sifting are because you’re try to get rid of any clumps of flour. I googled and found this [food blog](http://www.mybakingaddiction.com/how-to-measure-flour/) that did an experiment: > [@](#): > > I decided to conduct a little kitchen experiment and measure a cup of all-purpose flour two ways. > Here were the results: > > 1. Scooping a measuring cup into the flour and leveling: 6 oz in weight > 2. Spooning the flour into a measuring cup and leveling: 4.25 oz in weight > > Pretty big difference, right? Especially when it comes to baking. Because just a couple extra ounces of flour can really change the texture of a baked good. > > The important thing to remember is that, much like brown sugar, flour packs. Scooping the ingredient with your measuring instrument will cause packing. Packing flour can add up quickly. > > If you have a recipe with 3 cups of flour, and you scoop using your measuring up, you’d end up with 18 oz of flour, when in reality you should have 12.75 oz of flour. That’s nearly an extra 3/4 cup of flour in your recipe! That can dramatically change the results you get from a finished baked good. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/177 "2013-10-27T13:18:31Z")
My mom told me once they used to sift flour to get the bugs out of it. I guess that’s a holdover from the days when you kept 100lb of flour in a barrel for the year. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/178 "2013-10-27T18:37:16Z")
> [@Waenara](#): > > Actually, it is true that how you measure flour (by volume) can result in different measurements, and thus affect your final cooking result I’m not denying this, but it is very silly to sift flour for everything you use flour for. I was taught it should be sifted for everything - even coating a chicken or fish. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/179 "2013-10-27T21:00:15Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > It isn’t that they are toxic, they are amazingly bitter, sort of like acorns. Both needprocessing to makethem palatable. Now manioc root is toxic until it is processed, and a few other plants, I hate to thinkihow hungry people must have gotten to experiment with poisonous plants. Is there any natural analog to black olives? In other words, can you let them ripen to that point or at least purple (do they get to that point) and be edible? I understand that the ones you buy are artificially treated/blackened. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967/180 "2013-10-27T23:21:58Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Is there any natural analog to black olives? In other words, can you let them ripen to that point or at least purple (do they get to that point) and be edible? I understand that the ones you buy are artificially treated/blackened. All untreated olives are unpalatable, whether green or black. You don’t want to pick an olive from a tree and put it right into your mouth, no matter how ripe it is. Some black olives are actually green olives that have been treated with iron sulfate (the cheap canned black olives you get in the U.S. are like this). Other black olives got that way by ripening (oil-cured olives, for example). Some olives that are called black are actually dark purple, like kalamatas. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absurd-food-myths-and-rumors/671967.md?page=10)