breakfast: Special K (vegan variety) with soymilk; coffee
lunch: banana; everything bagel with sun-dried tomato Tofutti cream cheese; Vienna Fingers (ingredients listed here). I’m not sure how to address “natural flavor.” Anyone? I also don’t know why some things get the Kosher Dairy certification without seeming like they include dairy. Is it just easier to get it, or does that mean the “natural flavor” has dairy?
lab meeting snack: various pieces of gelatin-free fruit candy
dinner: sauteed spinach with garlic and olive oil. Udon noodles with peanut sauce and a bit of Sriracha sauce. Whiskey on the rocks.
The peanut sauce was just sauteed onions, garlic, sea salt, black pepper, and red pepper flakes, with about 3/4 c peanut butter, 1/4 c sesame oil, 1 T soy sauce, 1-2 tsp vegetarian oyster sauce, and a bunch of water (like a cup or more).
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emily's comment:
March 5, 2010 at 5:33 pm
“The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the essential oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate, or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice, vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products, or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is flavoring rather than nutritional.” -U.S. Code of Federal Regulations
so a natural flavor can be made of pretty much anything, including meat. based on some stuff i just read it sounds like companies don’t even have to know what their natural flavors are made out of, because it’s usually sourced out to flavor companies with “flavorists” who create the flavors (there was actually an extremely interesting new yorker article about flavorists a couple months ago that i recommend reading for knowledge and entertainment!). seems like artificial flavors are more likely to be purely chemical (and therefore vegan). it would be an interesting challenge to cut out anything with natural flavors of unspecified origin- that would cut out a lot of foods and even stuff like most brands of tea.
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katherine's reply:
March 5th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
I will track down the New Yorker article. I think I remember enjoying a chapter about flavorists in Fast Food Nation.
I do wonder if there is an actual tie between the “natural flavor” and the Kosher Dairy symbol of a product that has both, or if that is just the default way of dealing with the uncertainty of “natural flavor” sources.
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emily's reply:
March 5th, 2010 at 6:21 pm
i guess the kosher certification at least means it’s not a natural flavor that’s made out of meat AND milk!
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