Weekend reads: Restaurant food photos get controversial

One of this week’s heated debates in the online world of food centered around the taking of photographs of food in restaurants. Here’s what you should be reading to understand what’s going on.

 

• The New York Times got the conversation started with their Restaurants Turn Camera Shy piece. Some restaurants ban the practice altogether and some highly discourage it, but others bring diners and their camera phones right into the kitchen for good lighting.
• Taking photos in restaurants shouldn’t be that complicated that it disturbs those around you, asserts Grub Street. I love their conclusion. “Sharing food photos with your friends is arguably one excellent way to share your experience, but when sharing photos increasingly takes the place of shared plates, dinner can become less social.”
• Bon Appetit has its own tips for doing restaurant food photography well without disturbing others. Above all, they say, “don’t act like a jerk.”
• And, just to make sure you’re not being a jerk when taking photos, Pop Photo has a how to on taking a picture in a restaurant without looking like a jerk.

 

Albert Einstein - Biographical

Albert Einstein 

Albert Einstein was born at Ulm, in Württemberg, Germany, on March 14, 1879. Six weeks later the family moved to Munich, where he later on began his schooling at the Luitpold Gymnasium. Later, they moved to Italy and Albert continued his education at Aarau, Switzerland and in 1896 he entered the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich to be trained as a teacher in physics and mathematics. In 1901, the year he gained his diploma, he acquired Swiss citizenship and, as he was unable to find a teaching post, he accepted a position as technical assistant in the Swiss Patent Office. In 1905 he obtained his doctor's degree.

During his stay at the Patent Office, and in his spare time, he produced much of his remarkable work and in 1908 he was appointed Privatdozent in Berne. In 1909 he became Professor Extraordinary at Zurich, in 1911 Professor of Theoretical Physics at Prague, returning to Zurich in the following year to fill a similar post. In 1914 he was appointed Director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Physical Institute and Professor in the University of Berlin. He became a German citizen in 1914 and remained in Berlin until 1933 when he renounced his citizenship for political reasons and emigrated to America to take the position of Professor of Theoretical Physics at Princeton*. He became a United States citizen in 1940 and retired from his post in 1945.

After World War II, Einstein was a leading figure in the World Government Movement, he was offered the Presidency of the State of Israel, which he declined, and he collaborated with Dr. Chaim Weizmann in establishing the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Einstein always appeared to have a clear view of the problems of physics and the determination to solve them. He had a strategy of his own and was able to visualize the main stages on the way to his goal. He regarded his major achievements as mere stepping-stones for the next advance.

At the start of his scientific work, Einstein realized the inadequacies of Newtonian mechanics and his special theory of relativity stemmed from an attempt to reconcile the laws of mechanics with the laws of the electromagnetic field. He dealt with classical problems of statistical mechanics and problems in which they were merged with quantum theory: this led to an explanation of the Brownian movement of molecules. He investigated the thermal properties of light with a low radiation density and his observations laid the foundation of the photon theory of light.

In his early days in Berlin, Einstein postulated that the correct interpretation of the special theory of relativity must also furnish a theory of gravitation and in 1916 he published his paper on the general theory of relativity. During this time he also contributed to the problems of the theory of radiation and statistical mechanics.

In the 1920's, Einstein embarked on the construction of unified field theories, although he continued to work on the probabilistic interpretation of quantum theory, and he persevered with this work in America. He contributed to statistical mechanics by his development of the quantum theory of a monatomic gas and he has also accomplished valuable work in connection with atomic transition probabilities and relativistic cosmology.

After his retirement he continued to work towards the unification of the basic concepts of physics, taking the opposite approach, geometrisation, to the majority of physicists.

Einstein's researches are, of course, well chronicled and his more important works include Special Theory of Relativity (1905), Relativity (English translations, 1920 and 1950), General Theory of Relativity (1916), Investigations on Theory of Brownian Movement (1926), and The Evolution of Physics (1938). Among his non-scientific works, About Zionism (1930), Why War? (1933), My Philosophy(1934), and Out of My Later Years (1950) are perhaps the most important.

Albert Einstein received honorary doctorate degrees in science, medicine and philosophy from many European and American universities. During the 1920's he lectured in Europe, America and the Far East, and he was awarded Fellowships or Memberships of all the leading scientific academies throughout the world. He gained numerous awards in recognition of his work, including the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London in 1925, and the Franklin Medal of the Franklin Institute in 1935.

Einstein's gifts inevitably resulted in his dwelling much in intellectual solitude and, for relaxation, music played an important part in his life. He married Mileva Maric in 1903 and they had a daughter and two sons; their marriage was dissolved in 1919 and in the same year he married his cousin, Elsa Löwenthal, who died in 1936. He died on April 18, 1955 at Princeton, New Jersey.

The Hungry Crowd,Interview with Jim Harris

Question : Jim, who is your favorite dining companion?

You are! You have humor and knowledge, but you aren’t stuffy or pretentious. In fact, that’s why I dislike food bullies.

Question : What is a food bully?

They’re always pretentious about food. They are the kind who say, when you go into a restaurant,“Let me order for you.” And you say, “No. Get out of my face.” Or the type of person who whips out a little Robert Parker vintage chart to order the wine. They really hate that in France.

Question : What’s the difference between a restaurant critic and a literary critic?

Well, actually, not much. I think the trouble with artists or chefs who whine about criticism is that if you love the good reviews, you have to at least read the bad ones.

Question : Do reviews improve anything?

I think a couple of times in my career they’ve been helpful. But restaurant critics are a little more honest, because they review the food they ate. Sometimes literary critics review the book they wantedyou to write, not the book you wrote, and that’s very irksome.

Question : Question : Do you have a restaurant pet peeve?

My biggest pet peeve is when you go to a fine restaurant and it’s like a mausoleum inside. Good food should be joyful. There should be laughter and chatter, not people sitting there like they’re in a funeral-parlor waiting room.

Question : Restaurants usually serve the thighs for the staff meal, Jim.

The big curse of America, to me, is skinless, boneless chicken breasts. They’re banal and relatively flavorless. The rest of the world’s trying to get some fat to eat, and we’re trying to ban it from our diet.

Question : How do you find great meals when you’re on the road?

When you’re traveling, the whole struggle is to get something to eat that doesn’t semi-poison you. One of the funniest experiences I ever had was at a restaurant in Kansas. The special was fish—$3.95, you know? I said, “What kind of fish is that?” The waitress said,“It’s just fish-fish.” And I said, “Well, the ocean has many kinds of fish.” And she said, “This is Kansas.” This apparent food revolution, it hasn’t reached everywhere.

Question : When you’re in the South, which do you prefer: the North Carolina vinegar sauce, the South Carolina mustard sauce or the Texas dry sauce?

I enjoy them all. Barbecue quarrels tend to remind me of chili quarrels. “You put beans in your chili? That’s illegal!”—stuff like that.

Question : You’re an avid hunter. Do you eat a lot of game?

Quite a bit. I don’t hunt elk or deer anymore, but just the other day, my friend Danny Lahren dropped off a pile of elk, which I find especially toothsome. I make elk and venison meat loaf all the time. It’s like a real good pâté. I like game-bird pâtés. I’ve made them out of woodcock and grouse, with some veal and pork in there to bind it.

Question : You can’t just buy game. You’ve got to hunt it, or you’ve got to know someone who went and hunted it. That’s one of the reasons why the flavor is so unique: You’re only going to taste it four or five times. When we cooked those Mearn’s quail together—that was one of the most unbelievable things I’ve ever tasted in my whole life.

They’re a great eating quail. I don’t like to shoot them particularly, because they remind me of kittens—but they are delicious.

Question : What are your thoughts on antelope liver?

It’s the best there is. Some people think it’s as good as foie gras. But it has to be the liver from a female antelope. I’ve heard the males have too many purines, so the flavor isn’t as gentle. That’s true of venison meat, too: The doe always tastes better than the buck.

Question : What’s the best bottle of wine you can remember drinking?

The best bottle of wine of my own I ever opened was a ’53 Romanée-Conti. That was exquisite. These days, I order a lot of the Domaine Tempier Bandol or inexpensive Brouilly. My wine drinking changed a bit when I stopped writing screenplays, because the wallet wasn’t full, and so I went to drinking a lot of Côtes du Rhônes. I don’t have a Burgundy income anymore.

Question : But if you lived in France, you would. You’re a national hero in France! You’re right up there with Jerry Lewis, aren’t you?

That’s funny—I’ve never heard anyone in France mention the name Jerry Lewis. That’s sort of a myth. Maybe Mickey Rooney, but not Jerry Lewis.

Question : You don’t spend much time in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula anymore. What do you miss the most about it?

I miss it terribly. It’s just a people-less wilderness. I would go on a walk every day in the morning to get ready to write, and I’d rarely see another human being. I would go months without seeing anyone. I’d be out there when all the chokecherries and sugar-plum trees bloom—you’d have a thousand acres of blossoms, and no people. It’s pretty wonderful.

Thank you  for spending ur time with me by giving an awesome interview and also I’ve learn lots of new things from this interview.

Letter to editor

To the Editor,

Friday’s article, “Sex Encouraged with Comprehensive Education,” questioned the effect of comprehensive sex education on sexual activity. Many people worry that giving youth accurate information about sexual health will encourage them to have sex, but this isn’t so.

Studies have proven that those of us who receive comprehensive sex education are more likely to delay sexual activity and to use contraceptives when we do become sexually active. Even the Surgeon General has declared that it is “imperative and clear that ‘youth need’ accurate information about contraceptives.” Yet, the current administration chooses ideology over science and spends millions of dollars on ineffective and inaccurate abstinence-only programs.

The Responsible Education about Life (REAL) Act would provide states with funding to implement school-based sex education that includes information about both abstinence and alsocontraception. It is imperative that we urge Congress to support the REAL Act.

Sincerely,
(Kunaseely Nair Subramaniam)

Horse Meat Invades Europe

Europe was in pure pandemonium mode earlier this year when horse meat was found in everything from Taco Bell food to IKEA meatballs. While the issue was not precisely one of food safety, it was a huge quality control issue. Moreover, the horse meat scandal illuminated the many steps there are in the food distribution network... and how easy it is for something to go wrong.

GMO Labeling Debate Heats Up

If Big Food has anything to say about it, don't expect to see GMO labels on food packaging any time soon. Major food corporations poured millions of dollars to fight GMO labeling bills in various states this year. And it turns out, money talks -- the bills in Washington and California were defeated.

Food Safety Scares Worry Consumers

There were several major food safety issues this year. For one, Consumer Reports found that more than half of ground turkey was contaminated with fecal bacteria. And it doesn't look like things will be getting any better -- the USDA is deciding whether to speed up poultry production lines. In other words, the rates of inspection per bird are quickened. Additionally, between the FDA shutting down all inspectionsduring sequestration and all the various food recalls, 2013 was not a banner year for food safety

You’ll Never Guess What’s In A Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte (Hint: You Won’t Be Happy)

I really love the smell of pumpkin (especially in the Fall), but, there is at least one seasonal pumpkin treat that I will never order and that’s the Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte. With more than 200 million sold to date, these drinks sell like hotcakes this time of year, and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said it “still ranks as its most popular seasonal beverage”. But, does anyone know what’s really in it?

I found out, and I’m going to break it all down for you here.  

But first, I want to mention that I get riled up when restaurants refuse to disclose their ingredients, because we have the right to know what we are eating and drinking

 The ingredient for the Pumpkin Spice Latte for the 1st time:

        “The Pumpkin Spice Latte is of pumpkin and traditional fall spice flavors combined with espresso and steamed milk, topped with whipped cream and pumpkin pie spice. If you ever have any questions or concerns in the future, please don’t hesitate to get in touch”.

When goes 2nd time the ingredient list they sent over didn’t have any high fructose corn syrup on it. Rather, it was replaced with “sweetened condensed nonfat milk”.  After a couple email exchanges, they seemed to confirm that HFCS is an ingredient:

“Yes the sauce that we sell online at www.starbucks.com is that same sauce that we use in our stores. I understand you concerns about high fructose corn syrup being used in the Sweentened Condensed Nonfat Milk. Please be aware that product information is provided to us by the suppliers who manufacture food and beverage items for Starbucks Coffee Company. Variations may exist due to periodic changes in formulations. While we attempt to provide product information that is as complete as possible, product changes or new product introductions may cause this information to become outdated or incomplete. Products may vary from location to location”.

Case In Point: You’ll get 2 doses of Class IV Caramel Coloring in Starbuck’s Pumpkin Spice Latte.

You’ve probably heard me talk about caramel coloring before, and that’s because I think it’s one of the most hazardous chemicals being added to our food. Although it sounds harmless, food safety and consumer watch dog groups say it is not.  

There are four different types (classes) of caramel coloring and two of those types contain the dangerous substance 4-methylimidazole (4-Mel).  Starbucks uses Class IV Caramel Color, considered the most harmful type that contains 4-Mel, in many of their drink syrups and sauces. It’s even in their whipped cream!  

If you’re vegan, I have a specific warning for you.

Many of you may be shocked to find out that when you order a Pumpkin Spice latte with soy milk, it’s still not vegan. This is because the Pumpkin Sauce contains condensed nonfat milk, and many Starbucks employees don’t realize this and have misinformed customers. This is yet another reason that Starbucks Corporate should be transparent about what’s in their drinks by publishing complete ingredients online. 

You’ll also get more than you bargained for if you order up a soy latte, because the Starbucks “proprietary” organic soy milk contains carrageenan – which is linked to gastrointestinal inflammation and cancer.  It also contains another dose of added sugar, preservatives and natural flavors. 

Complete Ingredients in Starbucks “Pumpkin” Spice Latte:

Milk, Espresso (Water, Brewed Espresso Coffee), Pumpkin Spice Flavored Sauce (Sugar,Condensed Nonfat Milk, High Fructose Corn Syrup or Sweetened Condensed Nonfat Milk (Milk,Sugar), Annatto (for color), Natural and Artificial Flavors, Caramel Color (class IV), Salt, Potassium Sorbate (preservative)), Whip Cream (Whipping Cream, Starbucks Vanilla Syrup (Sugar, Water,Natural Flavors, Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid, Caramel Color (class IV)), Pumpkin Spice Topping: Cinnamon, Ginger, Nutmeg, Clove, Sulfites.

Ditch the Starbucks and Drink This Instead!

Natural  version of a homemade pumpkin spice latte that actually uses real pumpkin! And 100 Days of Real Food has a few quick and easy alternative recipes –