Real Food / Fake Food Quotes

“the single most common substitute for the tuna is escolar, one of most dangerous seafood products you can buy.”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“More than 80 percent of the antibiotics manufactured in this country—and 95 percent of the class considered “medically important” for treating humans—are not used to treat us, our pets, or to treat anything at all. They are food, fed directly to cattle, pigs, and poultry. In”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“A study of New York City seafood done by scientists at nonprofit marine conservation group Oceana found fraud in 58 percent of retail outlets and 39 percent of restaurants. The one especially scary finding that would have my father turning over in his grave was that every sushi restaurant from which samples were collected—100 percent of them—served fake fish. Obviously,”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“the seafood industry is rife with fraud, substitution, and adulteration. Imagine if half the time you pulled into a gas station you were filling your tank with dirty water instead of gasoline. That’s the story with seafood.”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“Not all Fake Foods are harmless, and many are disgusting. If”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“There is no doubt that the widespread consumption of antibiotic-laden meat is bad for us. Ample evidence fingers this massive drug use in our meat industries as a key contributor to one of the biggest health concerns of the modern era, the rise of drug-resistant bacteria, aka superbugs. This is not some future science fiction. It is killing people right now—lots of people. The CDC called antibiotic resistance one of the five greatest health threats facing the nation, and new drug-resistant”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“GEOGRAPHICALLY INDICATED CHEESES There are more than 150 cheeses protected with GIs in the European, but the highest profile ones are Asiago, fontina, Gorgonzola, Grana Padano, Mozzarella di Bufala Campana, Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino Romano (all from Italy); Comté, Roquefort, Munster, and Reblochon (France); feta (Greece); Gruyère (Switzerland); Stilton (United Kingdom); and manchego (Spain). Try to remember this short list and if you are buying any one of these cheeses, the real thing will only come from the respective nation. Feta, Muenster, and Gruyère are especially frequently copied elsewhere.”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“Scotch Whisky Single Malt: This Scotch can only contain malted barley and water, must be the product of one distillery and aged in wood for at least three years. However, single malts can contain a mix of different distillations, casks, and years. This allows brands like a twelve-year-old Glenlivet to maintain consistency and always taste the same, no matter when it’s bottled. Single Grain: Like single malt, this Scotch is a product of one distillery but can be made from other grains and/or unmalted barley. It is used mainly for blending and rarely sold on its own, though it is becoming more popular as whisky connoisseurship increases. Blended Malt: This style, consisting of a mix of single malts from different distilleries, is not common. Blended Grain: This style uses a mix of single grains from different distilleries and is also not common. Blended Scotch: The most popular style in the world, including nondistillery names such as Johnnie Walker (red, black, and blue), Chivas Regal, Dewar’s, Ballantine’s, Cutty Sark, and so on. These are blends of single malts and grain whiskies from different distilleries, sometimes dozens. Vintage Year: While there are really no “vintages” in the sense of better or worse harvests, as with wine, bottles with a year on the label can only contain whiskies made in that year. This will usually taste different from the same distillery’s standard single malt—different but not necessarily better or as good.”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“Brooklyn-born Grimaldi’s is one of New York’s most popular and iconic pizzerias, and there is usually a long line out the door at the flagship. It is famous for using coal-fired ovens, not typical for New York – style pizza, giving it a distinctive taste. Grimaldi’s has parlayed its successful original into a brand name known for both a particular style of pizza and excellence making it, and it has grown into a national chain, with nearly fifty restaurants in a dozen states. It’s not quite a McDonald’s or Chipotle in scope, but it is a significant food undertaking,”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“Rosa di Parma, the Rose of Parma, is reserved for special occasions like Christmas or important guests, but it is so easy that you might make it more often. Mama Rosa’s version serves 8 to 10. 2 garlic cloves, finely minced ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 beef tenderloin (3 to 4 pounds), well trimmed 1 pound Prosciutto di Parma, thinly sliced 8 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, shaved into thin slices with a vegetable peeler 2 tablespoons butter, preferably from Parma 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary 6 sprigs fresh rosemary ½ cup brandy ¼ to ½ cup beef broth Directions – In a small bowl, whisk together the garlic and oil. – With a sharp knife, butterfly the tenderloin by cutting lengthwise almost all the way through, leaving just ¼ to ½ inch of meat before unfolding like a book. Cover with parchment paper and pound with a heavy frying pan until the beef is about ½ inch thick. Brush the beef with the garlic oil. – Cover entire surface of the beef with half the prosciutto, slightly overlapping the slices. Top the prosciutto with the shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano. Top with the remaining prosciutto, again overlapping slices slightly. – Starting at one edge, carefully roll the meat up into a log shape. Mama Rosa sews the edge of the seam closed with a needle and sewing thread. Alternatively, you can tie the roll at close intervals with kitchen twine, but you will not get as good a seal. – Place 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large saucepan over high heat. In a small bowl, mix the salt and chopped rosemary, then rub the herbed salt over the meat log. Add the beef to the pan and sauté, turning occasionally, until all sides are browned, about 10 minutes. – Dot the meat log with the remaining 1 tablespoon butter and scatter the rosemary sprigs in the pan. Pour the brandy over the top. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 30 minutes, adding broth as needed to keep the pan from drying out, until the beef is medium rare and reaches an internal temperature between 130°F and 135°F. – Remove the beef to a cutting board and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Slice into spirals and serve. Mangia!”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“in Parma and handles them very well. This is the choice of the Consorzio itself when it needs to ship the cheese within the United States for events. For high-quality balsamic, look for the full name Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena or Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Reggio Emilia. Italian law precludes the years of aging on the labels, but better retailers list it, and eight years is the minimum for the good stuff, though truly exceptional balsamic, the kind to be applied with an eyedropper to cheese and ice cream, should be at least twenty-five to fifty years and will always cost you more than a hundred dollars, sometimes much more, for a small bottle. The best are labeled by color, with silver and gold denoting the oldest. Again, Zingerman’s is an excellent resource for authentic standout balsamic vinegars. *“Paolo Rainieri” is an amalgam of Parma cheese makers I met, almost all male and almost all second, third, or fifth generation in their jobs. One had worked every day, save his two-day honeymoon, for thirty-five years.”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“SHOPPING TIPS Most of the fakery surrounding the King of Cheese has to do with the misleading use of “Parmesan,” not Parmigiano-Reggiano, so when you see the full Italian name and it says “Made in Italy” and has the PDO seal, it is usually the real deal. The same is true of Prosciutto di Parma. However, the cheese is made in very large wheels that begin to deteriorate once cut, so it is important to buy from retailers with a lot of volume turnover who are constantly opening new wheels and storing it right. More than many other cheeses, it’s usually better to buy from a specialty cheese shop like Murray’s in New York—most cities have these. If you go mail order/online, you cannot beat Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which buys whole wheels directly from”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“All of the Kobe beef sold in this country, by chefs famous and anonymous, in ten-dollar sliders or three-hundred-dollar steaks, was fake, all of it, end of story.”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“you have to purchase blindly with no other clue besides where it was made, choose Chile or Australia. Neither practices the carryover of old oils common in Europe, and Australia has the strictest standards and is the only country using advanced tests to detect adulteration with refined oils.”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“Extra virgin” is no guarantee, but its absence on a bottle is a guarantee of inferiority. Don’t ever buy anything labeled “virgin,” “pure,” “light,” “extra light,” “olive oil blend,” “Mediterranean blend,” or simply “olive oil.”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“olive oil is never going to be better than on the day it was bottled, but it will get worse. The most important thing you can find is the harvest date, which few bottles carry but should be no more than a year earlier.”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“The enormous popularity of the ‘Made in Italy’ label worldwide makes it an appealing target for food fraudsters,”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“SHOP AT BIG-BOX STORES”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“SHOP AT WHOLE FOODS”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“avoid farmed foreign shrimp.”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“BUY WILD CAUGHT”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“buy american For health, environmental, and authenticity reasons, you are usually best off buying domestic seafood.”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“BUY ALASKAN Perhaps the most reliable of all seafood logos is “Alaska Seafood: Wild, Natural, Sustainable.” Required sustainability, including its vast riches of seafood, was written into Alaska’s state constitution in 1959, making it unique in the United States. The state also completely outlaws fish farming—there is no such thing as farmed Alaskan seafood.”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“Gulf of Maine Research Institute’s Gulf of Maine Responsibly Harvested certification is excellent: not only do all products with this logo have third-party chain of custody verification that they came from the Gulf of Maine, processing must occur within the state. Most U.S. seafood is processed overseas, then reimported.”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“most respected broad certifications are those from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC; the logo is a blue fish in the shape of a checkmark) for wild-caught fish, and Global Aquaculture Alliance’s Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) for farmed fish.”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“seal of approval from an outside auditor, usually a nonprofit, is the easiest way for consumers to shop with confidence,”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“imported shrimp may be one of the worst food buying decisions consumers can make,”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“some of the worst salmon performers were developed countries like Scotland and Norway.”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“It’s a feedlot just like cattle and they use antibiotics. Salmon and shrimp farming are by far the worst.” A 2004 study of hundreds of farmed salmon samples from five leading countries found most so polluted with dioxins and PCBs that the author suggested people not eat it more than once a month.”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It

“For high-quality balsamic, look for the full name Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena or Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Reggio Emilia.”
― Larry Olmsted, Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don't Know What You're Eating and What You Can Do About It