Real food/fake food

337 Pages·2016·0.971 MB·English

by  Olmsted, Larry

Real Food, Perfected: A Day in the Life of Parma i
REAL FOOD/FAKE FOOD
Also by Larry Olmsted
Getting into Guinness:
One Man’s Longest, Fastest, Highest Journey inside
the World’s Most Famous Record Book
REAL FOOD
FAKE FOOD
Why You Don’t Know
What You’re Eating & What
You Can Do About It
L A R R Y O L M S T E D
ALGONQUIN BOOKS OF CHAPEL HILL 2016
Published by
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Post Office Box 2225
Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27515- 2225
a division of
Workman Publishing
225 Varick Street
New York, New York 10014
© 2016 by Larry Olmsted. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
Published simultaneously in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited.
Design by Steve Godwin.
Cartoon on page xviii courtesy of Harry Bliss / The New Yorker /
The Cartoon Bank. “Steven Raichlen’s Best- Ever Spanish Steak Recipe,”
from Planet Barbecue (Workman Publishing), used by
permission of author.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Olmsted, Larry, author.
Title: Real food/fake food : why you don’t know what you’re
eating & what you can do about it / Larry Olmsted.
Description: First edition. | Chapel Hill, North Carolina :
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2016. | “Published simultaneously
in Canada by Thomas Allen & Son Limited.”
Identifiers: LCCN 2016018797 | ISBN 9781616204211
Subjects: LCSH: Food — Quality — Popular works. | Artificial
foods — Popular works. | Food substitutes — Popular works. | Food
additives — Popular works. | Nutrition. — Popular works. | Fraud —
Popular works. | Consumer education — Popular works.
Classification: LCC TX533 .O46 2016 | DDC 641.3 — dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016018797
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
First Edition
For Allison, who believed; for Alice Fixx, whose love
for Parma opened my eyes to Real Food and set me
on this course; for Nicholas James Peter Kau, taken
before his time; and for Sundance, whose passion for
Real Food — especially grass- finished, pasture- raised
beef — was unrivaled.

There’s nothing more fundamental
than knowing what you are putting in your mouth.
— Kelsey Timmerman, Where Am I Eating?

CONTENTS
Introduction xi
1 Real Food, Perfected: A Day in the Life of Parma 1
2 What Is Fake Food? 33
3 Fishy Fish 44
4 Spoiled Oils: Olive and “Truffle” 81
5 What’s in a Name? Real Foods Come from Real Places 112
6 Q: Where’s the Kobe Beef? A: Not on Your Plate 128
7 Champagne and Scotch: The Sincerest Form of Flattery 158
8 Cheesy Cheeses 182
9 Fine Wines and Not- So- Fine Wines 205
10 The Other Red (and White) Meat? 234
11 Fakes, Fakes, and More Fakes: What Else Is There? 254
12 In Conclusion 276
Appendix: Acronyms to Know 289
Notes 293
Acknowledgments 315