Tag Archives: sweetener

Sweetie, I Wish I Knew How To Quit You

By Tom B. Taker on | 6 Comments

On this pie chart I wasn’t merely the graphic designer. I did all of the calculations, too!

I just heard yesterday that “sugary drinks” are now the #1 source of calories in the American diet.

Yeah, baby! We’re #1! We’re #1! We’re #1!

Something I can graph? Excuse me while I sprint to the spreadsheets. I get to graph something!

Lately I’ve been a wagon-follow-offerer. Vegetarian? Check! Granulated sugar? Check! Coke and/or Pepsi? Check! Alcohol? Now wait just a damn minute. I never went on that wagon. Ah. I see what you did there. Well played.

For some damn strange reason I seem to get off on attempting to test my willpower. This is invariably followed by a period of extreme humiliation. Try it! It’s good fun.

I blame my mother for my lifelong love affair with sugar. Some of my earliest memories of life involve the morning bowl of breakfast cereal. Like Cheerios. And it just wasn’t a bowl of soggies unless there was a gooey thick mess of partially disolved granulated sugar remaining in the bottom of the bowl.

To this day I wonder why she deliberately went out of her way to teach me that. I mean, I was only a child. I wouldn’t have known the difference if I was served Cheerios in the raw, right? Continue reading →

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Honey, I Shrunk my Ethics

By Tom B. Taker on | 7 Comments

HoneycombEarlier this month honey made the news. The headlines were ominous.

  • Honey laundering: When honey isn’t really honey (Los Angeles Times)
  • Your Honey Might Not Be the Real Thing, Says New Study (Associated Content)
  • Most honey isn’t really honey (Grist Magazine)
  • Sticky Situation: Most Store Brand Honey Isn’t Honey (AARP News)
  • Contaminated Honey Found In US Market (TopNews Arab Emirates)
  • Honey I Shrunk the Pollen! Honey Processing Masks Illegal Origins (Food Integrity Campaign)
  • Smuggled Honey Makes It To American Stores Under Cover Of ‘Ultra-Filtration’ (Huffington Post)

I decided to take it upon myself to become your tour guide through the complicated buzz of news coverage.

What gives?
Continue reading →

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