What Bloggers Eat

Today's post follows up on the question of what bloggers eat every day, as raised at http://www.longandshortreviews.com/miscellaneous-musings/wednesday-weekly-blogging-challenge-for-February-1-2023/ , 

From these posts, we learn that bloggers do eat on an average day, though not necessarily very well. Writers tend to go into a working trance and forget to eat. Some writers depend on family members who fret that we're not eating often enough (actually some doctors feel that eating once or twice a day may be a good plan!) and poke food at us. Others find this behavior annoying. In this small sample only one blogger mentioned having a family member place food on the writing desk.

We learn that relatively small blogs can have worldwide readership. Just from the way the twelve bloggers in this sample described their food choices, one can see that the U.S., the U.K., Canada, and possibly other countries are represented. Bloggers who mentioned "chips" knew they needed to explain, for this link-up, whether they were talking about what the British call crisps or what the Americans call fries. A few foods mentioned were brand-name specialties available only in some countries, or parts of countries, that bloggers felt a need to explain to their own readers. Most bloggers' everyday foods, however, are global.

Eggs are a favorite with bloggers, probably because they're easy to cook and at least used to be an easily available, potentially cruelty-free source of animal protein. It's easy to form the habit of cooking eggs in ways that don't take much time away from writing. Eight of twelve blog posts mentioned eggs; more than one mentioned that these eggs are boiled or eaten with toast, and one mentioned that the eggs might be cooked with cheese.

Seven bloggers mentioned eating something they described as salad almost every day. The word "salad" originally meant "salted" and seems to have been used by the ancient Romans to mean any vegetable, raw or cooked, eaten with salt. However, the ancient Romans also liked fish sauce, olive oil, and other condiments, and the tradition of disguising second-rate vegetables by slathering all the vegetables on the plate with oil and vinegar has deep if not especially honorable roots. One blogger specifically mentioned wanting to coat "all those nasty leaves" with a salad "dressing" that "tastes good" to the blogger. People differ; I think most raw greens taste good (if they don't you've eaten too many and should stop) but vinegar tastes nasty. Anyway, in many English-speaking countries the "salad" category now also includes concoctions of meat, fish, or egg seasoned with oil and vinegar or more elaborate "dressings," sometimes eaten as a sandwich filling, not even on lettuce. Some bloggers gave salad recipes. Some did not. It is impossible to say exactly what the seven bloggers may have meant by "salads." 

Oatmeal is another food with obvious appeal to writers. Several mentioned flavoring their oatmeal with fruit, especially blueberries. (Hint to sponsors: I need more blueberry bushes. They will be camera-monitored and, if nothing else, will lure the Professional Bad Neighbor into a trap. Raspberry and/or wineberry canes, too. I've not had enough of either fruit for even the short list of customers for several years, and I know why...and this is the year it stops.) Six bloggers mentioned eating oatmeal almost every day. I hope they're all able to find glyphosate-free oats. 

Rice appeared in six posts. Two bloggers mentioned eating rice with chicken or other animal protein, two mentioned eating rice with vegetables, two mentioned eating rice with beans, and one mentioned rice pudding...yes, some bloggers mentioned more than one form of rice as a frequent choice for more than one meal.

Sandwiches appeared in six posts. One blogger specified that these sandwiches could be made either with pre-sliced "sandwich bread" or with pita bread. What goes between the bread varies: people have stuck slices of bread together with nothing but butter, jam, or mayonnaise, but in the United States, at least, an unspecified "sandwich" is usually understood to include either meat, cheese, or peanut butter.

Burgers of some kind were mentioned in five of the twelve posts. The word "burger" or "burgher" originally meant a person who lived in town. Starting in the United States, it came to be more often used to mean a sandwich, originally the Hamburger or Hamburg-style steak, ground beef grilled or pan-fried and served on a bun. By 1950 other meats were being ground and sold as lamburgers, Spamburgers, turkey burgers, chicken burgers, venison burgers, etc. "Veggie burgers" seem to have originated in the Seventh-Day Adventist "sanitarium" where people hoping to be healed of "consumption," as Ellen White had been, tried to boost their immune systems with a vegan diet. Most of these people either succumbed to tuberculosis in the end or never went down with it in the first place, but the vegan diet and light exercise regimen helped the "San" patients feel better, anyway. Many recovered from other infectious diseases and led long healthy lives. Most people who make veggie burgers have a collection of different recipes. There is probably a veggie burger for everyone but, for what it's worth, no blogger specifically mentioned veggie burgers as an everyday favorite. Most of the burgers mentioned were probably beef or turkey.

Five bloggers also mentioned regularly eating leftovers, a time-saving plan that appeals to many health-conscious writers. If one or two people eat dishes made from recipes that serve four, eight, or more people, extra portions can be frozen and used as healthy convenience food during the work week. I'm a planned-leftovers fan myself. Anything at all can, of course, be classified as "leftovers" if some part of it was eaten at a previous meal.

Four bloggers mentioned drinking coffee daily. Those who described their coffee further like it black. 

Protein shakes are a marketing phenomenon that may have started with Ovaltine in the U.K. and now include many formulas, either dry powders to be added to milk or water or canned liquids to be shaken up in the tin, that claim to offer all the protein and other nutritional supplements someone estimated that the average person would "need" at a meal. They are sometimes recommended as alternatives to solid food for those who want to lose weight, or additions to a meal for those who want to gain weight. Their popularity with three bloggers seems to reflect the convenience of sipping a cold prepackaged "meal" at the desk.

Yogurt was mentioned in three posts. All three bloggers said their choice was plain yogurt, to which they might add fruit or cereal of their choice. 

Three bloggers mentioned pasta as a favorite. Only one specifically mentioned tomato sauce. (Non-tomato sauces are favorites with cookbook writers but I personally never see anyone actually eating them. Where I live, the only alternative to tomato sauce I've seen anyone use with pasta is melted cheese.)

Burritos, a Mexican version of sandwiches where the bread can be a corn tortilla and the sandwich can be eaten hot or cold, were mentioned in three posts. Again, the popularity may be due to convenience; burritos can be bought frozen, microwaved, and eaten at the desk.

Tacos are another Mexican version of sandwiches in which layers of vegetables and protein are spooned into a folded tortilla. A mix of hot and cold foods and flavors is part of the traditional taco experience, but two of the three bloggers who mentioned eating tacos almost daily specified that their favorites were not traditional. One favored fish tacos and one liked vegetarian tacos.

Vegetable plates, bowls, or cups with combinations of vegetables partly determined by the season were listed as regular menu options in only three blogs. This may be because some people classify combinations of vegetables as salads. 

Fruits, mixed or unspecified, were also listed in three blogs.

Beef was a daily favorite for three bloggers. I think. The food industry insists that "steak" refers to a cut of meat, not necessarily beef, from any mammal or fish that is big enough to be cut that way. (Seventh-Day Adventists traditionally spell vegetarian concoctions flavored to resemble beef steak "stakes.") The blogger who mentioned steak as a daily menu alternative sounded American. When Americans say "steak" in casual conversation, they mean beef.

Cheese was listed as a favorite by three bloggers. While cheese is a complete protein, only one blogger mentioned using it that way (as a sandwich filling--cheese sandwiches may also have been a daily favorite with some people who typed only "sandwiches"). Two mentioned adding it to eggs.

Grapes and berries each got three mentions as daily meal or snack options, in addition to the mentions of berries as oatmeal flavorings. Despite their tendency to absorb glyphosate and other chemical vapors from the air even when gardeners intend them to be genuinely "organically grown" foods, grapes and berries are great convenience foods. Just pick, wash, and pop into the mouth at the desk. 

Pre-packaged microwave "meals" were favorites with two bloggers. The first "TV dinners" sold in the United States were often derided as an example of excessively processed, chemical-additive-laden junkfood. Marketers have defended themselves against this charge by quick-freezing healthier foods in more recent years, but it still takes some courage for bloggers to admit using frozen "ready meals" with any regularity.

Chips (a.k.a. fries) were mentioned by two bloggers, both of whom ate them along with burgers. This is not necessarily a euphemism for buying burgers-n-fries at McDonald's. People can buy precut burgers and fries for cooking or microwaving at home.

Chips (a.k.a. crisps) were mentioned by a brave blogger who admitted keeping a bag at the desk and nibbling on crisps as an all-afternoon alternative to the more formal "lunch and dinner / dinner and supper" plan.

Chicken was mentioned as the default daily protein by two bloggers. One other blogger mentioned not eating chicken due to allergies. 

Almond milk was mentioned as a daily food option for two bloggers.

Fajitas were a daily option for two bloggers. This is another menu item that most often means beef, but can include other proteins.

Chili was a daily option for two bloggers. In Texas many people insist that chili means ground or chopped beef seasoned liberally with chile peppers. They admit that chili mixes well with beans, but think the chili and beans should be served in separate dishes. Elsewhere the word is used more loosely to include stews of chicken, turkey, soy protein, or plain beans, as long as ground dried peppers are included, and there's a wide range of interpretation of how hot the peppery flavor needs to be. So "chili" may or may not be another way of saying "beef." 

Smoothies (thick, smooth, sweet blenderized combinations of fruit and any number of other things) were mentioned in two blogs. Entire cookbooks are devoted to smoothie recipes alone. Popular smoothie ingredients include bananas, yogurt, almond milk, and berries.

Bananas were listed in two blogs.

Sweet potatoes were listed in two blogs.

Bacon was listed in two blogs as an alternative on the everyday menu. Bacon was originally understood to mean pork, and still does for most people, but the word sometimes refers to imitations made from turkey, textured vegetable protein, or marinated carrots.

Sausage was listed at two blogs. Again, the word most often refers to pork products but can mean any highly seasoned product based on any animal protein, combination of animal proteins, or vegetable protein. In some families (like mine when I was growing up) the word "sausage" normally presupposes "soy"--but that was a Granola Green word usage, not mainstream.

Two bloggers admitted eating candy almost daily, one specifying that this candy was supplied at the office. Yes, it can be tempting for office workers who are or consider themselves underpaid to make regular visits to the candy jar, stocked by better paid workers, an alternative to actually buying lunch on lunch break. I've done this. I found it a very unhealthy habit, but very tempting...I'm glad I've not worked at an office that enabled this practice since the 1980s..Anyway, the two candy-eating bloggers specified favorites: the "conversation hearts" sold in February as "Valentines Day" treats, and a popular brand of soft mint candy coated in chocolate called Peppermint Patties. (The cartoon character "Peppermint" Patty was named after the candy; it's been popular in the U.S. for a long time.)

Egg rolls got two votes.

Apples, oranges, and tomatoes each got only two votes...possibly because, although these foods are delicious, were healthy in the world before glyphosate, and are easy to prepare in the kitchen and eat at the desk, they do take some time to prepare and require some hand washing and cleaning up afterward. One blogger revealingly specified eating "grape tomatoes," small enough to be picked out of a bowl and popped into the mouth like grapes. Anyone who grew up on a traditional farm knows that the tomatoes worth eating, as meals, snacks, or featured salad components, are big soft messy fruits that need to be cut up in a bowl and eaten with a spoon.

Then a wide range of food items, some generally considered healthy and some not, got one mention each:

Clif Bars are a gluten-free variation on earlier granola bars, a vegetarian grain-protein cookie/candy/chocolate confection that's become madly popular in parts of the U.S. where people who are not even celiacs are finding it necessary to avoid glyphosate-drenched wheat. Clif Bars are another food item that can be used as a substitute for a meal if you want to lose weight or an addition if you want to gain weight, though I'm not aware of any doctors who've recommended them--they are full of sugar. As far as I'm concerned they're chocolate bars. I eat chocolate bars as "road food" meal substitutes, but not every day. Nevertheless.

Scones, the classic British favorite, can be made reasonably "healthy" and are popular when and where they're available in the U.S. too. 

This is as good a place as any to insert a bit of bad news this web site needs to mention. Scones were a specialty at the Roberts Family Bakery Cafe, from which I used to do this blog. Delegate Kilgore, whom this blog used to watch with tremendous hometown pride, is often seen and hailed by fans whilst buying his morning scone when he's in town. (This web site is still proud of his contribution to the state legislature, I might add.) The cafe has been hard hit, first by the coronavirus panic and then by the effects of age and stress on Mr. Roberts. (So many local people seem to assume he's from New England, because his accent is not BBC. He actually immigrated legally from England--hence the scones.) When I stopped being a fixture at the cafe people asked who got tired of whose company. The answer is that coronavirus rules "ran me off" the cafe--despite real efforts, on the parts of the Robertses and me, to carry on as usual. I have taken people back there for take-out snacks and coffee, continued to invite readers to meet me there if they're in town, and looked forward to the day when the cafe will be well enough "in the black" that a writer, or writers, can hang out there in good conscience again. However, the cafe is officially "temporarily" closed now. The trouble with its being a real family cafe is that the family members who run the place are all too busy spending time with their husband or "Daddy" to make the time to keep the cafe open.

For the duration, if readers are going to be in Gate City and want to meet me, we'll be meeting at Molcajetes  People thought this real Mexican restaurant would never recover from storm damage and coroanvirus, but it's making a bid to come back this summer. We shall support it as best we can. We like those legal Mexican-American immigrants' fortitude, anyway. But if you drink the cerveza I shall have to drive, so you should plan on an alcohol-free meal.

Back to the topic. Stir-fried vegetables got only one specific vote, though they might appear on some vegetable platters.

Hummus, a mashed bean dish usually made with garbanzos, was listed as a daily option at one blog. It is another food that would be more popular if the main ingredient were not usually grown as a "cover crop" in wheat fields, between wheat seasons, and thus almost always full of glyphosate. I liked garbanzos before commercial farming practices put them on the list of things I can't eat without immediate unpleasant consequences. Hummus used to be a very nutritious, lower-fat, higher-fibre alternative to nut pastes and "butters" as a sandwich spread, a much tastier alternative to vinegar as a salad dressing, an interesting dip for raw vegetables...Sigh.

Baked Beans were a favorite at one blog. Today "baked" beans are often boiled, canned, and reheated on the stove or in the microwave. In the U.S. that name refers to the flavor produced by cooking white beans with generous amounts of molasses or other syrups (originally it might have been pumpkin, but Boston, the home of baked beans, was soon supplied with molasses).

Pork as such, not considered specifically as bacon or sausage, was a favorite of one blogger.

Chocolate in the U.S. almost always refers to candy, and I suspect that's what the blogger who listed it had in mind, but I counted it separately since it can also mean cocoa powder.: 

Tuna got one vote.

Mushrooms got an enthusiastic vote from one blogger who listed several mushroom recipes person's family had used recently. When exposure to fungi is an ongoing health concern, as it is for me, you don't want mushrooms in your diet, but mushrooms are a nearly complete cruelty-free protein many people enjoy.

Mountain Dew got one vote. The term was originally used as slang for illegal whisky brewed from fermented corn, then trademarked as a brand for highly caffeinated citrus soda. (You can currently buy "hard" Mountain Dew--the citrus drink flavored with alcohol--in some supermarkets, but very few people do. Those who like Mountain Dew always mean soda pop.) 

I like Mountain Dew, or used to, before the price was artifically inflated to offset losses on Pepsi's "upscale alternatives," which have not caught on. Get the price back below a dollar for a 2-litre bottle and I'd buy it regularly again. But I do need to say this because some parents may not have heard me say it before. Mountain Dew, and a competing brand called Mello Yello sold by Coca-Cola, taste like orange juice. (There are variant flavors that taste like other fruits and mixes, too.) This makes these drinks appealing to children. They are not children's drinks. They are medicinal doses of caffeine for overnight truck drivers. Very few people brew coffee that strong, but if they did they'd know better than to let children drink it--if children would! I have had parents ask "Why is my child so 'hyper' after school?" and even seen a parent slap a child, because when children get out of school, bursting with energy, and immediately drink twelve ounces of Mountain Dew, they do not feel like sitting down and quietly doing a school assignment. Don't do that to children. Let them run and play for the first hour or two after school while there's sunshine to help build strong bones, and then give them real fruit or fruit juice to sip while they study. Mountain Dew can cause restlessness, frequent urination followed by dehydration, and loss of focus when adults drink too much at once, too. I think high-caffeine drinks can be useful to adults but they need to be used in a responsible adult way.

Pizza is currently the most popular take-out food in the United States but only one blogger admitted making it a daily menu option. Traditionally French and Italian farm workers ate the original form of pizza--thin bread smeared with oil, vegetable paste, and occasionally salt meat, fish, or cheese--as a daily lunch item, but the gooey, meaty, cheesy pizzas popular in the U.S. today contain more calories than desk workers need to be eating every day.

Sushi was a daily option for one blogger. Raw or undercooked fish can contain parasitic worms that may survive inside humans, but sushi fans already knew that.

Pho was a daily option for one blogger. Different kinds of soup can be called pho but they're all likely to be made fresh every few days at restaurants owned by legal Asian-American immigrants.

Bread, not toasted or used as a base for sandwiches, was mentioned in only one post. This blogger further specified making per own bread. In fact few Americans will actually eat American "sandwich bread" without toasting it or wrapping it around something more interesting. Keeping "sandwich bread" soft while giving it an extended shelf life, even with all the chemical additives dumped into the mix, required whipping a great deal of air into the dough. It stays spongy, but is widely regarded as having about as much appeal to the appetite as a sponge, though it is easier to chew. Homemade bread, on the other hand, is widely regarded as a special treat by those who still eat wheat.

Cereal technically includes oatmeal, and likewise cornmeal mush, Cream of Wheat, and ladies-thumb seeds cooked as a cost-free and glyphosate-free porridge, but in the United States the word most often refers to "cold cereals"--ground, baked, usually highly flavored and sometimes grotesquely colored grain products eaten cold, usually in a bowl with milk or applesauce. It was mentioned in one post. 

Croissants, the buttery French pastry that became a 1980s food fad, were still a favorite with one blogger. 

Herb tea was a daily alternative to tea (the Chinese brew from the ti plant) for one blogger. Again, in Granola Green families like mine, "tea" presupposes "mint, with or without medicinal herbs," but this usage is not mainstream in the United States.: 

Tea in the proper sense of a drink extracted from the leaves of the ti plant was listed aa a daily alternative to coffee and herb tea at one blog. 

Orange juice was mentioned as a daily drink at one blog, despite the commercial marketing campaign to sell everyone the idea of drinking it every day in the mid-twentieth century.: 

Potatoes got one vote.

Corn got one vote, as a vegetable. Corn was not specified as the main ingredient in either the "cereal" or the "chips" (crisps).

Green beans got  one vote, as a vegetable. They grow on the same plant, but the green pods (eaten for their "fresh vegetable" vitamins) and the mature dried beans inside (eaten for their protein content) are different foods as far as most Americans are concerned. Mexicans call them by completely different names: green beans are ejotes and dried beans are frijoles or habichuelas (depending on the variety).

Thai takeout got one vote. It can include several of the other foods mentioned here, often flavored with lemongrass and/or coconut milk.

Enchiladas got one vote. Enchiladas are a further refinement of the sandwich wrapped in a tortilla, rolled up like crepes and baked with a vegetable-based sauce poured over them.

Celery got one vote.

Hot dogs got one vote. Hot dogs, originally sold as either Viennese-style (wiener) or Frankfurt-style sausages (frankfurter or "franks"), are a cheap sausage made of finely ground meat--the "ends and orts"--usually dyed an unconvincing shade of pink that suggests undercooked beef. "Dogs" was a disparaging nickname suggesting that the hot dogs sold at fairs and from snack wagons were unfit for human consumption. Actually the commercial meat industry supplies plenty of "ends and orts" to make hot dogs from pork, beef, chicken, turkey, or any combination of those. Different brands specify different sources. The blogger who mentioned eating them daily specified Hebrew National brand, which are made from less fatty cuts of beef considered fit to eat by Jewish dietary standards, and are a good, though pricey, brand if one wants to eat hot dogs.

Guacamole. the salad dressing made from mashed avocado flavored with lemon or lime juice and sometimes other plant-derived foods, got one vote. 

Granola, the  fad food that named a style of cuisine in the United States, still got one vote. As a mix of grains, seeds, sometimes nuts, and dried fruits granola went from being a healthy food to being a toxic food when commercial farmers started "ripening" most of its ingredients by spraying glyphosate right on the edible part of the plant. One day granola will be a healthy food again.

Broccoli Slaw was specified as a favorite by one blogger. It is a mix o broccoli, carrot, and cabbage grated together. In U.S. supermarkets these vegetables, and other cut or grated vegetable mixes, are sold in packaes as "salad mixes" to be dressed, or enhanced with other vegetables, as the  buyer chooses.

Salad Dressing got one vote as an essential ingredient in one blogger's daily salad. : 

Onions were specifically mentioned as a regular part of only one blogger's salads or vegetable plates, though they may have appeared on more. They are a frequent but not daily addition to my rice, too.

Sunflower seeds:were listed in one blogger's definition of salad.

Almonds were another option mentioned at the same blog.

Shrimp, which are technically not insects but arthropods--insects are a different type of arthropods--were among on blogger's daily salad protein options.

Quinoa was listed as an alternative to rice in one blgo post.

Barley was also listed.

Carrots were listed as a daily snack option on one blog.

Rice cakes were listed as a favorite at one U.S. blog, along with several other U.S.-specific supermarket items. Cakes or patties made with ordinary cooked rice can be baked or fried. The rice cakes sold as snacks in the United States are made with highly puffed, even popped, white rice bound together by sweet flavored dressings.

Diet Pepsi was one blogger's preferred afternoon drink. 

 

Cauliflower hash browns were listed among one blogger's daily vegetable alternatives. Shredded cauliflower has recently become popular as a low-carb substitute for hash browns (shredded frozen potato) and for rice in the United States. 

English Muffins got one vote. I'm not sure where the vote came from or what type of breadstuff was intended. 

American Dream Nut Butter made one list. I've not seen these products myself and don't know how widely available they are even in the U.S. They can be ordered online. The company's web site mentions low-sugar peanut butter, but the blogger specified sweeter products, presumably like the "caramel almond butter" the company also advertises.

Cucumbers were mentioned as a component of one blogger's vegetable mix.

Bell Peppers were mentioned on the same blog.

Radishes were mentioned on the same blog.

Dip with vegetables was mentioned on the same blog.

Nuts were a daily snack in one blogger's household. "No comments please," the blogger warned. In the U.S. "nuts" is also often found as an abbreviation of "nut cases" or "nut jobs," older slang for mental patients.

Cashews were specified as a favorite nut in that household.

Doughnuts were listed as a frequent, if not daily, snack by one blogger who specified that they were likely to be peddled by a vendor at the office. The popularity of "doughnut shops" has generally declined in the United States but a few entrepreneurs are now specializing in these sweet fried yeast pastries, which were a fad in the early twentieth century.Some, not all, traditional doughnuts were ring-shaped, and the rounds of dough cut out of the middle were fried separately and sold separately as the "doughnut holes." Other doughnuts were round sweet buns that had sweet buttercream or fruit and syrup mixtures piped in to fill the air holes formed in cooking. Doughnuts were traditionally high-calorie junkfood that displaced a lot of healthier food in the diet if a person ate them regularly wtihout becoming obese.

Bloggers are not necessarily the healthiest market demographic, worldwide (blogging tends to appeal to people with disabilities), but they certainly have plenty of options. Most of their favorites are low-cost, easy-to-make comfort foods. It is just possible that bloggers are a reliable indicator of the food market trends for those who look forward to a more "cocoon"-like lifestyle in the post-COVID world.