Balance of Food

Eating plant-based burgers falls well within the spirit of Lent

Feel certain that my Catholic card lapsed a very long time ago, but the rules were clear: no meat on Fridays during Lent. If you go back even further, Catholics didn't eat meat on any Friday.

The fish fry in Wisconsin, the Filet O'Fish sandwich at McDonald's: designed to serve those who abstain from meat on Fridays, regardless of religion.

"In terms of the meatless, Impossible Whopper, whatever, I mean, you know it’s all imitation stuff, but I don’t think that’s in the same spirit of what fasting or abstaining from meat is all about," Father Tom Hurley, the pastor at Old St. Patrick's Church, said.

The tenets of sacrificing meat, but not fish, goes back to very ancient times. The nuances of defining animals, such as sea turtles, that exist on land and in the sea isn't in the "spirit of what fasting or abstaining from meat."

One Lenten Friday, my mother was fixing spaghetti with Ragu with meat sauce. She realized part way through that we only had the meat sauce. She said, "well, there isn't that much meat in there anyway." My mother also would rationalize stopping at McDonald's on car trips on Fridays during Lent with a "travel exemption." Nobody in my family ever ordered a Filet O'Fish.

Daily Show looks into alternative meats

South Park explores the effects of a processed plant-based diet

Beyond Burger has a lot of ingredients but doesn't qualify as ultra-processed

Changing definition of processed food doesn't change the concern

Review: The Beyond Burger

The idea of the meatless burger is to avoid the eating of animals, whether that is for climate change, animal welfare, religion, or some other reason. There are other standard meatless burgers and hot dogs. The Beyond and Impossible worlds aren't distinctively different. You could eat a portobello mushroom in a hamburger bun.

Which is more of a sacrifice: eating lobster with tons of butter or a Beyond Burger?

Some people might think these newest meatless burgers taste too close to meat to be a sacrifice. Not sure I would agree with that on taste. The whole idea was to find something that tastes close to meat that doesn't involve animals.

What's Tempting: Corned beef on a Friday during Lent

Temptation of the Week: Eating fish and seafood on Fridays during Lent

Temptation of the Week: Eating meat on Fridays in Lent

Catholics can eat eggs, cheese, butter, fish, lobster, and crab on those 6 Fridays in the spring. If that isn't enough of a sacrifice, you can eat rice and beans on Fridays. A lot of Catholics eat rice and beans a lot of days and don't consider that a sacrifice.

BalanceofFood.com religion coverage

When the meat/fish rules were made, going without meat was a huge sacrifice, even with being allowed to eat fish and seafood. In modern times, going without meat for a day is not a big deal.

When St. Patrick's Day, an American holiday more than an holiday in Ireland, falls on a Friday, U.S. bishops consistently allow the eating of corned beef on a Lenten Friday. Not much of a sacrifice there.

photo credit: me

You deserve better than 'birthday cake' flavored anything

I recently had a birthday. Numbers aren't important. I can remember having birthday cakes when I was a child.

There was a desire to have a cherry cake, like a cherry cupcake but larger. My mother could never figure out what was involved in making that happen.

I was glad to "settle" for chocolate cake with chocolate icing whenever possible. If you knew the old-time Bill Knapp's chocolate cakes, you got to enjoy a treat. Moist and rich. Even after the regional restaurant chain closed down, the cakes were still available for a short time.

There is an appeal to the notion of childhood memories of birthday cake. Unfortunately, there is a wave of deception of products marked as "birthday cake" flavor.

When 3 Musketeers introduced a birthday cake variety, it features "vanilla-flavored nougat and colorful sprinkles covered in rich milk chocolate." We seriously debate the idea of milk chocolate being "rich."

Vanilla cake and sprinkles is an unofficial recipe for birthday cake flavor. Even when I couldn't get cherry cake or chocolate cake, yellow cake was the clear winner.

You could argue that vanilla cake and sprinkles were the go-to when you were a child. That birthday cake flavor is a true throwback to those simpler times.

The American supermarket is filled with products with "flavors" that don't remotely come close to that flavor.

They rely on this "you eat with your eyes" principle and hope the visual and the words "birthday cake" will get past your limited taste buds.

That works for a 1-year-old whose memory of birthday cake is sticking their hands all over the cake without actually tasting any of that cake.

The cake isn't even the target but the fakish, bad vanilla frosting and the visual of the sprinkles that are more about food dye. A good frosting can't hide the taste of a bad cake. Birthday cake flavor is bad frosting hiding the fact that there is no cake.

The argument for birthday cake flavor to replicate childhood memories if your mother (or father) baked your birthday cake, childhood memories usually involve sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup. The birthday cake flavor in a lot of these products have high-fructose corn syrup and/or artificial sweeteners. If those are your memories, life should apologize to you.

Finding joy in loving, losing, and refinding previously lost foods

BalanceofFood.com holidays coverage

Memories and food are a strong emotional bond without the artificial influence of pretend birthday cake. When you celebrate a birthday, you can create new and stronger memories. I buy Girl Scouts Thin Mints cookies and put them in the freezer. I take them out to thaw around my birthday. They aren't like the cakes of my youth, especially that amazing Bill Knapp's chocolate cake.

The Thin Mints cookies are really good and they make my birthdays a bit brighter. Sure they have palm oil; their tastes are authentic and flavorful. Real flavor.

photos credit: me; BillKnapps.com; Trader Joe's

Valentines Day should be about being good to yourself

The Jazzaguy episode late in Season 4 of Schitt's Creek features David and Stevie (Dan Levy and Emily Hampshire), who are not a couple at this point, being serenaded with gifts because the motel thinks they are newlyweds. They keep the ruse going to get free alcohol. They end up being sunk in with the lovers' curry.

Valentines Day is the one day where lovers and those not in a relationship are perplexed on how to spend the day.

Fancy restaurants with special menus are not a good way to go. Something more romantic, more intimate is a better way to go. This advice works whether in a relationship or being self-partnered, as Emma Watson so eloquently portrays her status.

Fat Tuesday and Valentines Day back to back offer new temptations

What's Tempting: Home cooking on Valentines Day

Valentines Day reminds us to set high standards in bacon, love, and food

Valentines Day can be healthy with heart-shaped fruits and vegetable slices

Maybe you just started dating someone around Valentines Day. Maybe you are in a committed relationship that is in really poor shape. Valentines Day is for everyone, regardless of status. If you are good to yourself, you can celebrate Valentines Day in style.

Get dressed up. Put on your best sweatpants. Cook a nice steak. Have an extra serving of quinoa. Share French fries with someone. Get a smaller size of French fries just for you. Make a large salad with a lot of healthy foods or load up a salad with bacon and blue cheese. 

Make your favorite food. Cook for an elderly neighbor who doesn't get out much. Have those tacos from the place down the street. Learn to make a dish from your SO's homeland or your homeland, ancestral or otherwise. Make something from your adopted homeland.

Go vegan or vegetarian for a day.

Is it better to eat alone to stay fit?

Should Valentines Day be about food?

BalanceofFood.com holidays coverage

Weddings are a day celebration. Love is forever, even when it's not. February 14 is a day to celebrate Saint Valentine and an even better day to celebrate yourself.

Avoid the bad chocolates from a heart-shaped box and the fancy dinners. Concentrate on yourself and a loved one, if you have one.

Schitt's Creek is available in the United States on Pop TV and Netflix and in Canada on CBC and CBC Gem.

photo credit: Schitt's Creek/CBC/Pop TV

Ranking food and drink Super Bowl LIV ads

Super Bowl ads are mostly about foods that dentists "recommend" you consume. We'll skip those for later. Avocados have made a traditional visit to the Super Bowl ad arena. Hummus is relatively new, especially since some Americans are nervous about "foreign food." Sabra is trying to change that with its hummus ad. Numerous celebrities talk about what they dip into hummus.

The ad featured 19 celebrities, not counting Chester Cheetah (Cheetos), in 30 seconds. If you knew every celebrity in the ad, you are not me. The variety of so many people exemplifies the variety of ways to enjoy hummus. The ad used the hashtag #HowImmus. The suffix -mmus works well to not be confused with the late shock jock Don Imus.

I recognized Ric Flair, Jaleel White, Scary Spice/Mel B., and Boomer Esiason.

Not sure if the ad will shine through on Super Bowl Sunday. Running the ad over the next few months will make a stronger impact.

Avocados from Mexico brought out Molly Ringwald in its campaign. The campaign ran a couple of ads earlier in the week where Ringwald praises avocado in a car, envious of its ability to sleep in a car and another ad where she places a crown on an avocado.

The actual Super Bowl ad was a fake shopping channel for accessories for the avocado. That was the lamest of the 3, especially compared to ads from previous years. Ringwald did well in the ad. The other ads were better and more subtle. The campaign would benefit from running those ads in the next few weeks rather than the actual Super Bowl ad.

Planning the #SuperBowl menu? #hummus #guacamole good ways to eat healthier. Chips made with blue corn or those bean/rice chips a grand suggestion. #snacks #SuperBowlLIV

— Chad Rubel (@balanceoffood) February 2, 2020

We realize Super Bowl ads aren't supposed to showcase the attributes of the product. Planters is a company with Super Bowl ads experience but fell into the trap in Super Bowl LIV with a gimmick ad.

Unless you stayed off the Internet for a week, we know that Mr. Peanut was "killed" in the Planters ad. Mr. Peanut let go of the tree branch to save Matt Walsh and Wesley Snipes. You would have to put in about $250,000 in quarters in a slot machine to get Mr. Peanut, Matt Walsh, and Wesley Snipes.

The Planters ad from Super Bowl LIII had the peanut-shaped vehicle as well, a funny Charlie Sheen cameo, and a funny joke about kale chips. A variation on that ad would carry over well in the winter ad season.

The actual Super Bowl ad was rather sad. We knew the death was a hoax and Planters pretty much wasted its money. Like Avocadoes from Mexico, they buried the lede, running the better ad earlier in the week.

Michelob Ultra pure gold ran an ad that appeared to be more about converting more American farmland to organic. The ad points out that less than 1% of America's farmland is organic. The phrasing sounds fun: buy a 6-pack and they will convert 6 square feet of farmland to organic.

The fine print points out that the beer company will contribute 2¢ per 6-pack up to $1 million. The "funds paid to farmers (are) in the form of transitional barley premiums." That feels technically true but more self-serving and not useful beyond for anyone else.

The upside is more about pointing out to a huge TV audience about the importance of being organic. Buying the beer will be up to you.

Super Bowl ad analysis in recent years

2019   2018   2017   2016   2015   2014   2013   2011

Cheetos Popcorn, like Cheetos, stains your hands orange when you eat them. There you can't touch this, which is the only reason for the return of MC Hammer. Young people may not be familiar with the Hammer; those of us who remember him know that he stole the music from Super Freak by Rick James, a way better song.

The problem with the ad, besides the return of MC Hammer, is that you have a new product and the ad says nothing about the new product. The ad would have been okay for the regular Cheetos product.

The new Pringles ad plays on the stacking flavors theme in recent Super Bowl ads. This is a rare Super Bowl ad in that the celebrities outshine the product. Rick and Morty is a great get. Most parents might object that their kids cartoon heroes would hawk potato chips.

The Pop-Tarts pretzel version with cinnamon sugar was a strong ad that told the virtues of the product. A product launch (are you listening, Cheetos?) to promote a product. We would be skeptical over getting too excited until we taste the pretzel element in the breakfast pastry.

Felt like the Little Caesar's delivery ad was an ad for Rainn Wilson, which was good for him. The idea that Little Caesar's delivery is the best thing since sliced bread is cute and might last longer if shown more often in the next few weeks. As a long-time customer of its Crazy Bread, delivery won't be its strong suit. The franchise is built on people coming in unlike its primary contenders, Pizza Hut and Domino's. Still a more entertaining ad than anything Domino's has ever done.

The Doritos cool ranch ad with Sam Elliott and Lil Nas X might have been one of the best Super Bowl LIV ads. The mix of old and new cowboys was entertaining, each adding his cred to the ad. Doritos might have paid more for their celebrities, but you have to invest to draw out success. The good news for Doritos is this ad may help all its flavors not just Cool Ranch.

Super Bowl LIV through the eyes of Canada

BalanceofFood.com advertising coverage

Here are the borderline food/drink categories, not necessarily the ads themselves, in order of appearance:

Snickers fix the world with a large sinkhole: very visual ad that ties into the huge hunger that Snickers apparently fills.

Mountain Dew Zero Sugar with a knockoff of The Shining with Bryan Cranston and Tracee Ellis Ross: loved the ad, though no connection to anything. People will struggle to remember that this ad is from Mountain Dew Zero Sugar.

Coca-Cola Energy with Martin Scorsese and Jonah Hill. Hill doesn't want to go to a lame party; Scorsese wants Hill to come. This idea should have been thrown out in the initial session. Hopefully, they will remember to cash the check and forget they were ever in this ad.

Pepsi Zero Sugar with black labels on its bottle off of the use of the Rolling Stones song Paint It Black. Good update of a great song. A better commercial than the product itself.

Heinz ketchup with I'll Be There by the Four Tops. Except for the music, this ad was not memorable. Still better than a bad ad (Coca-Cola Energy). The mothers of the people who made this ad will not remember the ad by Friday.

Reese's Take 5 ad with the corny sayings. An interesting new product that needed a better campaign. An ad that was cute with the corny sayings that will likely earn a C+ from those who grade these ads. Might have a bit more life in the next few weeks, but might save money by launching a new ad.

photos credit: Sabra; Avocadoes from Mexico; Planters; Michelob Ultra
Twitter capture: @balanceoffood