This is a very interesting reading although a bit old already. It presents how commercial foods depend on manufactured flavors for their taste and feel. “Mysterious, man-made “natural flavor” explains why most fast food — indeed, most of the food Americans eat — tastes the way it does”
By Eric Schlosser
Excerpt From Eric Schlosser’s new book’Fast Food Nation’ (Houghton-Mifflin, 2001) From The Atlantic Monthly.
In 1990, amid a barrage of criticism over the amount of cholesterol in its fries, McDonald’s switched to pure vegetable oil. This presented the company with a challenge: how to make fries that subtly taste like beef without cooking them in beef tallow. A look at the ingredients in McDonald’s french fries suggests how the problem was solved. Toward the end of the list is a seemingly innocuous yet oddly mysterious phrase: “natural flavor.” That ingredient helps to explain not only why the fries taste so good but also why most fast food — indeed, most of the food Americans eat today — tastes the way it does.
