“Not so many decades ago a single flavor of store-bought ice cream was a special treat. Our options ran to vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry – and when we could buy all three flavors in a single carton, we saw that as a great innovation. Over time, many more flavors became available, and then specialty ice cream stores opened, serving premium, higher-fat ice cream. In the 1970’s , Steve’s Ice Cream was the most famous ice cream parlor in the Boston Area, earning its reputation for butter cups, and other confections – into a scoop of ice cream. Then a novelty, now it’s entirely commonplace. The food industry has certainly figured out what captures consumer awareness.
Today, of course, ice cream has countless flavors and varieties, and so do most other foods. Once there were just a few kinds of hot fresh bagels – we could buy a plain bagel, or one with sesame or poppy seeds. Now bagels come flavored with onions, garlic, cinnamon and raisins, blueberries, and chocolate. The Panera Bread chain goes further, offering the cherry vanilla bagel, the Asiago cheese bagel, the French toast bagel, and the Dutch apple and raisin bagel. Each one comes loaded with sugar on fat on salt.
Mike McCloud of Uptown Bakers, an artisanal wholesale bakery based in Maryland, call these ‘tricked-out’ bagels. ‘You take a basic concept like a bagel, which is a very clean bakery item. To appeal to a different market segment, you ‘tick it out,’’ McCloud said. ‘You add ingredients to change the mouthfeel and the texture. You put jalapenos and corn kernels in it and call it a southwestern bagel.’
My son says that Panera’s cinnamon crunch bagel is the best he’s ever eaten. It’s the restaurant’s top seller, so that’s what I decided to try.
I read the list of ingredients first. After unbleached flour and water, the bagel contained both vanilla drops (which include sugar and partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil) and cinnamon drops (with sugar and palm oil). Other ingredients included brown sugar, honey, vanilla, salt, molasses, and more palm oil, topped with sugar, cinnamon, and soybean oil.
Taking my first bite, I concentrated on the sensory hits it provided. The topping gave the bagel a crunchy sweetness, which contrasts nicely with the soft interior. The aroma of cinnamon was pleasant and persistent, and the vanilla chips offered appealing bursts of flavor.
As I chewed, the bagel was quickly transformed into a moist wad in my mouth, with the crunch becoming finer and finer as it dissolved. It was easy to chew and to swallow, and its sweetness lingered yet didn’t overwhelm the other flavors. Well lubricated by its fat content and mixed with my saliva, the wad of bagel melted perfectly in my mouth, disappearing only after a few chews.
The cinnamon crunch bagel was manufactured to perfection. Panera had figured how to put fat, sugar, and other flavor enhancements together to provide exactly the sensory experience I wanted.”
Wow. Are you hungry yet? The food industry = SMART!! The basic concept behind this book is that the more sugar, fat, and salt we consume – the more sugar, fat, and salt we consume. Food companies know exactly how to concoct their foods to keep us coming back for more. This is good for their business and VERY bad for our waistlines, hearts, livers, pancreas’, etc.
I believe every human being has fallen victim to sugar, fat, and salt. We all enjoy it, and if you say that you don’t…well, you are lying!! The tricky part is finding a healthy mix of moderation and balance. If you feel like you are “addicted” to these types of foods, maybe you need a cleanse (involving real, whole foods…not lemon water and spices), or a contest with a family member, or a pledge to enjoy dessert once or twice per week.
I don’t believe in cutting out foods that you love (for extremely long periods of time) because it then becomes an obsession. When you say, “I am not going to eat any dessert ever again.” You are setting yourself up for failure and you will try to “make it up” with other foods. When you eventually give in (because you will) you will likely over-do-it and feel completely guilty.
With that being said, cutting out these types of foods (for a short period of time) to reach a specific goal may help decrease your cravings for these foods. However, you must make sure you have a healthy plan in place. What BETTER foods will you eat instead? This way you can establish a more healthful way of eating. The best tip I can give you is to not put these foods in your home, save them for special occasions.
Hopefully, the excerpt from the book didn’t cause you to run out for a giant-sized –equal to six slices of bread bagel or a large peanut butter, fudge, brownie ice cream cone. Yet, if you feel the urge here is my favorite brand of ice cream available at your local supermarket.
This truly is "smooth and dreamy" which is hard to find in a light ice cream. No gross chemicals, less fat, less calories, and delicious!! I believe there are 11 flavors.
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