Eat recycled food, it's good for the environment and OK for you

[olivermoss]

IDK why that line from Judge Dredd has always stuck in my head.

Anyway, the new food trend I am seeing everywhere suddenly is 'upcycled' food. Like a week ago I'd have assumed the term was from a bad SNL skit and now it's everywhere. The idea is that if you drink buttermilk, the left over milk from making butter, or like use whey protein from cheese production it's environmental because it's 'less wasteful'. I'm pretty sure this is some BS greenwashing. We have a food waste problem in the US but that at those stages of our supply line. By-products of food production are used in other human foods, or if not that then pet foods, or if not that then cattle feed, or if not even that then mulch/weed cover.

Anyway, Salt & Straw's flavors of the month are made from 'upcycled' ingredients like whey, okara (left over soy pulp from making soy milk or tofu) and stuff like that. They also have a chocolate barley milk and fig jam where the barley is left over from beer making, and I can eat it. I have a lot of medical dietary restrictions... so if I can try a thing I will even if it's dumb. So, I started my walk tonight with a Salt & Straw detour to get a scoop and... it was okay. The chocolate flavor went well with the barley flavor... I think at least. It felt like one of those flavor combos I like because of how I was raised that other people tend to look at me weird for. The fig jam was... barely there and not great. Still, it was nice to try it. For most of it's existence S&S had had unique treats for me every month but then a year ago they started adding soy into stuff and I was sad.

I was going to be hipstery and post pictures of my ice cream and the menu but, eh, I will but under a cut. The ice cream was pretty melted so it doesn't look very appetizing.

Comments

[james]

And the stupid "ugly fruit" trend where you should buy ugly fruits and veggies online that the grocery store doesn't want because you're supposed to think that stuff gets thrown away and wasted. Where do people think fruit juice and pasta sauce comes from???

[olivermoss]

Grocery stores destroy a lot of what they do buy, but the stuff they don't buy goes elsewhere. Unless we have a massive swing away from eating meat, if nothing else there will always been farmers looking for cheap feed. When the keto craze hit and Americans suddenly started eating sugar less, there were pictures of cows eating from troughs full of gummy bears.

[bluedreaming]

It does sound kind of ridiculous; not that we should use these things, but that they’re new and special. One of my parents makes soy milk at home and then uses the okara in bread and granola. I don’t fancy eating it in ice cream.

[olivermoss]

When I looked up okara in the definition is said it's used on a lot of traditional Asian foods. This is a dumb trend. Also, scoops from Salt & Straw are typically amazing and worth waiting in those long lines. This... was not.

[bluedreaming]

Exactly! Best to stick to the excellent ways it’s always been used, and leave ice cream alone.

[mistressofmuses]

I have *not* yet heard of the "upcycled" food trend, but I appreciate knowing it's probably coming, lol.

My first inclination is that it sounds like a greenwashing type thing - and a way for places to sell those byproducts at a higher price (to make trendy foods) than the ways in which the byproducts were already being used in bulk for all the things you already mentioned.

[olivermoss]

People will pay bank for dumb greenwashing stuff and that's probably what is going on. Them doing all-vegan every January likely has a much bigger impact. Usually in January I get like 3 different pints and go wild, but this year it was all soy.

Not that I can really complain because I am also near a 50 Licks and an Eb & Bean which actually have better vegan options, they are just less well known and are less trendy and instagrammy.

[mistressofmuses]

Yeah... being on the cutting edge of a food trend aiming at the right demographic? Definitely a chance to make bank.

It's a shame that everything this year was soy-based. :/ It's a shame when something that would solve a dietary issue or the like just instead goes for a different one.

I am glad that you've got some options near you, though!