This One Goes Out to Gardein Meatless Foods

I discovered Gardein fake meat products via @Peta. Their “chick’n” filets are outstanding.

“Shark” Etymology

H/T to Oceana for pointing to this post by Deep Sea News:

Bailey’s Dictionary in 1724 used “scearan” as the likely origin for the word: a saxon term meaning “cut to pieces”. Webster took a different tack in his 1828 dictionary, accepting a theory that it comes from the greek word “carcharias” (sharp tooth), even though that word clearly has a typical Greek hard c sound, not the soft start of shark. These days, Oxford English Dictionary just says “of obscure origin” and to me that might be the best answer, if you insist on a European etymology. The major alternative explanation is that the word comes from the Yucatec Indian word “xoc”.

Lose the Temper

Isabel has a new blog, one with a mission.

I am not going to lose my temper for ONE YEAR – at any one. And I’m going – to keep me honest – blog on how it’s going every day.

Now That’s A Large Potato

Smithsonian.com

Compared with grains, tubers are inherently more productive. If the head of a wheat or rice plant grows too big, the plant will fall over, with fatal results. Growing underground, tubers are not limited by the rest of the plant. In 2008 a Lebanese farmer dug up a potato that weighed nearly 25 pounds. It was bigger than his head.

H/T +Candice Gullett

I Would Not Have Guessed

I just learned that Burt's Bees is owned by Clorox. That's like finding out that McDonald's owns Rainbow Grocery.—
Mary Roach (@mary_roach) October 10, 2011

Spork Snark

At REI.com, a comment about the Sea to Summit Alpha Light Spork:

Since I got my ACTION SPORK, I’ve earned the envy and respect of ALL of my coworkers. I wear my ACTION SPORK on my belt loop so I have it with me at all times. Why, just this morning I had an engaging conversation about whether or not I could take down a hyena with my ACTION SPORK. I think I could. It’s surprisingly lightweight and rigid, has a sexy anodized finish, and most importantly comes with a perfect tiny carabiner. When people see your ACTION SPORK on your belt loop, they’ll know you’re a man/woman of ACTION.

In the interest of completeness, I should mention that I have not eaten with my ACTION SPORK yet. But I’m confident that it’s fork enough to stab into a potato and spoon enough to provide a perfectly adequate sipping platform.

50 Grams

Carol J. Adams at the Washington Post:

Nutritionists agree that adults who consume about 2,000 calories per day should get about 50 grams of protein. What’s a vegan to do? Well, a half-cup of chickpeas contains 6 grams of protein. A half-cup of firm tofu contains 20 grams. A veggie burger has about 15 grams. We can get to 50 grams pretty quickly without meatloaf or bacon.

Rosey

Humane Choice

I don’t do much dog blogging around here, but this one goes out to Humane Choice. It’s a vegetarian kibble that’s endorsed by the Humane Society of the United States. I wish I could say that my dogs ate nothing but the stuff, but I don’t think their sensitive greyhound stomachs can handle an all kibble diet, no matter what the brand. Still, I’ve recently replaced half their diet with Humane Choice; at meal time, they get half a serving of kibble and half a serving of packaged raw food. The latter is very pricey, but it works for them, digestively. Anyway, the kibble/raw combination seems to be a success.