Can you trust a tomato in January?

About this book

Join author Vince Staten as he embarks on the great American ritual of the weekly shopping trip to the supermarket. Like anyone who has roamed the aisles, list in hand, lulled by nondescript music from overhead, he has wondered what happened to the tomatoes of his youth; what is the mysterious white stuff they call Cool Whip; who invented Jell-O; and what makes Oreos taste so darn good. But unlike the rest of us, he has bothered to investigate the answers and ask a few impertinent questions of the experts. Many pressing questions are addressed in Can You Trust a Tomato in January? Who thought of putting American cheese in an aerosol can and is it really cheese anyway? Why doesn't peanut butter stick to the roof of your mouth anymore? (It really used to, when your mother was a child.) And which has more lemon in it, Lemon Pledge or Country Time Lemonade? (You'd be surprised!) For that matter, when did they change the name of Kellogg's Sugar Frosted Flakes to just Frosted Flakes? Here are the truly amazing secrets of the supermarket. Vince Staten has tracked down the lost connections between graham crackers and teenage sex drive; Twinkies and longevity; vanilla and Nilla Wafers. This isn't one of those horror reports that wind up telling you only to eat brown rice and drink bottled water. Worcestershire sauce, for example, has some really interesting ingredients! This is the most entertaining, and revealing, trip to the supermarket you'll ever take. Shopping for groceries may never be the same boring chore again after you learn about the rollercoaster ride of chemistry, agribusiness, and marketing that even the simplest food undergoes before it lands in your shopping cart. Vince Staten is a genial guide who's got a taste for humor and an insatiable appetite for information.