"They Actually Eat That:" Blue Raspberry.

Happy 4th of July, fellow Americans! For those of you not in the States, the 4th of July is when our moshpit of a nation signed the Declaration of Independence. I'm not the least bit patriotic, but did think it would be fun to theme today's entry around the holiday. That said...just how do you make red, white, and blue food?

Short answer: Artificial colors. There are several bluish fruits in nature (most obviously blueberries), but nothing produces the bright blue that looks oh-so-nice alongside red and white. There is a blue raspberry in existence (Rubus leucodermis), but even that doesn't produce blue juice. These fruits have high levels of anthocyanins - that is, blue pigments - that make them blue-black and very healthy. Have some blue fruit today!

That said, if health is a concern, avoid things flavored with blue raspberry. The flavor is slightly derived from R. leucodermis, but even if it says that they used real fruit juice, chances are there's a lot of artificial junk in there. It's not that real blue raspberries are rare or anything - it's that our expectations for blue raspberry are far removed from the real thing.

So blue IT BURNS.

We expect blue raspberry - and, to a lesser extent, blueberry - to be bright blue. ASstated previously, this cannot be done with natural pigments. The most common "blue raspberry" pigment is called "Brilliant Blue FCF." It's used in ice cream, canned peas and a million other things you don't want to know secretly contain poison. It's also used to test soil, apparently. Kiiinda weird, but that's marketing for you.

Brilliant Blue was, at one point, banned in many parts of Europe. Aside from banning it solely on the basis of being an artificial flavor, Brilliant Blue may cause some allergic reactions in asthmatic individuals. It's legal now, but they had their reasons. Here in America, poison is part of the culture...unfortunately.

Ah, America. Land of the free, home of the artificial flavors and colors. Our toppings have potassium benzoate. That's bad.

World's Largest Croc Found in the Philippines.

Islands have a lot of fun, unique species. An exhibit at the Field Museum highlights how one species moving to an island can lead to several species over time. Crocodiles aren't usually among those species, but I am not surprised to see the world's largest croc yet popping up in the Philippines.

As per Yahoo! News:

"Lolong, a man-eating beast feared by locals, has set a Guinness Book of World Records mark as the world's largest saltwater crocodile in captivity.

The giant crocodile measures 20.24 feet, weighs more than a ton and was blamed for several deaths before its capture by officials in the southern Philippines town of Bunawan in September, 2011.

And while Lolong has brought some tourist dollars into the small town, its capture has also stirred fears that other giant killer crocs might be lurking in the local waters.

"There were mixed feelings," Bunawan Mayor Edwin Cox Elorde told the Associated Press. "We're really proud because it proves the rich biodiversity of our place but at the same time, there are fears that Lolong may not be alone."

In fact, Elorde says he spotted an even larger crocodile escape when he and about 100 others combined their efforts to capture Lolong. It took a combination of ropes and cranes to bring in the giant crocodile, which was pursued after a child was killed in 2009 and a fisherman went missing. Lolong was named after an official who died of a heart attack after traveling to Bunawan to assist in the capture.

Since its capture, Lolong has become something of a tourist attraction and is the star of a new ecotourism and research center in the town. And while the park has brought in $72,000 in park fees since Lolong's debut, most of that money goes to feeding and taking care of the crocodile."

If there are indeed more giant crocs, we might have a reason to suspect insular gigantism. It certainly wouldn't be out of line for an island reptile to grow bigger than its mainland counterpart. The most classic examples of insular gigantism are the Komodo dragon and Galapagos giant tortoises; maybe the Philippines is slowly developing  its own subspecies of giant croc. It wouldn't be the first time simply being on an island led to huge size.

Also, bear in mind that Lolong is the largest croc in captivity. That means there could be even larger crocodiles in the Philippines. We just haven't caught one, yet.

Bio-Art: K9 and Ruppy.

Remember Eduardo Kac's GFP Bunny project? The one in which Alba, the glowing green bunny, was supposed to be integrated into normal bunny life?  He intended to take that project to the next level by creating a GFP dog (GFP K-9). It fell through, but here's a nice Photoshopped prototype:

Pic by Kac. Disclaimer: Actual dog may vary.

Luckily for Eduardo Kac, scientists in South Korea have been hard at work making glowing puppies real. They have made glowing dogs with an on-off switch. They also made Ruppy, a beagle that glows red, in 2009. I would make a joke about eating dog, but dog research is actually legitimate in some cases. In Ruppy's...you make the call.

Ruppy was spliced with a RFP (red fluorescent protein), making her the first transgenic dog ever.  In plain English, that means she glows red beneath ultraviolet light. The pigment is not nearly as widespread as someone like Kac would like it to be; only the spots that would normally be white on a beagle's coat wind up glowing red. Still better than nothing. Remember, we got no proof that Alba actually glowed except her slightly green coloration.

She is also a cloned dog, which opens a few more cans of worms. When you get to cloning dogs as well as mice, rabbits, and rats, you now have conclusive proof that many species of mammals can be cloned safely. This naturally opens the door to questions about human cloning. Dogs are pretty darn close to people in society ("low-class people" or "high-class animals," I've heard). You would have to be living under a rock to not get how controversial cloning humans is. Dog cloning is getting there.

Let's be perfectly honest: What reason would science have to make a glowing dog other than "hey, look, we made a glowing dog!"?  You can make the "genetic disease research" argument all you like. There are very few reasons to make dogs glow. Sure, if they had a natural glowing gene that only dogs had, that'd be a good reason to breed glowing dogs; as-is, we can probably stick with rabbits and rats when it comes to treating Parkinson's.The clip in a link cited several diseases that dogs and humans have in common, but part of me just thinks they're pulling an Eduardo Kac and making their genetic research look cool in the process.

The most plausible reason to experiment on dogs is to look at things that change with age, specifically fertility. The same scientist who made Ruppy is working on a project with oestrus triggers. We can only assume that a hose will be involved. Whether these tests will be repeated on humans or not remains to be seen.

Food Week: Rambutan.

Wait a sec. That's food? It looks like a radioactive hairball, or a pompom that suddenly came to life, or - OK, insert your own here. Point is, if it wasn't growing on a tree, we would have trouble recognizing it as a fruit. Since it is, we must find out if it is edible. Whooo boy is this weird-looking thing edible!

Yes, those red, hairy fruits are called rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum).  They are extremely popular in Southeast Asia and Hawaii. Although the real native range of the fruit is not known (suspected Malaysia and Indonesia), nearly every place in SE-Asia has naturalized rambutan trees. It's related to other tropical fruits, the most common of which in the U.S. of A. is lychee. There is also a weird yellow version grown in Costa Rica, but this entry will focus on the SE Asian versions.

The word "rambutan" means "hairy" in Malay. Indeed, that hairy husk is the most prominent part of the fruit. It is peeled off entirely before eating. Don't worry, it's easier than it sounds. Here's a video if you don't believe me:

 

The fruit itself is almost like a white grape. Inside the meat of the fruit is a pit, again similar to a regular grape.  As with most foods with heavy pits, the pits are cast aside. Eat the translucent flesh however you like. It has a ton of vitaminsand antioxidants in there, but really, this just looks fun to eat.

Rambutan is quite popular in Southeast Asia. There are some 200-odd cultivars to choose from. Some are bright red, some are yellow, and some strains are just plain more awesome than others. Rambutan is also made into jellies and other flavored products. Almost all of the rambutan there comes from Thailand, so if you want it straight from the source, take a little trip to Bangkok. They can usually be found fresh on the branch, already ripened (because they only ripen on the tree).

Unlike tamales, I want to try this. This sounds just bizarre and tasty enough to be worth trying. How many people from the West can honestly say they've eaten a fruit that looks like a pom-pom?

Food Week: Tamales.

Confession: No matter how much I write about liking weird, exotic food, I cannot stand Mexican cuisine. Cumin does mot sit well with me. There's something about that culinary style, even without cumin, that just...bugs my taste buds.

Enter a food truck called Tamale Spaceship.  Out of sheer curiosity, I decided to try one...and had a hard time figuring out how to eat it. Even when I did finally figure it out, I was not particularly impressed. Maybe I was still doing it wrong.

For starters, the idea of wrapping food in leaves of any kind is weird to Americans. This is a shame; leaves are nature's convenient, recyclable wrapping and often less messy than plastic or wax paper in other ways. Point is, we aren't really used to seeing things wrapped in leaves, no matter how delicious they may be. It's pretty common elsewhere.

Tamales have been around since the ancient Mayans. They can be found from Mexico downwards as well as in Southeast Asia. They consist of meat, veggies, cheese, whatever you like, rolled into a dough called masa. Masa is a sort of starchy corn dough that tastes...like corn. The whole shabang is then boiled or fried in a corn leaf. Corn, corn, corn. Yep, there's a lot of corn in tamales. Sometimes, banana leaves are used instead, but when you have corn, use it.

That said, one of the thinfs I did wrong was trying to eat the thing with the leaf still on. Unlike Greek dolma or other leaf-wrapped yummies, you do take the leaf wrapper off of tamales. Not doing so means not enjoying them properly. I doubt the corn leaves will kill you, but it just plain won't taste as good with them on.

Unfortunately, I really can't recommend tamales outside of "try it if you like Mexican." If you like Mexican food already, then you'll probably think that tamales are really neat. If not, then avoid them; you probably won't be impressed. If you've never had Mexican, tamales are as good a dish as any to see if you like traditional Mexican cuisine. They're probably better than Taco Bell in any case.

Food Week: Iwakuni Sushi.

Sushi is already a god among weird foods. Raw fish is weird enough to some people. Turning raw fish into art is weirder. The things Americans do with sushi is weirder still. Yet, in one small Japanese town, they have even stretched the definition of sushi...somehow.




Enter the unique sushi of Iwakuni, a small village near Hiroshima, Japan. Among other things, including one helluva cool samurai castle, white snakes, and a hot spring, Iwakuni is home to massive, square sushi. Reread that last bit a few times to let it sink in: "Massive, square sushi."

Iwakuni sushi is not what people think of when they think "sushi" in the States. There is no seaweed involved. It's square as opposed to on any sort of roll. The main ingredients are raw fish and egg. It looks more like a sandwich than sushi. This style is properly called "oshi sushi" and can be found in a few other regions as well. Iwakuni's is just among the most famous, and justly so; it's so big that cutting it looks like something samurai did after epic battles.

Suddenly, working as a sushi chef sounds awesome.

Legend has it that Iwakuni sushi was invented some 380 years ago. It's cut to be more portable than your average sushi, which also led to it looking an awful lot like lasagna. This has made it a favorite among the various military presences that occupied Iwakuni throughout history, including samurai and U.S. soldiers. Tourists are rather fond of it, too.

Alas, I did not get to try this rather strange sushi on my own rather brief trip to Iwakuni. It doesn't sound too bad, though. Strange, but not bad.

Food Week: Crayfish Etoufee.

The friend of mine who suggested this whole food week happened to be from Louisiana. Lousiana's got plenty of unique cuisine, including gumbo, jambalaya, and a few other things with funny names. Among those was his personal choice for the week: Crayfish etouffee.

Etouffee ("stuffed" in French- yes, my accents suck) is basically any shellfish served over rice in a sort of stew. Vegetables and a tomato-based sauce are givens. common in both Cajun and creole cuisine. It is more popular in the southern parts of Louisiana than up north. The shellfish of choice in Louisiana is, of course, crayfish.

Crayfish is another one of those things that make me wonder, "who thought this was a good idea, again?" Crayfish are the smaller, more voracious cousins of the lobster. Put two in a tank and one of them will eventually eat the other. Then again, humans do eat anything.

These guys love food. They just don't like BEING food.

Another weird part of etouffee is something called roux. Roux is a thickening agent commonly found in French cooking. It's usually equal parts fat and flour. Depending on the kind of flavor desired, a blond or brown roux may be used in etouffee. Lighter roux creates a nuttier flavor while a darker roux enhances the flavors that are already there.

For those curious, crayfish etouffee was supposedly invented some 70 years ago in Beaux Bridge, Louisiana. Since then, it spread to New Orleans and cities across the state. It is consistently one of any given restaurant's most popular dishes. There are plenty of recipes if you click around online. A lot of people just use packaged mixes, but it still comes out great. I've never been to Louisiana, but will definitely give etouffee a try!