Posted on

Popcorn: The Only Grain That Performs

Last weekend, the village of North Loup, Nebraska, population somewhere around three hundred, threw its 125th Annual Popcorn Days. A carnival took over Highway 11 from Friday to Sunday. There was team penning and sorting, a turtle race, kids’ games, a juvenile parade, a men’s slow pitch tournament, sand volleyball, a street dance, and on Sunday the largest parade in the area to close the show. The theme this year was “Looking Back at 125 Years of Popcorn Days,” which is what happens when the anniversary becomes the headline: the parade turns into a mirror. II spent my childhood summers in North Loup with my grandfather, in a house where the television pulled in exactly one signal, channel 10/11, and where the calendar bent around one August weekend the way other towns bend around Christmas. The smell arrived before the event did. Hot oil, salt, the sweet dust hanging over the poppers. You could stand at the edge of town with your eyes closed and know what week it was.

Continue reading → Popcorn: The Only Grain That Performs

Posted on

Cornstarch Your Private Parts

Did you know talcum power can be dangerous to your health?  Talcum power is used in cosmetic body powders and baby powder.  Some research suggests a link between lung cancer and ovarian cancer and talc, while other sources are more suspicious:

It has been suggested that talcum powder might cause cancer in the ovaries if the powder particles (applied to the genital area or on sanitary napkins, diaphragms, or condoms) were to travel through the vagina, uterus, and fallopian tubes to the ovary. Several studies in women have looked at the possible link between talcum powder and cancer of the ovary. Findings are mixed, with some studies reporting a slightly increased risk and some reporting no increase.

For any individual woman, the overall increase in risk, if it exists, is likely to be small. For example, one analysis combining data from 16 studies published before 2003 found about a 30% increase in ovarian risk among talc users. The average woman’s lifetime risk of ovarian cancer is about 1.4%, so even with a 30% increase, her lifetime risk would be about 1.8%. Still, talc is widely used in many products, so it is important to determine if the increased risk is real. Research in this area continues.

I say, “Why risk your life to talcum powder?  Use cornstarch instead!”

Continue reading → Cornstarch Your Private Parts

Posted on

From Boy Box to Plastic Man

There is something viscerally pleasing when your fingers have to dig in to the corners of a candy box to lift the flaps to reveal a hidden taste from the void.  Unfortunately, the boxed candy of my childhood has been replaced with the convenience of — and the impossibility of tearing open — a plastic bag.

Continue reading → From Boy Box to Plastic Man

Posted on

The Popcorn Cabal

I grew up in Nebraska and I was fed popcorn all my life as part of a generational touchstone. If you squeezed me a little too hard, peanut oil would come out of my eyes!

Now that I’m back in the popcorn swing after a decade away, I was surprised and disappointed to find food giant ConAgra has a stranglehold on free market popcorn buying choices.

ConAgra wrangles three popcorn brands in their bin: Act II and Jolly Time and Orville Redenbacher are all ConAgra products! Gosh, I wonder if the popcorn and ingredients are exactly the same in all three popcorn brands and it’s only the packaging that creates a difference: Buy one brand and you’ve tasted them all! That takes the fun out of popcorn exploration.