Month: August 2014

Rebecca Smithers flags new findings about the salt levels in various cheeses:

Halloumi and imported blue cheese such as Roquefort contained the most salt – more than sea water – while cottage cheese contained the least, according to a major new research study carried out by Cash (Consensus Action on Salt & Health) and published in the British Medical Journal…. [The study] is based on an extensive survey of 612 British and imported cheese products sold in UK supermarkets in 2012, using data on the labels to analyse the salt content (g/100g). It looked at the salt reduction targets for ten popular cheeses set by the Food Standards Agency watchdog and implemented by the Department of Health, to be achieved by 2012. While 85% (333 of the 394) of cheeses have already met their targets, 81% (318 of 394) would still get a red (which means ‘high’) colour rating under the so-called ‘traffic light’ labelling scheme.

A Daily Mail headline reminds that the saltiest cheeses are “foreign” in origin. Meanwhile, James Ramsden stands up for the high-sodium dairy products:

This latest study, which brings little new information to the table, reckons salt content to be considerably lower in supermarket own-brand cheddar and “cheddar-style” cheeses than in their branded equivalents. This, they inform us with the sort of dreary lack of appetite you’d expect from a group such as Cash, “demonstrates that it is technically possible to produce cheese with less salt in it”.

Sure. Just as it’s technically possible to make decaffeinated coffee, alcohol-free beer and vegan sausages. But that’s kind of missing the point. And cheese needs salt. Sarah Hampton, who makes goat’s cheese at Brock Hall farm in Shropshire, says: “The effect of salt in cheesemaking performs an essential function in the casein matrix, creates texture and flavour, and affects protein hydration in the cheese body.”

Should more cheeses be made with less salt? “I personally like to be quite sparing with salt quantities,” Hampton says. “For the kinds of semi-soft and semi-hard cheeses I make, too much salt can foreshorten the flavour. But some cheeses need that saltiness. Feta, for example, is more salty than a fresh goat’s cheese, but that level of salinity constitutes the character of the cheese. An unsalted feta would be horrendous.”

(Photo of Halloumi salad by Judith Doyle)

Megan Garber takes stock of the micro-holidays catalogued at Daysoftheyear.com, including (just today!) Garage Sale Day, Rice Pudding Day, Book Lovers Day, and Bowling Day:

Micro-holidays, which teeter somewhere in the center of the continuum between universality and irrelevancy, are political. They do what all holidays will, in the end: convene our attention around a cause. But they are different from official holidays in one crucial way: They are opt-in.

In that, they are in some ways the temporized equivalent of all those “What Kind of Person Are You?” Internet quizzes, or of those “You Know You Grew Up in the ’90s” demolisticles: They’re about finding communities of like minds within the social chaos of the Internet. Every year, people will discover delightfully nerdy new ways to celebrate National Grammar Day – and they will do that in part because they are self-identified grammar nerds. Who are sharing a thing with other self-identified grammar nerds. The exchanging of grammar-mistake pet peeves and the starting of heated fights about the Oxford comma – some traditional ways of celebrating the day – say something about who they are as people. It says something, also, about what they want to share as people. It suggests the thing that has been true all along, but that the Internet is reminding us of anew: that being and sharing are often the same thing.

(Image via Terry Chay)

Jordan Weissmann takes note of a Republican movement to “smash the cartel” of college accreditors:

In order for their students to receive federal aid, colleges and vocational programs need to be accredited. The accrediting agencies, which are independent of the government, mostly give their blessing to schools that look an awful lot like traditional institutions of higher education, with brick-and-mortar buildings, well-credentialed faculty, and a nice mission statement. …

“As was the case for airlines, trucking, and telecommunications, higher education needs a deregulatory agenda that breaks down these barriers to entry,” the American Enterprise Institute’s Andrew Kelly wrote in the reform conservative manifesto “Room to Grow.” In January, Lee introduced legislation that would give states a major role in the accreditation process. The bill has nods of approval from potential presidential contenders Marco Rubio, who has his own proposal on the issue, and Paul Ryan, who dedicated a little-discussed section of his anti-poverty plan to “shaking up the accreditation status quo.” The hope is that once Washington breaks the hold of today’s accrediting agencies, new, high-tech approaches to education can flourish.

[Update: Premium tri-blend t-shirts no longer available. 100% cotton versions here.]

Sales for our two premium tri-blend t-shirts have started to taper off, and since we screen-print them in bulk orders to keep the price down (one-by-one digital printing is a more expensive process), we will discontinue our first two designs this weekend. So if you still want one of these attractive premium tees, head here now and place your order no later than midnight Sunday EST. A quick reminder of the t-shirt details:

The first is a light blue one emblazoned with the Dish logo across the chest (see above on the right). Or if you prefer the baying beagle by herself, check out the gray Howler Tee (modeled above on the left). I love the lone howler myself – only other Dishheads will get it. We picked American Apparel t-shirts that use high-quality screen-printing and a higher quality tri-blend fabric that’s super soft, durable, and has a bit of stretch that retains its slim shape. There are sizes for both men and women – no generic “unisex” option this time around, as you insisted. We’ve also lowered the price by half compared with the t-shirts we did a few years ago.

So go here now to grab one before they’re gone for good. But if you’re one of our readers allergic to synthetic fabrics and can only wear 100% cotton shirts, that option will be available for the Howler and Logo designs next week, so hold tight. And the polo shirt – in navy blue or white – will continue to be available. One reader doesn’t care either way:

Is The Dish ever going to post emails from subscribers who do not give a fuck about your tee shirts? No, really. Some subscribers – well, me obviously – are simply not interested in advertising junk on their chests, even blogs.

Readers here, here, and here disagree. One more:

Okay, okay, I love the lone howler design too – not for its super-secret insideriness, but because the simple but attractive design can be appreciated by anyone, without wondering “D?SH?” I think the white-and-tan dog would look fantastic on a blue or brown background (probable on green or yellow, too), but the gray? Meh – it does nothing for me. When you have it on a blue t-shirt (light or dark), I will buy it. I promise. Even if it’s no longer the super-duper mega-quality wonder-shirt you’re constantly threatening to remove forever from our reach.

Stay tuned; we’re rolling out many color options for the 100% cotton shirts next week. And one final note on the higher-quality tri-blends you’ve been ordering: because they are screen-printed in bulk, the ordering process is a bit longer than usual, so we really appreciate your patience. Your shirt is arriving very soon!

Melissa Dahl recounts her week of almost unrelenting positivity:

I decided to, temporarily, quit complaining. No shit-talking for one whole week. I went home and excitedly told my plan to my boyfriend, who laughed at me — a reaction signaling that maybe this was a bigger problem than I’d realized.

My little experiment was inspired by my friend Meena Duerson, who recently did her own seven-day complaining cleanse. “I remember noticing that I was venting a lot both at work, in conversations with friends, and at home with my husband, and it wasn’t cheering me up — it was stressing me out more,” she told me.

Dahl concludes that complaining has its upside:

In the end, my experience ultimately pushed me toward seeing the benefits of a little kvetching, something Robin Kowalski, a Clemson University psychology professor, has argued before. “There’s no doubt in my mind that complaining can serve some very beneficial functions,” she said. “For one, it’s a great icebreaker.” You’d never strike up a conversation with a stranger waiting next to you for a subway about how reliable the trains are running lately, after all. (And, as we’ve recently learned, small talk with people we don’t know is very good for us.) A little bit of negativity has some health benefits, too, as a study published last year found that pessimistic older adults were more likely to live longer, healthier lives.