TracyFood

Foto Friday: moment of Zen edition 15 June 2007 11:55 pm

Posted by Tracy in : cooking,pictures , trackback

In the middle of all our last-minute vacation preparation, I took a little time out to scan a bit of heartwarming food snobbery. Behold its source: a package of organic whole wheat fusilli (eaten with broccoli rabe and tomatoes, in case you were wondering).

Seems innocuous enough, right? But check out those cooking instructions on the back:

Okay, for those of you who don’t want to click through to the Flickr page for the big version, I’ll transcribe it here:

Bring 4 quarts of water to a full boil. Add 4 tablespoons of salt. Pour in 1lb of pasta and stir so pasta does not stick. Cook uncovered at full boil, stirring occasionally. The more you cook your pasta, the higher the glycemic-index rating. Please test your pasta frequently and become accustomed to eating pasta “al dente”, as they do in Italy.

Okay, I added the boldface font for emphasis myself. I have no idea why that cracked me up so much, but the implicit “c’mon, people, don’t overcook that stuff, it’s gross and a waste of good noodles” came through to me loud and strong and made me very happy. I like my food opinionated, yes I do. And now I am going to bed, and after that on vacation. Regularly-scheduled posts will be back on July 9, but I’ll try to check in from across the pond when I can, especially when there’s something delicious to report.

debbie

My mom started talking about "low GI" stuff while in England, without much explanation. It took me a long time to figure out that GI did not mean gastro-intestinal. heehee
Chiara

We are all about the GI index here in the Southern Hemisphere as well--a lot of stuff (like, inexplicably, the gigantic tin of Nestle's hot chocolate at my office) is labeled "low GI."
TracyFood

I might have read it that way if they hadn't specifically mentioned "as they do in Italy" --- because of course, Italians are the One True Pasta-Cooking Nationality (even if Marco Polo got them the whole noodle idea from China). The glycemic index stuff is weirdly fascinating and suggests to me that the package material writers were aiming at a more European readership --- or at least, I've seen a lot more discussion of GI-related nutritionism on the easterly side of the pond. (And please don't ask me if I should be packing for my trip, eh? I was avoiding responsibility so well...)
Liz

I read it as "Don't overcook your pasta not because it will taste bad, but because it's bad for your diet. And we don't want you eating high on the glycemic index, do we now?" A slightly less TracyFood-friendly option.