Saturday, June 5, 2010

Cool Whip

I'm a fan of food, but I'm not a food snob.  I enjoy my Cool Whip on pie at family gatherings.  But when I read this, I really have to reconsider my choices.  I've written elsewhere about Happy Meals and why I don't want to feed them to my children.  I'm a fan of Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan

So I'll now add Cool Whip to my list of potential auto and plumbing repair tools.  I've used plumber's putty and duct tape, but one can never have enough options. 

Still, it amazes me that companies, comprised of people, will create this kind of product and feed it to people.  And, more amazingly, knowing this, I suspect I will still eat it on occasion. 

Photo by lowjumpingfrog, from flckr Creative Commons

Here are Cool Whip's ingredients from Kraft's website: WATER, HYDROGENATED VEGETABLE OIL (COCONUT AND PALM KERNEL OILS), HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORN SYRUP, SKIM MILK, LIGHT CREAM, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF SODIUM CASEINATE, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, XANTHAN AND GUAR GUMS, POLYSORBATE 60, SORBITAN MONOSTEARATE, BETA CAROTENE (COLOR). CONTAINS: MILK.
 
Here are the ingredients for whipped cream: heavy cream, sugar, vanilla (optional).

How come Cool Whip needs both high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup?  What is sorbitan monostearate, and how come they put it in my food?  Here is more information about Cool Whip's ingredients.  I don't even want to go there.   Wow. 

4 comments:

  1. I'm pretty sure there will be no Cool Whip in my future after reading this!

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  2. So, Have you read the "Omnivore's Dilemma"?

    That will be on my summer reading list.

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  3. I made my kids watch Supersize Me, but they still would eat Chicken McNuggets. Anything in moderation, I suppose, but it's still pretty gross.

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  4. I am a fan of making my own.

    Heavy whipping cream and vanilla, maybe a touch of sugar or a hint of cocoa powder to lend a slight chocolate flavor. Sometimes a few sprinkles of instant coffee to lend a coffee flavor. I wonder if instant coffee has hidden crappy ingredients?

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