March 31 2025 - Novel New Food

 

Every year the CNE has its strange foods that attract attention - rainbow grilled cheese sandwiches, pickle ice cream, and so on.  But RethinkX - the future think tank organization - doesn't mean weird and strange food when they use the term "novel foods." They are talking about PF and CA.  PF is precision fermentation - the claim is that it will make protein production five times cheaper than existing animal proteins by 2030, and 20 times cheaper by 2035.  CA is cellular agriculture and it will create food-as-software.  Can you imagine the ReThinkx prediction?  That by 2030 these modern food products - like "milk" will be higher quality and cost less than half as much to produce as the animal-derived products they replace?  That is five years away. On one hand, plant-based milks are a normal feature in grocery stores. But plant-based milks are only around 10% of total milk sales (that was in 2022.)  That seems to me a long way to go in such a short time.   There are news stories that reinforce the plant-based movement.  Maybe there are a lot more we don't know of:   "A Canadian dairy producer has reopened a former milk processing plant as a plant-based milk facility. Lactalis Canada will now use the site to produce unsweetened, high protein oat, almond, and hazelnut milks under its new brand, named “Enjoy!”. Lactalis shut down the Ontario plant in 2022 after six decades of processing milk there. At the time the company cited the “decreased profitability and economic sustainability” of producing milk in the facility. Dairy products remain the core business of Lactalis, which is the world’s biggest dairy company. But Nathalie Cusson, General Manager of Lactalis Canada’s Fluid Division, said in a statement that “Enjoy! responds to a growing consumer demand for plant-based options that taste great and have positive health impacts.” There are so many pressures today. Our eyes are on the tariff wars.  Could it be that Science leaps over politics when it comes to dairy farming in Canada.   The supply management system was designed to protect farmers and produce a stable and predictable prices for dairy, poultry and eggs. It has been under criticism from the U.S. and now the tariff wars have added more. I wonder how things will play out.  We might be watching the tariff wars only to realize that is  PF and CA developments that replace dairy cows.   I can buy a 3d cake printer on Alibaba.com now.  How much would that price have to come down to make it worthwhile.  It is priced at $1,299.  And are there any eggs in a 3d printed cake? Here's one answer from Smithsonian Magazine: "Their printer-friendly recipe requires seven ingredients—graham cracker paste, peanut butter, strawberry jam, Nutella, banana puree, cherry drizzle and frosting. The technology built the slice by squeezing each element out of a syringe in thin lines, forming the layered dessert."

This is the house at the end of Elizabeth Street in Grimsby where Forty Creek flows into Lake Ontario.  Isn't this a garden picture from a time  long ago?  It is hard to find quaint fences and garden gates these days.  Not to mention such gorgeous roses.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Feb 19 2025 - Brain and Brains

 

We all have a brain, but are we the brains of something - maybe a family or a group?  And do we have the brains to succeed? It seems like we need a plural of brain to succeed. The brain is the organ inside the head.  It controls thought, memory, feelings and activity.  As in the command:  "Use your brain."  What other organ are we going to use.    But when it comes to intelligence, we most often use brains.  Here's a few funny expressions:  "The poor child inherited his mother's brains and his father's looks." " He's got brains but he's too lazy to use them."  "Pick someone's brains"    And don't forget this one -  "\Shit for brains" There are lots of brain and neuron jokes: What happens when your brain sees a friend across the street? “It gives a brain wave”. Why did the brain refuse to take a bath? “It didn’t want to be brainwashed”. What do you call a human skull without a hundred billion neurons? “A no-brainer”. What kind of brain images do dogs and cats like best? “PET scans”. And then what about our minds?  Where do they fit in?  Ha, ha.

So we'll switch from winter to a Shakespearean summer's day with some sweet-smelling roses on a fence in Grimsby.  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

June 15 2022 - Greedflation

 

The New York Times declared that greedflation was occurring in the minds of Democrats who want to attack it with a bill.   It describes some of the common expressions: "Inflation describes widespread price increases over time on consumer goods and services. A recession is when the overall economy slows and typically includes simultaneous and lasting declines in income, employment rates and gross domestic product. Stagflation is the unfortunate combination of both inflationary price increases and a broad economic downturn." But what in the world is “greedflation” and why has it become a thing? What are all the "Flations"? inflation - act, instance of, state of expansion or increase in size deflation reflation - increase in economic activity afflation - blowing or breathing on efflation - filling with wind biflation  insufflation - blowing or breathing into something  And then some more: hyperinflation underinflation overinflation insufflation slumpflation - inflation accompanied by a slump in output and employmen- disinflation - a marked deceleration in the rate inflation stagflation reinflation conflation Here's perhaps the best:  mudflation - the gradual decrease in the value of existing virtual goods in a massively multiplayer online game as new goods are introduced Greedflation is not in the online listings of words ending in "flation" - it NEW! The Times described it as "a term of art for corporate price gouging that’s been in vogue of late and particularly among Democratic Party leaders who are pointing to it as a noteworthy driver of ongoing, record-high inflation across the U.S." It is fascinating to see all these definitions. It seems to me that inflation started as a medical and scientific term.  It moved into the economic realm - in the 1860s.  Here we are in 2022, and we can mark its movement into the political realm.  Is politics a descending realm? This is my theory.   Two weeks ago I went on a garden tour, and this garden below was on the tour.  I was  shocked at how much the garden has changed. I went to my archives from 2014, when it was Squirrel House Garden.  It is whimsical elements like these that are gone.- the property was sold shortly after these pictures were taken.

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Christmas in the Country

Today's post is a farm scene from Mount Albert, north-east of Toronto, where Gerry has the Mount Albert Scale Lumber Business.  This is Foggy River Farm.