Daily slop

[Apech]

This thread is not really about food but I will begin with an illustration from today.  I was out shopping and decided on a whim to have some fast food for lunch.  I went to a KFC and a meal there.  This is the first time since November (when I went to  macDonalds) that I have had this kind of food.  The chicken burger (called a 'classical' or something) was mostly tasteless but with some ice cold salad in it which was kind of off putting to crunch into.  The fries were covered in a sweet and sour sauce and bits of bacon.  I washed it down with a diet Pepsi which tasted mostly of aniseed.  

 

There were an unusually large number of overweight people in the restaurant. Parents and children.  Everyone was well behaved and the staff were brilliant.  In fact, because we had a loyalty card from a supermarket the meal was free!!!  This was the best thing about it.  I wouldn't go again, unless forced by circumstances; but I have nothing against the place and am happy to allow its continued existence given the need for variety and complexity in our world.

 

It did get me to thinking though.  Why is it, that on all levels, physical, emotional and factual our lives today are overflowing with slop.  Why are fries coated with sticky sauce?  Why is all the taste in the additives?  It's the same with TV, the news, everything that is presented to us as being enjoyable.  Anything on Facebook or Twitter.  Even in lifestyle choices (to use that terrible phrase) we are encouraged to prefer slop and not things that are truly nutritious or wholesome.  Is that why the birthrate is dropping?  Because people trade the deeply rewarding experience of having children for self indulgent frippery???

 

Think about your day my friends and give me your best examples of daily slop.

 

NB.  Nothing political please!

 

 

[Taomeow]

For some reason, off the top of my head I remembered a novel from the 1990s by Orson Scott Card titled Enchantment, a modern retelling of Sleeping Beauty that blends Slavic folklore, time travel, and fantasy.  The protagonist, a Russian-American scholar, discovers and wakes up a princess who's been sleeping since the 9th century Kievan Rus' era.  The princess, a smart and resourceful girl, begins adjusting to modernity, yet one thing she can't get used to is food.  "Everything is flavored with something else," she complains.  She winds up living for a while in modern America, then going there and back and spending some time here, some time there, and ultimately choosing the medieval time for her permanent destination.  The scholar of course follows her.  Nothing there is flavored with anything else -- it is what it is.  One ingredient cottage cheese, one ingredient love, and so on...  uncomplicated.  And he chooses that.   

 

 

[Gerard]

Conveyor belt produced type of food, that's what junk food is all about. No art, no skill, no quality and no love!

 

On the other hand, I love Basque food even though today has become very popular but still the good stuff is there 'lurking in the shadows' but you have to find it while being careful not getting caught up in tourist traps.

 

 

Japanese junk food?

 

 

I don't think so.

Edited March 13 by Gerard

[Mark Foote]

Sloppy Joe!

 

 

 

 

Edited March 19 by Mark Foote

[old3bob]

 

what is not political in some way or another?  Including life in a fairly safe country that hasn't been impacted too badly yet by little big dick you know who...

Edited March 19 by old3bob

[old3bob]

 

and there are all the local, county, state, national and international "accidents" of various types that were and are largely preventable if not for sloppy trends from A-Z for most everything from A-Z!  (with serious results on our lives and the environment, for instance industrial fires, oil tanker disasters, train wrecks, airline crash's,  many endlessly delayed infrastructure problems with roads, bridges, buildings, lead water pipes,  forever compounds, trash in the oceans, etc. etc...)

 

 

[Mark Foote]

On 3/19/2025 at 3:58 AM, old3bob said:

 

and there are all the local, county, state, national and international "accidents" of various types that were and are largely preventable if not for sloppy trends from A-Z for most everything from A-Z!  (with serious results on our lives and the environment, for instance industrial fires, oil tanker disasters, train wrecks, airline crash's,  many endlessly delayed infrastructure problems with roads, bridges, buildings, lead water pipes,  forever compounds, trash in the oceans, etc. etc...)

 

 

 

 

[Apech]

On 3/19/2025 at 10:58 AM, old3bob said:

 

and there are all the local, county, state, national and international "accidents" of various types that were and are largely preventable if not for sloppy trends from A-Z for most everything from A-Z!  (with serious results on our lives and the environment, for instance industrial fires, oil tanker disasters, train wrecks, airline crash's,  many endlessly delayed infrastructure problems with roads, bridges, buildings, lead water pipes,  forever compounds, trash in the oceans, etc. etc...)

 

 

 

 

This thread is about slop.  Not about serious industrial accidents.  

[Cobie]

7 minutes ago, Mark Foote said:

 

Exactly. 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 10:25 PM by Cobie

[Cobie]

On 12/03/2025 at 10:49 PM, Apech said:

…  Is that why the birthrate is dropping? …

I blame Laozi  … 塞其兑 终身不堇 … Block the holes, and to the end of your days you will not toil. (Ch. 52)
 

 

 

Edited Thursday at 11:31 PM by Cobie

[liminal_luke]

This table from Ted Gioia´s substack (The State of the Culture, 2024 - by Ted Gioia) comes to mind.

 

 

[old3bob]

 

boot camp chow: tastes better than it looks

 

 

[Mark Foote]

I-80 in Pennsylvania:

 

 

 

[old3bob]

11 hours ago, Mark Foote said:

I-80 in Pennsylvania:

 

 

 

 

some people think they can drive 75mph on icy roads or in poor conditions and never wreck!! (etc.) 

(not an industrial accident but not all that different from what brought it about, Apech) 

Edited Sunday at 11:39 AM by old3bob

[Taomeow]

Silicone and botox inside human bodies and human faces.

Many layers of chemical slop on top of that -- primer, foundation, concealer, blush, contouring makeup, powder, glitter, eyeshadows, glued-on eyelashes, lipstick, eyebrow gel, "midday apply a second layer to freshen up, and a third one for the evening."   

Petroleum derived perfumes, deodorants, moisturizers, sunscreens, body washes, shampoos, laundry detergents, makeup removers, hair styling gels, hair dyes. 

 

The visible/smellable tip of the slop iceberg.  Things like a full spoonful of microplastics inside the human brains (a recent scientific discovery) are not as noticeable.  (Q: "Which is worse -- to be bald or to be stupid?" A: "Bald of course.  More noticeable.")  The bulk of the slop is inside the bloodstream and in every cell of the body.  (Let's pretend it's not there though, considering how the most disturbing part of the overall bulk gets in there.)

 

We may eventually devolve to jellyfish, but luckily jellyfish don't have a brain or a mind so we won't mind.  Jellyfish are much less sensitive to chemicals in their environment than many other species.  Which makes sense -- slop adapts to slop better than non-slop does.    

Edited Sunday at 04:02 PM by Taomeow

[doc benway]

On 3/20/2025 at 7:45 PM, liminal_luke said:

This table from Ted Gioia´s substack (The State of the Culture, 2024 - by Ted Gioia) comes to mind.

 

 

 

My brother used to dance professionally and travelled constantly. We would stay in touch largely through hand written letters. I really miss that and have several of his old letters. I read them once in a while and they were so funny and creative. I’m inspired to send him a letter!

[liminal_luke]

1 hour ago, Taomeow said:

  Which makes sense -- slop adapts to slop better than non-slop does.    

 

Bernie Bayard, my old naturopath/acupuncturist, used to say that dirt thrown in a dirty pond isn´t noticed.  But throw dirt in a clean pond -- that´s another story.  It was a metaphor for diet.  Another day of slop on top of a slop food diet doesn´t make much of a subjective difference.  But eat "clean" for a few weeks and then go to Burger King?  Opps!

[Apech]

41 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

 

Bernie Bayard, my old naturopath/acupuncturist, used to say that dirt thrown in a dirty pond isn´t noticed.  But throw dirt in a clean pond -- that´s another story.  It was a metaphor for diet.  Another day of slop on top of a slop food diet doesn´t make much of a subjective difference.  But eat "clean" for a few weeks and then go to Burger King?  Opps!

There is such a difference between simple proper food and slop.  They are almost like totally different things.

 

But why are we encouraged to eat slop?  Who benefits?

 

Who are the slop merchants?

[Taomeow]

1 hour ago, liminal_luke said:

 

Bernie Bayard, my old naturopath/acupuncturist, used to say that dirt thrown in a dirty pond isn´t noticed.  But throw dirt in a clean pond -- that´s another story.  It was a metaphor for diet.  Another day of slop on top of a slop food diet doesn´t make much of a subjective difference.  But eat "clean" for a few weeks and then go to Burger King?  Opps!

 

When I was doing keto, after about 6 months of no sweets and very low carbs I decided to have a piece of chocolate.  Had to spit it out -- it burned my mouth as though it was acid.  But that's not because chocolate is bad.  Only because bad chocolate is bad.  And I can't find good chocolate anymore, anywhere.  You can't make good chocolate if you start out by stealing all the cocoa butter from it, processing it with harsh chemicals, and adding either too much sugar or not enough (that last scenario is what you get in "health food stores," overpriced, sandpapery on the tongue and hard to swallow.  "Dark chocolate" they call it, 95% cacao they call it, charge you twice the price of the sugary commercial kind.  A sucker is born every minute.  Real chocolate is 55% fat -- that's the natural content in cocoa beans.  So delicious...  but it only lives in my memory.  Fuckers.)  

Edited Sunday at 06:39 PM by Taomeow

[old3bob]

 

I read somewhere that chocolate from certain areas is high in heavy metal (cadmium maybe?)

 

Btw, found out that dark chocolate is pretty toxic for dogs (don't know about cats) after our dog stole and ate some out of a grocery bag.  Fortunately it was milk chocolate which may give a dog the runs, etc.. but not kill them.

 

[old3bob]

3 hours ago, Apech said:

There is such a difference between simple proper food and slop.  They are almost like totally different things.

 

But why are we encouraged to eat slop?  Who benefits?

 

Who are the slop merchants?

 

could be the bad guys....

[Nungali]

4 hours ago, Apech said:

There is such a difference between simple proper food and slop.  They are almost like totally different things.

 

But why are we encouraged to eat slop?  Who benefits?

 

Who are the slop merchants?

 

 

 

[liminal_luke]

5 hours ago, Apech said:

There is such a difference between simple proper food and slop.  They are almost like totally different things.

 

But why are we encouraged to eat slop?  Who benefits?

 

Who are the slop merchants?

 

By definition, slop is uniform.  Simple proper food is rustic and varied.  Simple proper food resembles the people who eat it -- multifaceted, soulful, individual; slop resembles AI.  Corporations have to make things uniform to return a profit and thus produce slop.  Cooks who care about cooking as an art produce food with chi, food that holds the subtle but powerful imprint of the creative process.  Such cooks may make money but you generally can´t buy their creations at 7-11.

Edited Sunday at 11:21 PM by liminal_luke

[Taomeow]

6 hours ago, old3bob said:

 

I read somewhere that chocolate from certain areas is high in heavy metal (cadmium maybe?)

 

Btw, found out that dark chocolate is pretty toxic for dogs (don't know about cats) after our dog stole and ate some out of a grocery bag.  Fortunately it was milk chocolate which may give a dog the runs, etc.. but not kill them.

 

 

Apparently it can be even more dangerous for cats, causing seizures.  Luckily cats, unlike dogs, are very picky eaters, and none of the cats I had in my life ever got interested in chocolate.  

 

[Apech]

8 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

Apparently it can be even more dangerous for cats, causing seizures.  Luckily cats, unlike dogs, are very picky eaters, and none of the cats I had in my life ever got interested in chocolate.  

 

I just bought some 90% cacao chocolate made by Moser Roth.

 

The ingredients list cacao pasta (paste presumably) cocoa butter sugar and ‘ emulgente soya lecithin and vanilla extract.

 

it’s very bitter. Also warns of nut traces? Why not sure.

 

Don’t like it much.