Frankenfood

[Dixon Carter Lee]

I don't understand the fear of genetically altered food, particularly since nothing we eat existed in its present form 100 years ago (and much, like brocolli, didn't exist at all).

They've sequenced the genes for rice. It may be possible in my lifetime to feed the whole world. Can the underwater cities and rocket packs be far behind?

 

[Weevil]

I don't understand the fear of genetically altered food, particularly since nothing we eat existed in its present form 100 years ago (and much, like brocolli, didn't exist at all).

They've sequenced the genes for rice. It may be possible in my lifetime to feed the whole world. Can the underwater cities and rocket packs be far behind?

Actually DCL we can feed the whole world right now. The problem is one of distribution and finance.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Which is why genetically altered rice is important, because it survives so well in all kinds of weather and can grow year round, distribution and finance will no longer be such a thorn.

 

[Purple Haze]

And you can download it, too.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

See? You save on UPS.

 

[Weevil]

Which is why genetically altered rice is important, because it survives so well in all kinds of weather and can grow year round, distribution and finance will no longer be such a thorn.

Well, yes and no. We can feed the entire world right now, without any new frankenfoods. I'm skeptical that more food would help if, with all the food we have now it doesn't get around to the people that need it.

 

[Problem Child]

When are they going to genetically engineer downloadable, ups-able ballpark franks with hot spicy mustard. Huh? Fuckin snooty scientists, concentrating on boring cereal grains.

 

[Purple Haze]

The big problem is installing cable everywhere. Those guys are never on time.

 

[Ishmael]

I don't understand the fear of genetically altered food, particularly since nothing we eat existed in its present form 100 years ago (and much, like brocolli, didn't exist at all).

They've sequenced the genes for rice. It may be possible in my lifetime to feed the whole world. Can the underwater cities and rocket packs be far behind?

It is possible to feed the whole world.

As for the 'meat' of your postulate. I truly don't understand the reactionary stance of many groups.

"It may harm someone." Fine, as if there aren't allergic reactions to 'natural' foods.

"It may replace the indigenous species." Please refer to DCL's first paragraph.

"It just ain't natural." Usually put forth by wannabe "hunter/gatherer's" who would starve to death in the garden of eden for want of knowing how to survive outside their local food mart.

"They may take over the earth." The true cross between the "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and the "Little Shop of Horrors" crowd.

"WANTED - PETA members to taste new food offerings. Vegetable matter only. Save a laboratory rat, show you really believe in your cause."

Ishmael

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

What I don't understand is brocolli. Here we go out of our way to engineer an entirely new vegetable, one of the most healthy foods on the planet, and we can't make it taste better? And then we let the whole family buy the Bond franchise? What's wrong with the world?

 

[Rambling Rose]

What's next? Our cereal? Egads!

http://theimaginaryworld.com/tic569.jpg

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

I'm a "Quisp" man myself.

 

[sunstruck]

What I don't understand is brocolli. Here we go out of our way to engineer an entirely new vegetable, one of the most healthy foods on the planet, and we can't make it taste better? And then we let the whole family buy the Bond franchise? What's wrong with the world?

I love brocolli! It's my favorite veggie. Cauliflower is however, the food of satan. Who would think to eat something that looks so much like a human brain?

 

[TygerEyez]

*blinks at her bowl of cauliflower, hoping the cheese sauce doesn't magically turn to blood* That's it, I'm done.

*throws out the veggie* I love cauliflower, but now I'm not hungry anymore...

This whole frankenfoods thing is a can of worms. I love the idea, and I think if we actually could spread it around, fabulous.

The problem is, is that no matter how many scientific advances you make, there are always going to be nay-sayers, people that just aren't open to that kind of thing.

We have enough food to go around now, as you've all said. The question is, why haven't we spread it around already? Why do we have to wait for a genetically engineered rice to give to our fellow man?

 

[Kitte]

While they are doing all this engineering, do you think they could do somethign with brussel sprouts. I mean what are they! Lil gross tating cabbages that repeat on ya!

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

sunstruck: Brocolli was made from cauliflower (and asparagus, I think). So you've made a pact with the spawn of Satan. Now you're going to have to move into the Dakota next to Ruth Gordon.

 

[TygerEyez]

LOL at DCL.

Brussel sprouts are good, Kitte. You just have to cook them right. Best way is in lemon and butter. Tastey little buggers.

You have to buy the nice small ones, too. The bigger ones are bitter. And cut X's in the bottoms when you cook them. Makes 'em softer.

 

[Problem Child]

sunstruck: Brocolli was made from cauliflower (and asparagus, I think). So you've made a pact with the spawn of Satan. Now you're going to have to move into the Dakota next to Ruth Gordon.

Oh my little ranch hands, so much misinformation! Broccoli was not "created" from anything. Broccoli is in the Brassicaceae (mustard) family, along with brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower. It developed naturally by mutating, probably from a type of cabbage, and has been cultivated at least as far back as the Roman empire.

Since that time at least, it's pretty much the same plant that it is now, aside from being modified by conventional plant breeding methods- essentially choosing the best plants and trying to reproduces them naturally by selecting out mutants and/or crossing them with other good individuals.

It is genetically impossible to cross Broccoli and Asparagus. Asparagus is in the Liliaceae (lily) family and actually grows as a fern. The part you eat is actually the new shoot before it turns into that fern. Similarly, a head of broccoli is just an immature cluster of flowers, harvested before it blooms.

Interesting shit, eh? Now you know.

 

[lavender]

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

The particular vegetable we know as today's brocolli is a hybid patented by the Brocolli family less than 100 years ago.

 

[sunstruck]

sunstruck: Brocolli was made from cauliflower (and asparagus, I think). So you've made a pact with the spawn of Satan. Now you're going to have to move into the Dakota next to Ruth Gordon.

Damn it! Tricky little bastard...but then again, I'll finally get to find out the truth about Polanski. That's a plus!

So oh vegie guru, is cauliflower a naturally (though still spawed of Lucifer) growning food?

 

[lavender]

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

And it was caulifower and rabe, not aspargus.

Cauliflower is natural, but it's not a vegetable. I believe herbology classifies it as a "paperweight".

 

[JazzManJim]

The particular vegetable we know as today's brocolli is a hybid patented by the Brocolli family less than 100 years ago.

Would that be the self-same Broccoli family that produces the James Bond films?

That'd be a rather sinister conspiracy link for someone.

 

[Dixon Carter Lee]

Yes, it is, actually.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply earlier that broccoli was invented this century. Various types of broccoli have been around for centuries, but today's broccoli (which was "fashioned" by humans, the same way we fashioned poodles), is very much a specific type of plant. "Broccoli" is a generic term, though the family does own patents.