‘Real Food/Fake Food’ reveals misleading practices in food industry

July 12, 2016 12:00 am • Last Updated: July 13, 2016 12:19 pm

“Real Food/Fake Food” (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill) by Larry Olmsted is $27.95, hardcover.

Larry Olmsted knows more than a few things about uncovering the truth as an award-winning journalist whose work appears regularly in national and international publications. He is also a passionate gourmand, who writes the “Great American Bites” column for USA Today and is the food and travel columnist at Forbes.com. A resident of Vermont, Olmsted teaches nonfiction writing at Dartmouth College.

So when you combine Olmsted’s writing/research skills and love of food the result is his new book “Real Food/Fake Food: Why You Don’t Know What You’re Eating & What You Can Do About It.”

“Real Food/Fake Food” reveals the many deceptive practices in an unregulated food industry and attempts to convince readers why eating real food is so important, while helping people to make smarter choices about the food they purchase and consume.

The book covers all kinds of edibles — meat, fish, cheese, oils, as well as alcoholic beverages including wine, Port, champagne and scotch. It uncovers the truth behind some of America’s highest-end foods to everyday items and the government’s apathy toward creating and enforcing regulations.

While on his national book tour, Olmsted took time out to talk to The Day about his book and highlight some of its most important points and revelations.

Q. Can you explain what you mean by “Fake foods are not fake because they are of low quality; they are of low quality because they are fake?”

A. If you go to a fast-food place and buy a 99-cent burger, it’s going to be low quality, but that’s to be expected. You get what you think you’re paying for. They’re not claiming it’s grass fed or USDA Prime or even all beef. They are claiming it’s a hamburger and it is. But when you buy a $50 Kobe beef burger and it’s not Kobe beef, but meat of much lower quality, the reason for the lower quality is because it’s fake.

Q. Did you have a difficult time getting information since you were uncovering fraud in the food industry?

A. Many ‘Fake Food’ scandals have reared their heads before and they make a bit of noise for a while, then they fade away, but as far as I know no one had linked them. Olive oil has been in and out of the fraud news for decades. Various seafood scandals have rocked regions, like the Florida grouper scandal of 2006 and another big one in New England. Legit producers that are affected and non-profits monitoring the food supply are eager to talk about it, so I was able to go to Japan and see what makes Kobe beef special, and likewise for cheeses in France, Italy and Switzerland; ham in Italy; wine in California; Port in Portugal; shrimp and oysters in Mississippi; lobsters in Maine, and so on.

Q. How long did it take you to gather all this research and write the book?

A. About four years. In 2012 I did a story for Forbes.com on Kobe beef fraud and frankly I was shocked by the public reaction, how many people clicked on it (1.5 million) and how upset readers were. That’s a luxury food that doesn’t affect a lot of people, so I started to wonder what else is fake and started to do research and it didn’t take long to find out the unfortunate answer is a lot. The Grocery Manufacturers of America estimate that 10 percent of our commercially available food is adulterated — one in 10 items. And a lot of them are staples like coffee, honey and juice.

Q. What are the top worst “Fake foods” and why?

A. In terms of consumer market penetration, I’d say extra-virgin olive oil because everyone I know who cooks at all has a bottle in their kitchen, and they’re almost all fake. In terms of an entire food sector, definitely seafood. It’s so rife with fraud, it’s crazy — from sushi to fast casual chains to fish markets. President Obama had to announce a new task force just to combat seafood fraud. You don’t get a vegetable fraud task force. In terms of pure fakeness I’d put truffle oil at the top of the list because it isn’t even a copy of a real product, it’s entirely made up, a manufactured chemical that has absolutely nothing to do with truffles. It’s cheap but sounds expensive, so restaurants started pouring it on things like popcorn.

Q. As consumers, many of us are exhausted and immobilized by all our food choices and often contradictory information about what is and isn’t safe to eat. Is this another book that will add to our sense of overwhelm or will it simplify our food consumption choices and understanding — and why?

A. I’m hoping to make people more thoughtful, better-informed consumers, but how deep you go is ultimately up to you. If you love seafood and eat a lot of it, I think it’s important that you know more, but if you only eat beef occasionally, you don’t have to get all wrapped up in minutiae. I’m a big believer in moderation. I personally try to eat drug-free meat without hormones, steroids or antibiotics. Do I sometimes eat industrial meat? Yes. But the more you know, the more good choices you can make.

Q. What are the most important — and also easiest — things people can do to make sure they eat more “real food”?

A. Shop more and cook more. In restaurants and with most processed foods you have very little control over the ingredients. Buy foods that are recognizable: you can’t get fooled buying a whole lobster, but buy frozen lobster ravioli or bisque and there’s a good chance it won’t (contain) lobster.

STEVEN RAICHLEN’S BEST-EVER SPANISH STEAK RECIPE

This simple but delicious two-ingredient recipe was adapted by culinary author Steven Raichlen from Casa Julian, a famous steakhouse in Spain’s Basque region outside San Sebastian. He taught me the salt cooking technique and I’ve made it ever since because it is a simple but excellent way to cook steak … As in Argentina, it is cooked over a wood fire, but I’ve made this recipe on the gas grill and it works fine. A boneless rib eye may be substituted with equally good results. Serves 2.

—Larry Olmsted

2 bone-in grass-fed, naturally raised rib steaks, cut 1½ inches thick

1 cup rock salt or coarse sea salt

Oil the grill grates. Preheat a gas or coal grill on medium-high.

Place the steaks on the grill and cover their entire top surface with a ¼-inch-thick layer of coarse salt. Cook undisturbed for about 5 minutes or until drops of juice begin to appear through the salt layer.

Flip and don’t worry about the salt falling off. Repeat the salt application. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes for medium-rare, slightly longer if you have thicker steaks or want it more well done.

With tongs, knock the sides of the steaks against grill or hold the steaks and hit them with a knife to remove excess salt. Rest the steaks for 2 minutes, then serve.