Friday, June 03, 2005

that afternoon cup 'o cancer


getty images

INGREDIENTS:

NONDAIRY CREAMER [PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED COCONUT OIL, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS*, SODIUM CASEINATE (FROM MILK), DIPOTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, SODIUM STEAROYL LACYTLATE, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR], INSTANT TEA, MALTODEXTRIN, MODIFIED CORNSTARCH, SODIUM CITRATE, CONATINS LESS THAT 2% OF NATURAL FLAVOR, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, ASPARTAME† AND ACESULFAME POTASSIUM (SWEETENERS).

*ADDS A NEGLIGIBLE AMOUNT OF SUGAR
† PHENYLKETONURICS: CONTAINS PHENYLALANINE

it looked good in the grocery store. General Foods International Sugar Free Instant Chai Latte. yum. i'd save some money by not taking that afternoon trek to starbucks, have my very own general foods international moment right here at my desk. but now, on a busy friday afternoon at work, i'm sipping this spicy-sweet though slightly synthetic tasting concoction, take a gander at the nutrition label:

!!!!!!!

isn't there a rule to how many carcinogens can be contained in one item? and is it a coincidence that the PHENYLKETONURICS: CONTAINS PHENYLALANINE is referenced with a cross†? i think not.

but hey, at least it's transfat and sugar free and low in calories. i'll die, but at least i'll be thin. such a small price to pay.

gfic.com

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the buttercream recipe...no synthetic ingredients there. I will make it with love and think fondly of all the times it has been lovingly made by others!

(Don't fear the phenylalanine, by the way. They have to flag that stuff for people with phenylketonuria, an inborn disease of metabolism. The rest of us can swill away; the only the problem is that it doesn't really taste very good.)

Keep writing--I will keep reading.
Jen