"The new standards would allow products that don't contain cocoa
butter, the ingredient that gives chocolate it's beloved "mouth feel,"
to start being labeled as "chocolate." Cybele at Candyblog is urging readers to tell the FDA Don't Mess With Our Chocolate,
pointing out that not only do the chocolate products with other fats
taste oily, but they may contain trans fats or saturated fats, which
are proven to raise cholesterol.

Another food blogger who's joined the protest is Kate of Accidental Hedonist, who's long been a vocal critic of the FDA. Kate agrees that new chocolate standards won't benefit consumers and maintains that the desire to change what is defined as chocolate is driven purely by corporate greed."

Food is the new literature; where once someone might brag that they read a lot, now they brag about the pedigree and uniqueness of their food and drink. Often, this takes the form of them bitching *vociferously* if someone dares to suggest that perhaps an artificial substitute could be used for some "organic" or "natural" product.

I would like to iterate here that "natural" by no means equals "safe" or even "healthy". Anyone whom doubts this can go eat a mouthful of poison ivy or some toadstools from their yard. Natural - and organic - just means it's something that grew, rather then was manufactured.

I've nothing *against* such products, and i even have a garden. I enjoy shopping at the farmer's market equivalent we have at Rogers, and nothing says satisfying like a fresh tomato or ripe apple or fresh-from-the-tree peach. But at the same time, i don't kid myself. That fruit was sitting outside - possibly for months. it was exposed to every manner of anything in the air, rain, or on insects or other animals and people that touched it, handled it, or even ate from it. It's full of bacteria, fungus, possibly viruses. It's chemical composition is a complex stew of organic compounds, which - in all probability - isn't even actually all that well known.

Generally speaking, though, i feel people use organic as some kind of magic stamp of approval, when it just isn't so. i would wager in a blind taste test, most people couldn't tell the difference between their preferred brand of something and generic.