15°c Clear
28°c Isolated showers
Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Students discover chocolate key to serving healthy food
What with the Jets getting hotter (despite Sunday's loss) and the weather getting brutally cold, I suspect most of you are eager to find out what happened at this year's Great Manitoba Food Fight.
This is the annual competition at The Forks wherein teams of budding food scientists from the faculties of agriculture and human ecology at the University of Manitoba battle to see who has created the tastiest and most marketable new food product.
The way it works is 10 teams pitch their product ideas and provide samples to a panel of expert judges consisting of Judy Wilson, director of marketing and communication at the Asper School of Business; Dave Shambrock, executive director of the Manitoba Food Processors Association; and me.
Once again the students' high-tech culinary skills and marketing genius filled us expert judges with pride in our education system and hope for the future of democracy.
I say this because the products whipped up by the students on Friday, while not always tasty in the sense of being something you would want to swallow, were packed with antioxidants, pro-biotic bacteria and fibre, all designed to improve gastrointestinal health, lower blood pressure and slow the aging process.
This is a radical departure from when I was in school and the major concern of students was to speed up the aging process because it made it easier for us to get our hands on important educational items, such as beer.
In previous years, the student teams picked their own ingredients, but this year, out of sheer cruelty, organizers forced the competitors to pluck a random ingredient out of a hat and then build a food item around it. The first thing we judges popped into our mouths was a "Carrot Cake Oatmeal" made with powdered carrots, which, according to the students, can help prevent night blindness.
"It's a good way to have vegetables for breakfast," they said. "We think we can target this to middle-aged people." As a middle-aged person, I would say the main goal of us older persons is to find new ways to incorporate vegetables into our morning routine and then, when our wife isn't looking, wrap them in bacon.
This year, the students were more innovative than ever, proving they had grasped the single most important rule of food science: If something tastes like foam insulation, make sure you dip it in chocolate!
For instance, we consumed a Black Forest Cake that featured the mystery ingredient of soluble flax fibre. "To make it taste really good, we decided to add cocoa powder, dark-chocolate chunks and cherries," the students explained.
We judges also gobbled "Canola Chocoballs," which were essentially chocolate-coated balls of something called ground canola press cake, which looks and tastes like a product you would (a) feed to livestock, or (b) use to insulate your house.
The big winner this year was the "Sea Buckthorn Plusterz," salty pretzel clusters drizzled with white chocolate and dried sea buckthorn, a plant with magical health properties and a name that sounds, to me at least, like a menacing sawtoothed creature from the sea.
"With a name like that, you should sell them in a bag with a scary pirate on it" was my helpful marketing tip to the students. My fellow judges clearly agreed, because they responded with a chorus of: "ARRRRR!!! ARRRRRR!!!"
"I'm so surprised," Elisabeth Harms, 24, a member of the winning team, chirped later. "They're easy to eat and sea buckthorn does everything good for you. But no one knows what it is, which is why I'm so surprised."
So, thanks to all these brave young food scientists, our future has never looked brighter because -- with the possible exception of the "Pinto Bean Smoothie" -- I'm pretty sure it will be dipped in chocolate.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition March 18, 2013 A2
More Columnists
- Back to Top
- Return to Columnists
More Columnists
(1 of 5 articles for today)
My arm tattoo has me thinking
1:00 AM 0I have a swell new tattoo on my right arm.
Prepare to be extremely jealous, because it artfully depicts a pink ...
Poll
Most Popular Columnists
- Bible Belt's bogeyman still haunts town
- At 55, I'm wise to what's real in life
- Blue offence must make teams pay for blitzing Buck
- Mack, Burke give each other room to do their jobs
- Mau Maus win 50-year-long battle
- Boyfriend's right; you should wait
- Nepinak's leadership gathering steam
- Bigger Byfuglien in no shape for a trade
- Bark in the park more than a lark
- Just for kicks: shoe swap hits town
- Fiasco fixers
- Bible Belt's bogeyman still haunts town
- Nice new digs, but Buchko has work to do
- What a knockout!
- Nepinak's leadership gathering steam
- 'Nice' guy taking sex partners for granted
- Discovering your wife's kinky behaviour isn't an invitation to join the party
- Your new 'friends' have unlocked a mystery
- Offensive linemen move faster than buses
- UFC 161 a smash success
- When the Ford jokes stop
- Ground control to Major Chris
- Burmistrov wants out of Winnipeg
- Bigger Byfuglien in no shape for a trade
- Immobilizer program too cosy, some charge
- A new mom's booze-fuelled hell
- Fiasco fixers
- Downtown's parking facilities tell story of city's development
- Katz bogeys again
- Bible Belt's bogeyman still haunts town
- Bible Belt's bogeyman still haunts town
- At 55, I'm wise to what's real in life
- Mau Maus win 50-year-long battle
- Bible Belt's bogeyman still haunts town
- At 55, I'm wise to what's real in life
- Mau Maus win 50-year-long battle
- Take a walk in the park to fight prostate cancer
- Psychics pull off a little magic
- Fiasco fixers
- Nepinak's leadership gathering steam
- Downtown's parking facilities tell story of city's development
- Offensive linemen move faster than buses
- Helping others despite the cost
- Downtown's parking facilities tell story of city's development
- When the Ford jokes stop
- Bible Belt's bogeyman still haunts town
- St. Norbert sees condo boom
- Immobilizer program too cosy, some charge
- Changes to CPP rules worth looking into
- Lessons learned in 4-H last a lifetime
- At 55, I'm wise to what's real in life
- A new mom's booze-fuelled hell
- Ground control to Major Chris
Ads by Google
You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is be a Winnipeg Free Press print or e-edition subscriber to join the conversation and give your feedback.
You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is be a Winnipeg Free Press print or e-edition subscriber to join the conversation and give your feedback.
Have Your Say
New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.
Have Your Say
Comments are open to Winnipeg Free Press print or e-edition subscribers only. why?
Login SubscribeHave Your Say
Comments are open to Winnipeg Free Press Subscribers only. why?
SubscribeThe Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010.