Despite what your mother, your grandmother, your dad or other person in your life who speaks their mind, may have told you today it’s the coffee that is good and the yoghurt that is bad.  We’ll get to the free stuff after.

So coffee that is good.  According to a recent observation study, done by some Swedish and Danish researchers, coffee may be linked to a lower risk of dimentia.  So enjoy your morning beverage because whatever the cost it just may be worth it.

And, it is yoghurt that is bad.  It’s not the essential parts of the yoghurt, and if you can help your child resist the cartoons and marketing on the yoghurt you’re buying then perhaps you have nothing to worry about.  The problem is Bugs In Your Snack. The red dye, carmine, is made out of crushed bodies ofcochineal beetles.  When it comes to labelling there is no talk of bugs just “color added”.  The problem is that it can be an allergy risk for some.  Also, if you are vegetarian or keep Kosher you may not love the idea of eating something derived from crushed bug carcasses.

So now that you have your coffee, and you skipped the dyed yoghurt section at the grocery you may want to start making some more of your food from scratch because then you know exactly what is in your food.  I know for example that a couple chocolate chips fell on the floor and made it into the batter of our banana bread and that my son may have added a little extra salt to the cornbread.  In any case, if you are looking for a particular cookbook or you just want to start your cooking library freecycle is a great place to look because they are free!  Sometimes they have notes in them too which is an added bonus.  I also highly recommend raiding your moms and grandmother’s bookshelves as well.

Bon appetit sans carmine avec café.  ttyl your BFF (Boston Family Foodie)

For more info: NY Times article,  Telegraph.co.uk on Tea and dimentia, Women and Coffee (BBC News), Bugs In Your Snack, Popsicle induced anaphylaxis (University of Michigan), Tropicana is bugging your juice(Vegparadise), A note from the FDA (ABC Health),freecycle.org