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[counting]

I thought of a rare and top ingredient in Asia which claimed to be good for your health is 燕窩. Which is literately "the nest of swift" (A kind of bird), and it is made of the swift's saliva.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And it's very expensive, only sold in high-end restaurants. The cheap substitute is a kind of fungus called 木耳, means the ear grown from the wood.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

They are vary common in the daily lives here. And when children are sick, parents will buy and make soup using these ingredients as food medicine.

[vagel7]

I have heard of that, would like to try it someday too. Is it good?

[MetalSlimeHunt]

The probiotic trend doesn't make any sense. Anything living microorganisms you eat are going to be killed by your stomach acid.

Then explain salmonella poisoning. Or e-coli. Simply put, you're wrong. Yes, it's a very hostile environment for bacteria, but it does not kill all of them, or every individual bacterium of an affected species.

That's one of the reasons why it's there, to form a sterile cap between the part of your digestive system exposed to the outside world and the part of your digestive system that connects to your bloodstream (and by extension, the rest of your body's systems). If living things could get through that with any sort of regularity, you'd get internal infections and die quite quickly.

If no bacteria could survive your stomach acid, then none would be in your intestines to begin with, yet there they are, constantly, in great number, and are in fact replenished eventually if depleted for some reason (antibiotics, diarrhea).
How effective probiotics are at improving health or the condition of the digestive tract is another matter.

"With regularity", G-Flex. With regularity. It's a hostile enough environment that it makes me have serious doubts about probiotic foods causing a health boost. Plus, all of the bacteria you listed have evolved to survive in such an environment as the human digestive tract, where as the bacteria in probiotic foods have not. I imagine that servery decreases their survival odds compared to e-coli and the like.

[counting]

Cultures with long-lived people tend to eat a lot of pickled/fermented/cultured foods, there is definitely a connection.

Correlation =/= Causation

Cultures with lots of pickled/fermented/cultured foods are likely ones that have invested into preservation and hygiene, as both are required to be able to create such foods. A society that is hygienic lives longer than one that isn't. Humans are very vulnerable to disease compared to other species, and as such it's what tends to off us instead of natural predators, of which we have none.

And speaking of fermented food, we chinese have another second processes food called 豆腐乳, simply a kind of fermented tofu.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Darvi]

Oh, you know what I love? Marmite.

The slogan "love it or hate it" is appropriate as I know only 2, maybe 3 people who like it. And the other two are related to me.

Everybody else seems to be disgusted by the black-brown paste.

[G-Flex]

I thought of a rare and top ingredient in Asia which claimed to be good for your health is 燕窩. Which is literately "the nest of swift" (A kind of bird), and it is made of the swift's saliva.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And it's very expensive, only sold in high-end restaurants. The cheap substitute is a kind of fungus called 木耳, means the ear grown from the wood.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

They are vary common in the daily lives here. And when children are sick, parents will buy and make soup using these ingredients as food medicine.

Very common? I thought bird's nest soup (the english name for the first thing you mentioned) was extremely, extremely expensive?

"With regularity", G-Flex. With regularity. It's a hostile enough environment that it makes me have serious doubts about probiotic foods causing a health boost. Plus, all of the bacteria you listed have evolved to survive in such an environment as the human digestive tract, where as the bacteria in probiotic foods have not. I imagine that servery decreases their survival odds compared to e-coli and the like.

Then please, again, explain to me how the typical "good" gut flora end up in your stomach to begin with, if even eating yogurt every day can't accomplish getting any in there.

"All the bacteria I have listed" include several genera of bacteria, and even some fungi. Probiotic products, to my knowledge, tend to use bacteria that are already naturally found in there, and thus would obviously be capable of introduction to the gut.


Simply put: If eating non-fermented food, and other regular behavior, is more than capable of introducing significant live bacteria to your intestines, then how in God's name is regularly eating food specifically made to contain live cultures not capable? Yes, a lot of bacteria will probably die in your stomach acid, but it's very trivially provable that enough bacteria from normal eating habits manage to survive, never mind foods with high amounts of live cultures specifically added.

And speaking of fermented food, we chinese have another second processes food called 豆腐乳, simply a kind of fermented tofu.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Yeah, as well as other fermented soy products common to East Asian nations.

For that matter, soy sauce is fermented.

[counting]

I have heard of that, would like to try it someday too. Is it good?

You mean the swift's nest and the fungus wood ear? They both taste like jelly, and without additive, they actually don't have any taste at all. Just imagining it as like no flavor jelly. So if the soup itself is good, like when I was kid, and my grandma put a lot of sugar or honey in it, I'd like it a lot.

[counting]

Very common? I thought bird's nest soup (the english name for the first thing you mentioned) was extremely, extremely expensive?

燕窩 bird's nest : expensive and rare
木耳 the fungus replacement, plenty and cheaper (still not very cheap)
They looked and taste somewhat alike but big different. (One is from bird saliva, one is grown like mushroom). And what I meant by very common is the term and the usage of them is well known by almost everyone in China and East Asia. (Sorry, I am not a native English-speaker, so sometimes I mixed up the meanings of words and phrases)

Oh, you know what I love? Marmite.

The slogan "love it or hate it" is appropriate as I know only 2, maybe 3 people who like it. And the other two are related to me.

Everybody else seems to be disgusted by the black-brown paste.

And as I was told that Marmite is somewhat like the Japanese miso. Do you ever tasted miso before? Do they taste alike?

[Darvi]

It almost tastes like soy sauce, I think, and I guess miso tastes similarly to that. Except this is more salty and has a more distinct flavor, being made of yeast and all that. (edit: it tastes umami. That's the word I was looking for)
Probably like concentrated beer, but don't quote me on that since I've never drank any.

[G-Flex]

Addendum to previous post: Fake, awful soy sauce is not fermented.

Real soy sauce is made with soy, usually some wheat, some salt, and is fermented. That's why it bubbles if you shake it.
Fake, terrible soy sauce is basically just brown-colored water with salt and soy protein thrown in it, and possibly other minor flavorings.

For some reason, in the US, it's actually legal to call the latter "soy sauce", so the cheap brands tend to be that. I have no idea what the story is anywhere else, but around here, a lot of people will buy brands like "La Choy", which taste like absolute garbage if you've had the real thing. But that's just my opinion.

[Darvi]

So that's why the sushi that you buy in supermarkets tastes like crap.

[vagel7]

The cheap soy sauce tastes more like vinegar to me.

Also, is sushi turning into a trend thing or something?
Cause even like the bimboest of bimboes who wouln't even eat duck eat sushi. It is also served everywhere and some even have rice that tastes and looks like it is overcooked.

[RedKing]

The probiotic trend doesn't make any sense. Anything living microorganisms you eat are going to be killed by your stomach acid.

Then explain salmonella poisoning. Or e-coli. Simply put, you're wrong. Yes, it's a very hostile environment for bacteria, but it does not kill all of them, or every individual bacterium of an affected species.

That's one of the reasons why it's there, to form a sterile cap between the part of your digestive system exposed to the outside world and the part of your digestive system that connects to your bloodstream (and by extension, the rest of your body's systems). If living things could get through that with any sort of regularity, you'd get internal infections and die quite quickly.

If no bacteria could survive your stomach acid, then none would be in your intestines to begin with, yet there they are, constantly, in great number, and are in fact replenished eventually if depleted for some reason (antibiotics, diarrhea).
How effective probiotics are at improving health or the condition of the digestive tract is another matter.

"With regularity", G-Flex. With regularity. It's a hostile enough environment that it makes me have serious doubts about probiotic foods causing a health boost. Plus, all of the bacteria you listed have evolved to survive in such an environment as the human digestive tract, where as the bacteria in probiotic foods have not. I imagine that servery decreases their survival odds compared to e-coli and the like.

It doesn't take very many. To a bacterium, your small intestine is the land of milk and honey -- lots of free nutrients floating around and a very low immune system response (Since you don't have blood floating around in your gut unless there's something seriously wrong, lymphocytes can't do anything about an intruder). In fact, about the only two mechanisms your body has to fight microbes in the gut is fever and diarrhea. So once even a small number of bacteria make it into the gut, they can reproduce rapidly and rebuild their numbers. Their only competition is other bacteria. And in the case of probiotics the cultures are ones that you're supposed to have in your body anyways, the ones that *have* evolved to live comfortably and effectively in a human digestive system. Lactobacillus, Aspergillus, etc.

As an aside, salmonella poisoning isn't caused by the bacteria but rather by the toxins the bacteria produce. The bacteria can be long-dead by the time you get sick because the food itself is already laden with toxin. Same for botulism.



I always get my soy sauce from Asian markets, so I can get the real deal. I'm partial to tamari and ponzu over "regular" soy sauce anyways.

[GlyphGryph]

Oh god, marmite. That stuff is so terrible. Blech. Wins the thread.

And if cheap soy sauce tastes like vinegar... I would probably prefer it. Man, I love vinegar.

[Darvi]

Oh god, marmite. That stuff is so terrible. Blech. Wins the thread.

Oh fuck you D: