"msn" news and stories

Toasters have been around for more than 100 years and the Slate took on the task of testing eight toasters to see which one was really the toast of the town. Using a highly scientific scale which judged toasting quality, ease of use, cleanup and value, the toasters were put to the test. After too many loaves of bread to count, the results were in. The high-end toasters like the DeLonghi Aluminum 2-Slice and the KitchenAid Pro Line 2-Slice finished with the best scores, though they were low in the "value" category. Generally, the less expensive toasters, like the T-Fal Avanté Deluxe 4-Slice and Michael Graves 2-Slice, did not perform as well as their more expensive counterparts.

Their list is a great way to start a toaster search, but Cooking.com and Amazon.com's customer reviews also provide great feedback.

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Despite the title of Is Whole Foods Wholesome?, the Slate article is not about Whole Foods as much as it is about the organic movement. Essentially, the article treats the increased demand for organic goods as an overly cynical teenager would treat their once favorite band after it "sells out." The band, having joined up with a major record label and making more money, reaching a wider audience and popularizing their brand of music, is no longer appealing to the teen who feels that if it isn't small and under-recognized, it isn't worth his or her recognition.

Organic foods have had a following for a long time, though their potential value was largely unappreciated by the mainstream population of grocery shoppers. As Whole Foods picked up and popularized the organic foods market, neatly filling a growing consumer demand with smart store layouts and good timing, they had to look further to find the organic foods to fit the demand. The question that posed by the Slate is whether it is appropriate to purchase these goods when they are not grown locally. In California, this is not a problem because most of the organic produce in the country comes from the state, but New York has a more limited production of those types of goods.

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MSN Health published an article about the 10 worst foods you can eat. It's an appealing concept, though the article was poorly constructed. The author wrote that she wanted to select "food categories" rather than brands, but she ended up selecting individual food additives and ingredients anyway, with a few rather narrow categories thrown in. She also failed to identify the criteria she used to compile the list. The MSN list is as follows, along with their description as given in the article, though paraphrased here:

• Hydrogenated fats - These might contain trans-fats, but it depends on the company's use of the term vs. partially hydrogenated.
• Olestra - You could be eating fruits and non-"junk food" instead of anything with this fat substitute.
• Nitrates - Used as a preservative, they could turn into nitrite, which has been deemed safe by the FDA.
• Alcohol - Only acceptable in the form of a fine glass of wine with dinner.
• Raw Oysters - Can carry deadly bacteria and should be cooked well.

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