totopoca

Hey I have a new word for you. Actually it's an ancient word from the Aztecs. It's their word for the sound of many kernels popping at once — totopoca.

Paleobotanists (if I post enough stuff about ancient things can I call myself a paleoblogger? I'm fairly pale this summer.) say that popcorn played an significant role in the Aztec empire. From the little I've read about this it appears they were popping corn before they were making a corn flour. (oh wait, if I want to be paleoblogger I should use "maize" instead of corn)

amazing maize

I wonder how Aztecs were popping their corn many thousands of years ago. I'm old enough to recall popping it on the stove. I guess the difficult problem of popping all the kernels vs. burning the popped corn has existed for many millennia. Now, I pop it in the magical microwave. But if those advanced aliens visited the Aztecs then maybe they had microwaves too. Those paleobotanists have discovered "old maid" kernels dated from about 4000 years ago.

timed for 1:44 works best for me

I didn't notice any mention of caramel,  cheese or butter in the articles I read about Aztec popcorn. Probably a good thing that they didn't have those addictive extras for their popcorn. Movies were not invented yet so if they spent too much time munching what would they watch? (the original Aliens series)

I know they didn't need to worry about the FDA labeling rules (or have the protection of labeling rules). There is a new food fight over wording starting up. Remember the recent one about milk vs. almond milk labeling? The raisins vs. craisins was an exciting marketing showdown of dried fruit.

Labels tell us the difference between sh-- and shinola

Since we seldom know (or even care about?) the production chain involved in our packaged foods, the labeling is important.

The latest label war brewing involves the "meat" label. A company called Memphis Meats is growing meat in their lab. Cultured meat might be a good term for it. Others might just say, disgusting. They would like to call it "clean meat". I disagree about calling it clean. Here's a statement I found on their website:

At Memphis Meats, our mission is to bring delicious and healthy meat to your table by harvesting it from cells instead of animals. You can enjoy the meat you love today and feel good about how it’s made because we strive to make it better for you…and for the world.

Back to the popcorn - here's a informative clip about popcorn history:

my sad disclaimer - unfortunately, food items such as popcorn, soft drinks were NOT provided free for this post. Oh, don't want any cultured meat.