Tuesday, June 15, 2021

Tuesday, 6/15

 With a warning like that, do I really want to eat them?

Loraine and I were gifted a bunch of (healthy) snack foods recently, and we've been sampling a bunch of stuff we haven't previously had the chance to try. I brought a few of them to work with me, and while munching on some (admittedly tasty) apple cinnamon rice cakes yesterday I noticed a warning on the bottom of the package--



Hmm. A kind of food that you can't heat up or stick in the microwave. Just what IS there about it that prompted the warning? And do I really wanna put something like that in my stomach?

Hmm.

I think I know why you're not supposed to heat or microwave the rice cakes. I think it has something to do with the yummy apple-cinnamon coating they have on them. I'm not a scientist, nor do I play one on TV, but I'm guessing the coating would melt when heated and thereby ruin your toaster, and I'm also guessing that it might, you know, explode when stuck in a microwave, like hardened liquids are wont to do. That's just a guess on my part. But it also prompts the question--

If it's not good for a microwave, is it good for my stomach?

I'm sure the food is healthy; it's just whole grain rice and the apple-cinnamon coating that apparently caused the warning. But just seeing the warning took aback for a second. You usually see warnings on medicines or other things that can kill people. Rice cakes? Not so much. And, of course, it leads one to wonder just HOW the warning ended up on the package. Is it a preemptive warning, insisted upon by the company's lawyers after a food engineer mentioned it? Or did someone somewhere decide to stick one of the rice cakes in a microwave and then decided to sue the company for damages after their microwave started sparking and exploding?

You know it probably had to be one of those two, right?

Anyway, I'm guessing I'll get around to finishing the bag. I ate most of it before noticing the warning with no ill effects. However, if you hear in the next few days about how I was seriously injured in a bizarre explosion while standing near a microwave or a toaster, you'll have an idea why.

It'll be because of the rice cakes.

(jim@wmqt.com)

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