One of the things that I have been trying very hard to follow is to “eat food, not food stuff”. This quote is probably an overly simplified version of Michael Pollan’s statement, “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants.” he talked about it on NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. The other rule that I use quite often from Mr. Pollan is  “If You Can’t Say It, Don’t Eat It“. So while Oreo’s are vegan, they are not healthy and these two guidelines make that very easy to tell that fact. Even some salads have that same issue.

However I digress from the impetus of this post in the first place. While shopping tonight, I found something that I truly don’t understand and I think can be seen as a pure example of “Food Stuff”. Why would one every want lemon flavored cherries? I can see mixing cherries and lemon together for interesting flavor profiles. However do we really need to be able to purchase in a jar, lemon flavored cherries. I did not get a chance to read the ingredients, but I did snap a quick picture to prove I am not making this up.

Click for larger image

So I decided to do a quick google search on these to see if there was a recipe that called for these. I did not find one. I did however find them for sale elsewhere and it describes them as

“Will remain shelf stable for up to 2 years if held in ambient temperature. Refrigerate after opening to retain freshness. These are 20-22 mm. which is the diameter of the cherries. At least 90% are with stems. All whole cherries, no blemishes or crushed pieces.”

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!