Monday, December 17, 2007

Accurate labelling

I bought some chestnuts to roast. The label is very clear. It is written simply for people like me. Just in case I mistake chestnuts for some other com.. er commod.... er thing, the label tells me these are chestnuts and that the Recipe contains chestnuts. (I hope the tree they grew on knew that it was producing a recipe rather than a crop of chestnuts.) The label warns me that these chestnuts may contain traces of other nuts. Have those trees been genetically modified, cross-fertilizing or what? That was the Allergy Warning, the Caution warns me that small children can choke on nuts. I feel safe. I feel cherished. Long live the labellers.


4 comments:

  1. Well thank heavens you bought them from a shop! You might have picked them from a tree and just think what a pickle you could have got into then, not knowing what they contained or anything. Phew. You've been really lucky there. (Mind you, I hope they cam with a a 'serving suggestion' - or how will you know what on earth to DO with them?)

    ReplyDelete
  2. It could take several TV chefs to tell me how to prepare them, J!

    I don't know what possessed me to buy chestnuts from a supermarket, I was dashing round the aisles and they looked inviting. It was only when I got home that I noticed they had come from Portugal!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think that we're to blame, although I'm not sure if it's "we" lawyers or "we" Americans. Somehow in the last 10 years or so, we've become petrified by the possibility that someone might inadvertently eat a peanut, or a peanut trace. The "trace" comes from sending the chestnuts, or whatever, through the same plant that processes peanuts.

    ReplyDelete
  4. David, I would never be so bold as to blame you for the stupidity of humanity!
    It hadn't occurred to me that fresh chestnuts would need to be processed, I suppose that means being put into the little nets? I usually buy my fruit and veg from the farm or the greengrocer - no processing required. I think we are back on the subject of people taking responsibility for their actions!

    ReplyDelete

I love to read your comments and promise that I will reply as soon as I can leave my garden, sewing room or kitchen!