Organic Batter Blaster Aerosol Pancake Batter?

So yes. That's a real product. What do you think when you first see an aerosol can of pancake mix? When I first saw it, I got a bit of a chuckle but then I got a bad gut feeling, like my body was instinctively saying "Stay away from this."

You know why I'm pretty certain that the makers of Batter Blaster Caulking... er ... I mean Pancake Batter are aware of this feeling? First of all, they make it a point to say "Organic" in the product name, to try to make the consumer feel better. Second of all, on their website, they immediately make it a point to make the ingredients easy to find.

• Filtered water
• Organic wheat flour (unbleached)
• Organic cane sugar
• Organic whole egg solids
• Organic soybean powder
• Sodium lactate (lactic acid from beet sugar)
• DiCalcium phosphate (leavening agent)
• Sea salt
• Sodium bicarbonate (baking soda)
• Organic rice bran extract

Maybe It's Not So Bad

After you read that list, you might think, "Maybe it's not as scary of a product as it sounds." That's what I thought when I read it. But I still can't get past the initial gut feeling of "Stay away". I recently finished Michael Pollan's latest book called "In Defense of Food: An Eaters Manifesto". He lays out several very wise bits of common sense about what we should eat. The first one that jumped to my mind when I saw Batter Blaster:

"Don't eat anything your great-grandparents wouldn't recognize as food."

What would your great-grandparents think if they saw Batter Blaster aerosol pancake batter? I'm pretty certain that they wouldn't recognize it as food. I don't just want to pick on Batter Blaster though, they'd probably feel the same way about Go-Gurt, non-dairy creamer, cheez-whiz, margarine, and even breakfast cereal bars (You know the kind with the "milk" in them.), and that's just to name a few.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of people out there that if you ask them how to make pancakes, they'd start with this ingredient list, "Pancake mix and water". It's such a shame when flour, baking soda, baking powder, eggs, oil, and milk make a far superior product AND they can make a limitless number of other things.

"Especially avoid food products containing ingredients that are a) unfamiliar, b) unpronounceable....."

Why did they have to tell me what Sodium Lactate and DiCalcium Phosphate are? Because nobody knows that they are. They're trying to make you feel better about eating aerosol pancakes, when your body is saying "Stay away."

"Eat mostly plants, especially leaves."

Honestly, I'm the first to admit it, I don't eat enough vegetables. Scientists don't all agree on why plants are so good for us. Is it the fiber? The antioxidants? Omega 3's? Fewer calories? You know what? I say ignore those reasons. Did our great-grandparents need a scientist to tell us how to eat? No. Some primal non-cerebral instinct tells us "That is food". That's kept humans well fed for centuries.

I know it may sound like I'm oversimplifying it, that maybe it's more complicated than that. I really think it's not. We've known for centuries what we should and shouldn't eat. Eating shouldn't be something to fret about. It's one of life's basic pleasures. Slow down! Make dinner at home. Turn the TV off. Concentrate on your meal, on how it tastes. Enjoy it! I guarantee, you'll be more satisfied with your meal afterwards. When you slow down and pay attention to your meal, you're more likely to hear your body tell you, "I've had enough to eat now."