Investigative journalism

There is a new book out in Swedish, it is called Salted Bill  (Saltad nota) and refers to the hidden ingredients in the food that we are served at restaurants. The author, Mats-Eric Nilsson, is already well-known up here in the North for his other three books of investigative journalism discovering what is in our (processed) food.

Come to think of it, his first book, the Secret Chef, must have been the first food-related book that ended up in my book-shelf. Not sure how surprised I was at that time of what he wrote, or how much it bothered me. I bought the book back in 2008 when I was still living a life of ignorance in relation to food (and most other things around me). Not complete ignorance, of course I tried to avoid "bad foods", but I had never really taken the time to reflect over all that junk that my poor body has to cope with every day when I do not take the time to read labels and look for natural alternatives. Over the years that changed... as you might have noticed if you have followed this blog from the start. Now I am HIGHLY critical to ANYTHING that is sold in a package with more than 1-3 ingredients, and particularly with ingredients that I cannot read out loud, or remember the next day. May I add that most things that come in a package include such ingredients.

Anyway, so now Nilsson has dug into the restaurant food. I haven't read this book yet but based on the previews he seems to succeed in exposing many bad practices in the Swedish restaurants, like the tiramisu cake that is sold at many places. It is not made by the restaurant itself, but bought from a French food chain with subsidiaries around Europe. Nilsson counts 14 preservatives (E-numbers) on the ingredient list. The result is even worse when he looks at the ingredients of a crab-cream offered in a sandwich chain around Sweden.

I salut Nilsson.I only wish that his next project would be the food served in schools. Then again, I started thinking of it. Do I really need a Swedish journalist to do the job that I need to get done in order to feel some peace? Nope. I google the municipality pages, call the receptionist, and ask for the name of the person in charge of school and daycare food. She didn't answer the phone. But I have her number and name now.

Before you can start doing something, you need to know what it is you need to know...On Monday I'll call again.