You can find real orange juice in any store as well.
Most of it is acide orange fruity sugar concentrate diluted in water though.
Most of it is acide orange fruity sugar concentrate diluted in water though.
The vast majority is 100% orange juice, either not from concentrate, or re-hydrated (sometimes claimed to be "artificial" because they also add orange juice zest or oils).
To go back to my original, I can find traditional balsamic in multiple major grocery stores in my city. It's very expensive for a usually tiny bottle, but if you want it it isn't terribly hard to find. You can buy it on Amazon any hour of the day. And if your standards aren't quite so high, balsamic vinegar of modena, usually with just two ingredients (grape must and white vinegar) can be found everywhere for little, tasting marginally different. Italy considers and regulates either of those as "real".
We see the same gatekeeping claims with parmigiano-reggiano: Someone avails themselves on the Kraft green "parmesan" and then tells everyone else about how they've never tasted the real thing, it's so exclusive, etc (but, of course, they have that one time). Never aware that the cheese aisle has big blocks of 100% real, certified, regulated, straight from the source Parmigiano-Reggiano. This same discussion is occurring regarding tomatoes, as if having eaten a ripe garden tomato is some exclusive experience (rather than completely banal and experienced by virtually everyone).
> This same discussion is occurring regarding tomatoes, as if having eaten a ripe garden tomato is some exclusive experience
Well, I ate many ripe garden tomato, and not it's not some exclusive experience. They are still not as good as they should be. They are much better, but it's still a far cry from what everybody should be able to eat.
My message is not "I'm great, I know tomatoes and you don't". My message is "it's fucked up, we managed to screw up the production of something amazing". We are trading quantity for quality, a little more every day, and now the standard people have is very low. And so they buy so-so things for a premium, and are happy with it, or chose to buy the junk food.
Our state university managed to release the heirloom varieties that the state was famous for.[1] My favorite were Ramapos.
and it wasn't even a biological garden tomato, it was straight off the shelf supermarket tomato.
tastes varies so much by region that for some people the proper taste is alien.
likewise the reverse apply, most italian burger joint serves dry, tasteless mincemeat on buns that couldn't hold a candle to even the basic chains in Ireland, let alone the usa (good ole ricks' how I miss thee)
it's not gatekeeping, it's facing the reality of local produce, local expertise and local competition in mainstream foods as opposed to specialties.
You need to go with fresh-squeezed to avoid the chemistry set.
https://www.floridasnatural.com/our-juices/original-orange-j...
Of course pasteurization changes the flavor some, but that's also why it's still safe to drink after they ship it to you and you keep it in your fridge for a month. nothing nefarious about that, nor would I call it inferior. It's a tradeoff.
For an extreme example (I don't think orange juice flavor packs are like this in intent or effect), apple and cherry seeds contain small amounts of amygdalin, which digestion turns into cyanide. https://sciencenotes.org/yes-apple-seeds-and-cherry-pits-con... Eating apples and cherries, even eating the occasional seed is not harmful, but processing could concentrate the amygdalin, making a very unsafe product that is still "100% apple juice".
Almonds even more so - the amygdalin is apparently an important element of the almond flavor, but some varieties of almonds have enough that they are poisonous with only a few (apparently tasty!) nuts http://articles.latimes.com/2002/feb/20/food/fo-almond20
And even pressed juice, something I actually buy regularly, usually tastes so-so. It's ok.
It doesn't have to be.
If I walk 15 minutes, I can get to the houses of somes friens. Once a year, for a few weaks, they get oranges in their garden.
From it you get juice that children will choose over coke, grenadine, etc.
Of course, the oranges are ugly, small, annoying to press, and appear only a short period of times in the year.
It's not something you want for industrial purpose.
When we reach industrial scale, a good deal of quality goes away. Now for a chair, I don't mind. I think society is not worst because of it.
But for food, it's a double edge sword. On one hand, we can feed more people. On the other, we have an obesity epidemic because people crave sugary junk food. And I don't think it's their fault.
This is snobbery, plain and simple. You're couching your complaints in terms of concern for better food for everyone, but you're actually dismissive of everything that isn't a luxury. Good for you that you can get orange juice from your friend's tree and buy $250 bottles of traditional balsamic vinegar. But these are not attainable for most people, and banning "fake" balsamic and bottled orange juice wouldn't fix that.
Scent and taste are great memory triggers. If ordinary orange juice from concentrate can remind you of that one time you had really great fresh-squeezed orange juice in season, it's almost like you can have the good stuff all year round, without paying the same costs. If you're so rich that you can constantly chase after new memories and never savor the old ones, congratulations. But don't begrudge others their shortcuts to memories of past experiences.
All I read was a claim that industrial-scale food production often leads to an inferior product.