St. Louis Gourmet

Just wanted to get these pictures up. Food from St. Louis:

1) A club sandwich

2) A steak sandwich

3) Burger with an egg that was, shockingly, cooked properly

4) And, of course, a pizza

Tasty. All of it. 

Food Blogging with a Canon T5i?

Sup.

So, I invested in a brand spankin' new camera: the Canon Rebel EOS T5i:

It seriously looks badass and I can't wait to play around with it but I want to read the manual first to see what does what so I don't feel like a total dumbass trying to operate it. My primary focus with this camera is actually gonna be video, but doing some photography I think is something I'd like to give a try as well, and what better subject to try it on than some food? 

I guess my question is to anyone who may use this camera for photography: have you ever tried it on food? What lens do you use? How's the overall quality? 

In general this camera is very well received and I'm obviously not looking to start a photography business or anything, but I think this opens up a lot of possibilities. I mean, a couple viral videos here and there and I'm all set. 

So far I'm impressed with the camera quality, most notably because the first picture I took with it turned out really well despite me not knowing what the hell I was doing:

Jenny is used to me sticking my phone in her face, but this was something completely new.

Anyway, if anyone has any thoughts on the food photography, that would be most appreciated. Otherwise, I'll be looking to amass my fortune when I get back to vlogging.

The Best Dog Kibble Out There: Orijen and Acana

Being a dog freak, people frequently ask "what's the best food to feed my dog?" My response is usually prefaced by "every dog is different, so what's good for one dog may not be good for another." I usually say that to cover all my bases. The problem is there's a lot of misinformation out there about pretty much everything under the sun, dog food included. For example, the BEST diet for your dog actually consists of raw meat, fruits, and veggies. Is that surprising? Shouldn't be. A natural diet is the best diet for dogs, cats, humans, buffalo, antelope, gremlins, etc.

But I'm not here to preach a raw diet; instead I'm writing this to preach about what I think is the best KIBBLE on the market since that's what people predominantly feed their dogs.

The answer: ORIJEN and ACANA.

Click here to check out Acana's website.

Click here to check out Orijen's website.

Orijen and Acana are actually sister companies owned by Champion Petfoods out of Canada. Simply describing the benefits about the superiority of these foods isn't enough. No, these things need a damn list:

1) As close to a natural diet as you're going to get from any kibble 

Both of these brands pride themselves on being "biologically appropriate", which Champion trademarked as "MIRROR THE QUANTITY, FRESHNESS AND VARIETY OF MEATS THAT NATURE EVOLVED DOGS AND CATS TO EAT." Translation: if a dog (i.e. wolf) is out in the wild, what are they gonna be eating? Will it be the corn or wheat that Purina tries to convince you are part of a healthy canine diet? No, it'll be meat because dogs are frickin' carnivores. 

2) A wide variety of healthy and natural ingredients

First I'm going to introduce you to the ingredients panel of a dog food called "Prize" that was found in the fabled Haggen (soon to be Albertsons, hopefully) down the street: 

Crap dog foods pride themselves on convincing you that corn, soy, and wheat are part of a "balanced" canine diet when, in fact, a lot of dogs actually exhibit allergies because of it. Does your dog neurotically lick its paws? Does your dog get a lot of ear infections or staph infections? How about excess shedding and hot spots? These could all be the result of a food allergy. Let's go through the "Prize" panel piece by piece: GROUND YELLOW CORN is the main ingredient. Bad. MEAT AND BONE MEAL. What the hell does that mean? When you see "meat and bone" without an animal attached to it, that means it's mystery meat. It's basically the leftovers of slaughterhouse waste that wasn't used for human consumption. Think hot dogs for dogs. Sure, I love a good hot dog but eating them everyday would probably make me pretty damn unhealthy. Continuing on we get CORN GLUTEN MEAL, GROUND MEAT, and WHEAT MILL RUN. Corn, wheat, wheat. So far in this food we have a ton of corn, a ton of wheat, and mystery meat. 

But that's not all, as we've got MORE mystery ingredients in the form of ANIMAL FAT and ANIMAL DIGEST. Again, if you don't know what animal it's coming from then you should stay away. 

Now, let's move onto the ingredients panel for the Duck and Bartlett Pear formula of Acana:

I think the big difference between the two panels, other than "Prize" being crap, is that with Acana (and its sister brand Orijen) you can actually READ and UNDERSTAND the ingredients. DUCK is the first and second ingredient. Notice also the use of DUCK FAT as opposed to ANIMAL FAT. They're telling you exactly what you're getting. When you read an ingredient you should ask yourself why it's being used. WHY is the first ingredient in "Prize" corn? WHY is there mystery meat? WHY is there so much corn and wheat instead of meat? 

By now you may be asking what the difference is between Orijen and Acana and it pretty much comes down to a slightly different selection of flavors and Orijen having more protein. In fact, it's pretty much the richest kibble you're gonna find on the market, with Orijen's Regional Red formula leading the way with 38% crude protein, almost twice as much as that "Prize" crap up there. Here are the ingredients for Regional Red, as taken from Orijen's website. Prepare to be blown away:

Boneless Angus beef*, boneless wild boar*, boneless lamb*, beef liver*, boneless pork*, pork liver*, whole herring*, lamb liver*, beef meal, lamb meal, herring meal, salmon meal, Pollock meal, beef tripe*, bison*, lamb fat, whole egg*, red lentils, chickpeas, green peas, yellow peas, green lentils, herring oil, pea fibre, yams*, sun-cured alfalfa, pumpkin, butternut squash*, spinach greens*, carrots*, Red Delicious apples*, Bartlett pears*, cranberries*, blueberries*, kelp, licorice root, angelica root, fenugreek, marigold flowers, sweet fennel, peppermint leaf, chamomile, dandelion, summer savory, rosemary, Enterococcus faecium.

* FRESH AND PRESERVATIVE-FREE

The first FIFTEEN ingredients are MEAT. FIFTEEN!!! You've also got fruit and veggies in here, not to mention an abundance of super foods (i.e. blueberries and kelp). With Orijen and Acana you do pay more, but you get more, and on a rich diet like this you'll actually be feeding your dog less than you would with some crap food that's loaded with fillers.

3) Champion Petfoods is extremely transparent: 

There aren't any sourcing mysteries here: everything that Champion uses is locally sourced, and they openly list the companies they work with on their bags of dog food. There's nothing from China. You're not going to get more transparent than that.

4) Dogs are carnivores, not omnivores. Their bodies respond well to meat-based diets, not grain-based diets: 

Believe it or not I actually like Purina. They put a ton of effort into their marketing and it's almost like they're blatantly proud of how disgusting their food is. You gotta respect that. They also like to pretend that dogs have evolved into omnivores, i.e. they eat both meat and plants. This is the reason they market "the power of grain" because as an omnivore their systems can easily handle the excess plant protein. But that's not true, and you need to look no further than this simple graphic that, conveniently, was PROVIDED BY PURINA:

Alright, guys, look at the molars on the damn omnivore skull. Those things are for grinding meat. In fact, they're MORE pronounced than the carnivore's and look NOTHING like the herbivore's! AND THIS WAS ON PURINA'S WEBSITE!!! Just look at your dog's teeth. Those are teeth are built for meat, meaning dogs are still carnivores. They may all evolve one day to be plant eaters but today that's simply not the case. This is why a corn diet is not healthy for your dog.

5) My dogs are the only proof I need: 

I've had golden retrievers my whole life. My second golden, Cara, was diagnosed with an aggressive (and becoming all too common) cancer called hemangiosarcoma when she was only 7. She passed away 3 months later. Cara's diet was Blue Buffalo's chicken and rice formula, which was packed with grain and wheat. Her treats consisted of Milk Bones and Blue Bakery, which are also loaded with wheat and grains (Milk Bones also contain the mystery MEAT AND BONE MEAL). For much of her life she would neurotically lick her paws, routinely get ear and staph infections, and shed excessively, even for a golden's standards. Vets gave her steroids and other antibiotics but no one ever suggested all of this could be a food allergy. I don't blame anyone for this because the vets didn't know and we didn't know. Simple as that. During her post-diagnosis stage, she went on a raw diet of fresh meat and veggies. For those last 3 months ALL of these problems went away. You'd think during a time when her body was more compromised (especially after surgery) she'd be more susceptible to allergies but nope. Nothing.

Fast forward to today. Her successor, Jenny, another golden, is 2. She has been on Orijen and Acana for most of her life. Her diet is supplemented with fresh fruits and veggies (blueberries, carrots, radishes, etc.) and her treats contain minimal ingredients, some being purely raw meat. She's healthy as a clam and has never had the issues Cara had on Blue Buffalo. She barely sheds, which is unusual, especially for a golden. Ears are good. Doesn't lick paws. No skin or staph infections. See a pattern here? 

The only real "power of grain" is how sick it can get your dog. Canine cancer is on the rise. The life expectancy of purebred canines is going down. Why? Well, poor breeding is one reason, but how about the fact that the dog food market has exploded over the last half century? Kibble is convenient and most are affordable, sure, but a lot of these big brands are sacrificing healthy nutrition for garbage. That's why it's important to KNOW WHAT YOU'RE FEEDING YOUR DOG! Do your research, ask questions, and think about the ingredients. 

Jenny approves of Orijen and Acana

Orijen and Acana: Greg's Gourmet (and Jenny) Approved. 

Why Did Haggen Fail in Southern California?

Earlier this year, Haggen was a medium-sized chain of twenty-something supermarkets in the Pacific Northwest. By March they had expanded to 160 overnight, primarily in Southern California. In September they declared bankruptcy and by the end of November there'll by a bunch of vacant markets in San Diego. The 160 stores they purchased were comprised of Albertsons and Safeway. Nobody really cares about Safeway but there's a near unanimous agreement that Albertsons, simply put, was the shit. Haggen, simply put, is shit.

The first thing I noticed when I walked into my newly converted Haggen was how ugly it was. It felt like a market that you'd find out in the middle of nowhere with boring and dull colors and a general lack of any sort of excitement that the good supermarkets are supposed to elicit (check out Sprouts to see what I mean). Pair that with the fact that prices skyrocketed while employee morale tanked and you knew it was just a matter of time before these goofballs would throw in the towel. I'm just not sure we thought it would be this soon.

Anyway, I've been venturing to Haggen the past couple of weeks in an effort to possibly take advantage of some sales. Needless to say, even with Haggen finally lowering their prices for their "going out of business" sale...THEY'RE STILL OVERPRICED!!! For your enjoyment, here are some pictures and observations from Haggen. I'd just like to preface by saying nothing here is the fault of the employees. This particular Haggen is going out of business THE DAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING and these people are being LAID OFF. These goons came into Southern California, took over all these stores, pissed everyone off, and now they're leaving a trail of destruction behind. I feel for the employees. The Haggen executives, though? Morons.

Anyway, the first stop on our tour of Haggen is the (former) butcher block, which is now nothing more than a series of empty refrigerated displays. I'm guessing they were the first to be let go. When you really think about it, this is actually kind of a cool set for the beginning of a horror movie. Come to think of it, Haggen's entire existence is much like the beginning of a horror movie.

Echo...echo...echo...

Maybe this is how they save themselves some work so they don't have to restock the sample trays

The Haggen discount cart. Even after the announcement of their bankruptcy and departure plans, these were still the only clearance items in the store

The pharmacists and service folk have all peaced out

Even the flies have had enough of Haggen

Items randomly scattered around the floors. Haggen couldn't sell Pee Pee Pads to a toilet

On a plus note, Haggen is probably the only place in America that sells green blueberries

For some reason there's a couple rolls of paper towels stuffed under the dairy fridges. Maybe a leak? Maybe a who cares?

Haggen missed the memo that generally the generic brand is supposed to be LESS than the name brand

The reality is that Haggen was doomed from the beginning as they were entering a market they obviously did zero research for. Prices are bad. Employees are unhappy. Their produce is overpriced and disgusting. A thing of blackberries and a Naked Juice goes for $8 here. I could go over to Sprouts (which, of course, is what I do) and get the same for $3.75. 

It's been real, Haggen, but you suck. I hope you apologize to all of the people who are losing jobs right in time for the holidays. Actually, it would be nice if all these people find other jobs and walk off so by Thanksgiving there'll be no one left to run the store anyway. 

Haagen-Dazs? More like Haggen-Don't.