SoulVeggie

Recipe(s): "Deep Kimchi" & Sauerkraut

It's really a conceptual rush to be making what appears to be a 3,000 - 4,000 year old recipe (or technique, if you will).  Last night I started my 4th kimchi effort.  The first two weren't bad, but combining the techniques of one recipe with the ingredients of the other, made for a superb batch that, after 7 days of lacto-fermentation, come out astoundingly well.

For years, I've wanted to make sauerkraut and kimchi, and only in the past couple of months did I have the homegrown ingredients, time, patience, and "wherewithall" to tackle them.  The process of non-yeast fermentation can been seen in most cultures, I had read so many testmonies to it's nutritional benefits, plus how easy and incredibly tasteful such products can be.

I'd grown a lot of cabbage.  Making sauerkraut is as simple as this:  salt and cabbage (and there variations using other vegetables, spices, etc.).  There are many recipes on the web, but essentially you just cut up cabbage, pound/mix it with salt until enough water is released to cover it, store, skim off the "bloom" daily, and wait two to six weeks (or more).  It's is unbelievable in taste, and I'll never buy the canned pasteurized stuff again.  It's like the difference between store bought and heirloom tomato, the later being light years further in taste (and probably nutritional profile).

There are some 180+ documented Kimchi recipes, some seasonal, some with different vegetables.  I opted for one with Chinese Cabbage (we call it "Napa" and I still have an incredible and hearty crop of them, as well as two kinds of Pak Choi, and Tat Soi growing even with snow and ice last week!).  After cutting up and soaking the cabbage for around 12 hours in a 3 gallon crock, I drained it all, saved the brine, and then added (per this recipe) 3x the amount (as I'm using over 6 lbs of cabbage):  spring onions, jalapenos, ginger, garlic, sugar, crushed red pepper flakes, no additional salt, some chili powder (no Korean hot pepper poweder nearby), enough water to cover, and mix thoroughly.

Now I'll be stirring it once or twice a day, adjust flavor if need (may add some additional chopped Pak Choi... my mixture is pretty strong right now), and when I get the "sourness" to the level I prefer, jar, put in 'frig (water or pressure canning would take out some of the beneficial microbes/nutrition/whatever).  Five to seven days!  It keeps for several months.

Here's photos (not all that great) of the kimchi first batch "nekkid," bottled, and then two images of my Pak Choi babies (click on thumbnails for larger images, all ©2009, by Mark Sutton):

Anyway, I urge everyone to look into lacto-fermention (it's raw and no added fat!).  So easy, especially with a food processor if you need to shred or dice.  The most recommended book on the topic, btw, is "Wild Fermention."  I haven't gotten my copy yet, but it's gotten quite a word-of-mouth buzz... almost as good as the buzz that comes from eating homemade sauerkraut and kimchi...

Vegan Heart-healthy Spiced Potatoes Au Gratin Recipe

Check it out:  another great no-added fat recipe from Susan that shows it's really easy to make a heart-healthy happy vegan potatoes au gratin without adding needless fat in the form of tofu sour cream, earth balance, "cheese" slices, veganaise, and a vegan buttery spread as the recipe after her's below does:

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2006/03/creamy-scalloped-potatoes.html

Ironic that some think a highly fat-ladden multi-potato layered gratin with a ton of added fat is "elegant" or "is a home style comfort-food recipe with some serious snob appeal. Potatoes gone chic." (from:

http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/11/triple-spiced-creamy-potatoes-au-gratin.html

What a myopic view of nutrition, health, heart-safety, and food in general!  Heart disease, when I last checked, has little "chic" or "serious snob appeal."  The added fat in this recipe would make even the conservative the American Heart Association collectively squirm.  That a blogger claims his/her recipes are a "must read" and are "healthy" and are "chic" is indicative of the blogger's ego --- a good sign of a narcistic attitude that is often mistaken as enthusiam to be trusted.  Certainly isn't a sign of nutritional savvy and informed advice.

But, in this case, it must be nice to be so indulgent as to purchase three types of potatoes from non-local sources, highly processed fake cheese (which is really just added fat), tofu sour cream, a buttery spread, veganaise, and create a high-fat meal around them.

Ain't real food ('cept for the potatoes), ain't happy, ain't sustainable.  Let the "serious snobs" go with the cardiovascular disease.  Me?  I'll go with the certain, peer-reviewed science of "no-added fat" vegan diet and a longer healthier happier life.  I'd rather avoid all the problems shown to be associated with added fat than be "chic."

After all, isn't life worth living well?  That's REAL elegance.

A Library in One Book: "1,000 Vegan Recipes"

What drives a person to write 20 veg'n cookbooks?  What compels and inspires a chef to work countless hours in the kitchen developing, rejecting, re-trying and finding new or innovative ways to bring foodstuffs together?  Behind in my own efforts, I know how easy it is to underestimate the time, resources, trials, and tribulations involved. Tough job, and although one might do a few books just for the money, it takes real inspiration, dedication, and a spiritual will to help the animals and promote veg'nism by being willing to go through that process over 20 times.

Robin sent me a copy of her latest effort, "1,000 Vegan Recipes" a few weeks ago, and since then I've been marveling at, among other things, the sheer magnitude (and physical weight!) of what's she's just accomplished (disclaimer:  I did the website work/design for her "Global Vegan Kitchen" website).  We interacted soon after and I asked her about how the hell she pulled it off.  So many testers (over 30), so many recipes, so many ingredients.  Most notable about her response was this amazing bit of information:

"Three years."

...it took her over three years get this book in public hands!  Three years of labor giving birth to an amazing collection of recipes, resources, advice, and menus.  An encyclopedic recipe set of creativity, practicality, and efficiency, all in a single 612 page book.   And here are the numbers:  80 appetizers and snacks, 253 salads, sandwiches, and soups, 170 main dishes, 46 breads and muffins, 138 cookies, cakes, and other desserts... and that's not all.  Pages of menus groups by such topics as "Family-Style Dinner," "Casual Company Dinner" and the "Seasons."  Several pages for types of ingredients explanations, online resources, and a comprehensive "vegan pantry" checklist!

And the recipes --- they shine as well-tested and glow with simplicity of effort as well as ingredients.  Enthralling.  A breadth and depth to a vegan cookbook like none ever done before (and not likely again).  Check out the following:  "Pomegranate-Infused Lentil and Chickpea Stew," "Tempeh and Sweet Potato Shepard's Pie," "Rotini and Almond-Mint Pesto with Orange Zest," "Pistacio-Pear Couscous Salad," "Chai Spice Cookies," "Vegan Pound Cake(!)," "Strawberry Parfaits with Cashew Creme," and "Pumpkin Waffles with Cranberry Syrup."  Of course, those are just the tip of a "Titanic-sized" iceberg.

Back when I reviewed her "Quick-Fix Vegetarian," I likened that effort to a series of minuets.  In contrast, her latest book is a gourmet library of music to be played in the kitchen, enjoyed, and treasured countless times for years to come.  I highly recommend "1,000 Vegan Recipes."  It's several books in one, and those with special dietary preferences (no added fat, etc.) will find most recipes easily adaptable.  Be sure to check out Robin's Vegan Planet blog, and website, where you can sample recipes from most of her books.  And here's the link to the "1,000 Vegan Recipes" sampler.  Surf over and sample the music!  It's beautiful.

Ruining Broccoli: Making the "Best" the "Worst"

Broccoli is, indeed, a super vegetable.  What a nutritional profile!:  Antioxidents, calcium, protein, vitamin A, C & K, fiber --- the whole biochemical kit'n'kaboodle is fantastic.  Imagine my surprise when a vegan cook manages to take a superb no-fat mega-vegetable and transmute it into deadly pieces of cardiovascular killing shrapnel.

Over at "Super Vegan" (here), our cook dips each broccoli flowerette into Veganaise, sprinkles on some Nutritional Yeast, and then broils 'em all.  We're talking around a tablespoon of Veganaise per broccoli flowerette.  The photo of the "dish" shows 8 flowerettes.  Why is this a problem?  At 9 grams of pure fat per tablespoon/per flowerette (1 gram of saturated fat), that broccoli has been magically transformed from an incredible, essentially no-fat, and totally healthy product of nature into a total of 72 grams of artery-clogging added fat for the one serving (even at 1 teaspoon of Veganaise per flowerette (not likely), it's still a total of over 26 grams of fat per serving).

To put this into perspective:  the ENTIRE Denny's Grand Slam Breakfast (no vegetables in sight!) is around 50 grams of fat.  The guys who've, independently, reversed heart disease (Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn) recommend 14 to 24 or so grams of fat PER DAY, and even the stodgy American Heart Association recommends no more than 60 grams of fat TOTAL per day (2,000 calorie diet). That broccoli now contains around  8 grams of saturated fat which is about half what is recommended by the American Heart Association for women per day.

Wonder full, healthy, tasty, nutritionally dense, broccoli... slathered in pure non-food fat, saturated fat, and broiled.  Well over a whole day's worth of fat in a side dish.  Hardly "the best" broccoli recipe as claimed, and pretty high in the running, imho, for the absolute worst.  No longer a "super food" by any stretch of the imagination and a pretty sad example of how something so healthy (and vegan) can quickly be turned into quite the opposite.

Bleech...

Dirt Candy & Rip Esselstyn on "Protein Myth, Moderation"

I'm still amazed at vegan bloggers who focus on protein issues and/or promote excessively high added fat/oil recipes (most recently, "Chef Amanda Cohen's Veggie Power Girl's Dirt Candy Greek Salad Recipe" that clocks in at over 60 grams of FAT per serving (a whole day's worth of fat according to the Feds, 3 to 4 times what Dr. Esselstyn would recommend per day):

http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/10/chef-amanda-cohens-veggie-girl-power.html

... Amanda's the founder of the "Dirt Candy" Restaurant.  Hell, I'd rather eat dirt candy than her "powerful" heart attack special salad.  I didn't even factor in the "8 cups of canola oil" to fry the "2 Trumpet Royal Mushrooms" in (I'm not joking, 8 cups... that's a half gallon of oil).  IMHO, she deserves recognition only as a vegan chef who's apparently oblivious to the well-documented incredible negative impact of fat and saturated fat on the human biosystem.  Is she serious?  A half-gallon of oil for frying two mushrooms?  That's insane.

Anyway, in related repose, I've been thinking about some things Rip (author of, "The Engine 2 Diet" and son of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn) had to say in my Mad Cowboy Interview with him (posted yesterday).  Rip's a solid believer of his father's research that reversed heart disease and advocates no added fat in your vegan diet.  Of note:

On the Issue of Protein:

M:  "In your book ["Engine 2 Diet"], you also list a bunch of the myths of a plant strong diet.  What would you say is the biggest one amongst these myths?"

R:  "I'd have to say the biggest one is protein. I get asked about that at least twice a day.  I just say that if your consuming enough calories you never have to worry about getting enough protein."

On the Issue of Moderation:

R:  "With my Dad, that message is perfect.  Depending upon whom I'm speaking to, I'll hit the moderation.  I was speaking to a group of firefighters the other day, and a guy asked me: "How much red meat can I have a week?  Isn't everything in moderation fine?"  I'm like, no, you know what? The whole phrase "everything in moderation" is why we're in such dire straits right now in this country.

One of the things about "Engine 2 Diet" is that what Howard is doing, my father's doing, and McDougall, Ornish and Fuhrman are doing, is we're trying to create a whole new paradigm in health and weight loss.  To me, every other diet program out there concentrates solely on the outside of your body instead of what's inside your body.  To me, we're creating beauty from the inside out."

To further quote Rip, vegetable oil is "synthetic goo."  It's not real food.

Now keep in mind, those are the words of a Professional Vegan Firefighter and award-winning Triathlete.  His father's 20+ years of peer-reviewed research has shown how to reverse heart disease with a no-added fat vegan diet.  One of the only two documented researchers to do this (Dean Ornish is the other). 

Who are you going to trust and believe in, a nutritionally ignorant blogger and/or vegan chef, or the guys out there doing it and proving it in real life?  Heart disease is the biggest killer of people, vegan and non-vegan, male or female, in this country.  And it's not the only chronic disease associated with too much added fat in your diet.

Go vegan, and go no-added fat vegan.  Your body will be healthier, happier, and the odds are that you'll live longer.  That's real power, and it's independent of gender.

Full Interview with Rip here.  Interview with Rip's father here.

Latest Mad Cowboy Newsletter - Rip Essy Interview/Recipes

Here's the Intro, Table of Contents, and a Direct Link to the latest Mad Cowboy Newsletter:

LINK:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mad_Cowboy/message/88

"10_19_09:  Engine 2 Interview, Mutant Milk, & SpiderVeg"

Howdy! Welcome to the 67th issue of the Mad Cowboy Newsletter.

In this issue we're proud to present a Mad Cowboy Interview with the amazing vegan firefighter/author, Rip Esselstyn. Rip's the son of Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn and has built upon his father's remarkable research via some very practical and easy-to-do ways in his diet/exercise/lifestyle book, "The Engine 2 Diet."  There's also three of his recipes for you to try!

Moving on further, there's articles about Mutant Milk, how saturated fat enables Altzheimer's, some surprising statistics on what we eat, Brainfood at the White House, a great new position paper by the ADA on the Vegetarian Diet, and more about that same diet reducing cancer risk.

Continuing in this edition, there's the intriguing proposal for a 50 year Farm Bill, 70 pages of solutions to our agricultural woes, the real cost of food, the new composting mandate in San Francisco, how animal abusers are losing, AETA is winning, new math contrasting a vegan diet with a carnivore's, and the Amazing SpiderVeg!

... as always, a tip of the hat to our new subscribers: y'all can browse past issues at the Mad Cowboy Newsletter Archives:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mad_Cowboy/>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Mad_Cowboy/

Here's hoping everyone is warm, and to quote Rip: "plant strong" this Winter!

Mark, MC editor/webmaster

***********************************************
TABLE OF CONTENTS:

00: Quote(s) from Howard
01: A Mad Cowboy Interview with Rip Esselstyn
02: Three Recipes from "The Engine 2 Diet"
03: The Vegan Mind-Bender Contest Winner/Challenge!
04: Mad Cow Info Round-Up
05: Mutant Milk, Fat & Altzheimer's, US Fatter, What We're Eating
06: Brainfood, Veg Diet Reduces Cancer & Chronic Disease Risks
07: The Digital Vegan
08: 50 yr Farm Bill, Ag Solutions, Real Food Cost, Composting SF
09: Animal Abusers Lose, AETA Wins, Veg Math, Spider Veg!
10: Howard's Schedule
11: Quick Bytes
12: Closing Thoughts

"A Vegan Zombie's Vegan Twinkie'

In a short article about how Woody Harrelson, while acting in his new movie, "Zombieland," insisted on vegan twinkies made from corn with no sugar.  Says Woody:

"I'm not a Twinkie lover. I don't do sugar or dairy either. When we finally shot my Twinkie-eating scene in the movie, they had to give me a specially made mock Twinkie made of corn meal. It could spur a healthy Twinkie revolution."

The author of the article then recommends a vegan twinkie recipe from Schmoofood & Vegan Lunchbox (here).  How unfortunate.  I've blogged about the clever author of Vegan Lunchbox years ago when it started out, but in recent times I stopped reading her blog for the most part when she was praising "Pringles."

Anyway, I checked out the "Schmooed Food" twinkie recipe and did the math:  28 grams of vegan olive oil/shortening/margarine fat per twinkie, and a whopping 52 grams of sugar per serving.  Oh, and there's 7 grams of saturated fat per twinkie.

Put into perspective:  Ornish & Esselstyn (who've reversed heart disease) recommend between 14 and 24 grams of fat per day (around 10% of your total calories), the Feds no more than 60 grams of fat per day.  Regarding sugar:  the American Heart Association recommends no more than 37 grams of sugar PER DAY for an ADULT man, and no more than 16 grams of saturated fat per day for an adult woman.

Wow... a day's worth of useless added non-real food fat, a half day's worth of saturated fat, and over a day's worth of sugar in ONE "healthy" vegan twinkie.  Now imagine the physiological effect on a child's body.  Reminds me of some dialogue from the 1984 movie version of "Ghostbusters:"

"Dr. Egon Spengler: I'm worried, Ray. All my readings point to something big on the horizon.

Winston Zeddemore: What do you mean, big?

Dr. Egon Spengler: Well, let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area. Based on this morning's reading, it would be a Twinkie thirty-five feet long, weighing approximately six hundred pounds.

Winston Zeddemore: That's a big Twinkie."

Fitting too, that one actually "injects" the filling into the twinkies.  That's not unlike injecting sugar and fat into your cardiovascular system when you eat one.  And It's ironic that the standard definition of the Hebrew term "shmoe" is essentially a "stupid" person.  But regardless, there's just no way I'd ever eat this schlock, vegan or not.  It's a nutritional short-range missile with multiple warheads of fat, saturated fat, and sugar.  Best to avoid it's negative impact on your body and target instead, real food.

[BONUS: check out the excellent summary article concerning oil, it's impact on your body, and cited articles, at the "Happy Healthy Longer Life" blog.  For a graphic of a real vegan zoombie, click here.]

[NOTE 10/16/09:  Happy Healthy Longer Life Blog link fixed... apologies!]

False Energizing (Day One)

A "vegan" blogger has been writing a series on "energizing meals and foods" and I thought it would be interesting to do a fat analysis of the recipes for DAY ONE.  I can't give you a direct link (she's so proud of her work she blocks me from linking to her from here), but here's the address:

http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/09/foods-for-your-mood-series-part-two.html

Now, IGNORING dessert and sugar or salt content, here's the nutritional breakdown (all per one serving and approximate):

"Upon Rising: Handful of raw cashews and glass of tea or fresh juice:  2 oz (quarter cup): 

24 grams of fat

Breakfast: Super Enzyme Banana Pineapple Smoothie with protein powder added or 1-2 vegan sausage patties for protein:  assume ONE patty (Morningstar): 

3 grams of fat

Mid-Morning Snack: Pop Quiz Toast-Ups (any nut butter and fruit combo)  (all the spreads are high in fat:  assume 1 T): 

12 grams of fat

Lunch: Fennel Arugula Citrus Salad with 1 cup of edamame soy beans and sunflower seeds added (slice of sprouted grain bread optional) --- didn't add up soy beans and sunflower seeds:

8 grams of fat (for avocado)
12 grams of fat (olive oil)
4.5 gram of fat (1/2 T of vegannaise)

Afternoon Snack: "My Glass is Greener" Green Juice (add some ambrosia-style trail mix if extra hungry)  --- I'm ignoring the trail mix, might be fried in oil, the nuts are fatty, but overall, this is insignificant with what will clearly be an amazing amount of fat per person.

Dinner: Sweet Potato Mash with Lemon Pepper Tempeh Cubes side of Crunchy Cool Jicama Slaw

12 grams of fat (olive oil, one serving)
18 grams of fat (1/2 tempeh block, assume a cup)

3 grams of fat (olive oil, one serving)
4 grams of fat (vegannaise)

Bedtime Munchie: One Nutty Peanut Butter Brown Cookie

Ignoring "bedtime munchie," my ad hoc analysis shows that in DAY ONE, the recommended "ENERGIZING" menu of recipes easily exceeds 100 GRAMS OF FAT for one person.

The Feds recommend no more than 60 grams of fat per day on a 2,000 calorie diet, Esselstyn and Ornish recommend 14 to 26 grams of fat per day.

This vegan menu, under the delusion that it's "energizing," for one person, has almost 2 times the daily recommended fat from the Feds, and roughly FIVE times recommended by the guys who demonstratively reversed heart disease.

Energizing?  It's a fat-ladden monstronsity, and, imho, ill-advised. Certainly NOT "healthy and happy" unless you want "happy healthy" heart disease, obesity, and a host of other physical ailments.

From the menu creator:

"Foods for Your Mood: Energizing Menus.
*Note that this is an example diet of how I eat for energy, your dietary needs may vary so always consult with your own doctor or dietitian."

Nuts... you don't need to consult anyone.  Just do a basic nutritional breakdown using Google's Search engine.  The fat facts don't lie.  "Dietary needs might vary?" Sure, someone out there needs twice the daily fat the Feds recommend, so it's okay.

Can't wait to check out "Day Two" if I've the stomach for it.  Probably not.

Whole Foods Lunchbox Program: Whole Foods Bull$hit

This is a wonderful example of a vegan blogger's absurdity regarding veganism, corporate PR, and nutrition (http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com --  she won't allow links from my blog to hers and re-directs them (that's how proud she is of her work), which, if you think about it, is pretty stupid.  Why wouldn't she want people to read her posts?).

In this post, http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/09/whole-foods-healthy-school-lunch-video.html, she promotes the Whole Foods Lunchbox Program and a video contest.  A classic Corporate PR attempt to spin Whole Foods stuff into healthy meals for kids.  And yet, she promotes it.  WTF?  Here's the link to their recipes (the sub-links sometimes don't have URLs):

"Does your child's school need a healthy lunch revolution? Well you're in luck because Whole Foods is sponsoring the Healthy School Lunch Video Contest featuring Chef Ann Cooper, "The Renegade Lunch Lady". The contest is all a part of their "School Lunch Revolution" campaign currently underway. "  (words of wisdom from Kathy)

Here's the catch:  check out the link to their website.  NOTHING under vegetarian yet (guess they were too busy).  Here's the recommended "cheeseburger" recipe link, and there's nothing without dairy in the "calcium" recipes menu option.  There's also no recipes under "Fruit" (guess that's a toughie).  Most of the Whole Grain recipes involve dairy, and or meat.  Oh, it's got a "great" section on "Red Meat" recipes.  And ALL the category "protein" recipes contain meat.  Whole Foods ain't got beans?

Way to go Kathy!!  Whole Foods is promoting largely meat and dairy based lunches for kids, and you in turn, probably without bothering to look at their website, are doing the same.

And you have the nerve to call yourself a "happy, healthy vegan."  You're promoting an unhealthy meat and dairy-based lunch program that is anything but lucky.  It encourages obesity, cancers, diabetes, and heart disease.  And in children...

What is lucky, is maybe some people will read this and realize that this kind of lack of basic research into nutrition, content, ingredients, and the demonstrable adherence to whatever a product's company says on their website without analysis, isn't doing anyone any good.  Digital fluff, nutritional hype.

IMHO, promoting a meat and dairy-based lunch program, as a self-proclaimed vegan, is hypocritical.  And, again, imho, you should be ashamed.

Myth: "Food Must Taste Good" & A Healthy Chips Alternative

A vegan blogger posted the phrase "Food Must Taste Good" today, which was her lead-in to reviewing a bunch of "Food Must Taste Good" chip products (mostly vegan junk food).

She praised the hell outta them, and used a lot of buzz phrases from their website, "no trans-fats," yadda yadda... and even though they are baked, it's important to realize that they are essentially spices, refined flour, and added fat.  She calls them healthy, but never mentioned the nutritional content, which is available on their website (amazing how far they reach to find some way to extol their products..."kosher?"). 

LIke, what's the fat grams total per serving? (6... that's high... a third to a fourth recommended daily fat by Esselstynn and Ornish)  What's the sodium content?  You write they are a good source of dietary fiber?  Says who? (oh, the website does...  must be true... refined grain flours are a wonderful source of fiber, right?)  But then she acknowledges that: "I’m hopelessly in love with them."

Yeah, right. But didn't meat, cheese, and eggs used to "taste good?"

The "food must taste good" mantra is a god-send for food companies that make a financial killing by biologically killing us through convincing us that refined flour, salt, fat, and in other cases, sugar, are "real food."  If anything, the past few decades have shown how the food industry's mastery of what we get addicted too is surpassed only the tobacco industry and various other drug dealers.  Obesity, hypertension, heart disease, and type II diabetes.  The real fruits of their marketing research and laboratories.  The pinnacle of the "agricultural revolution."

But then, they know all too well that sugar, salt, and fat are addictive.  That's why they put them into just about every processed food product.  We pay extra for their diminishing the nutritional value of real food and increasing it's addictive effects.  We threaten our health and screw up our internal biochemistry in consuming their frankenfoods, but "HEY!  IT TASTES GOOD!!!"

Real food should be FIRST, as nutritious and as unadulterated as possible.  THEN, if it tastes good, it's a double-win for you, your body, your life, and society in general.  Real food doesn't come packaged in foil bags.  Think about it:  why are there so many types and brands of chips?  Because they are CHEAP to make in bulk, are comprised of generally inferior ingredients that might resemble food at some point in their life cycle, and they are addictive... helluva business (and profit margin).  Make it cheaply, sell it higher, and as a bonus, it's naturally addictive.  Added sugar, added fat, and added salt:  the deadly trifecta.

For healthy corn tortilla chips, cut up corn tortillas, sprinkle with cumin or paprika, arrange on no-stick cookie sheet, and bake at 350 degrees until crisp (around 5 minutes, depending upon your oven).

Try them with homemade salsa, you'll be in love with them, be avoiding the useless added fat and salt, and truly be a heart happy herbivore!