So I've been writing this here blog for a while, and usually I get to use it as a bully pulpet to let loose whatever zaniness is wandering through my mind.  Occasionally, however, what I write turns out to be a bit too controversial, a bit too confessionary, or too endangeringly political, and my editor (that is, my boss, our company president) takes a pair of virtual scissors to my blog entry.

An example- a blog entry with a poem eulogizing the loss of one our country's major political parties' philosophical leaders got removed just in case members of that political party would be offended and cease to by Peeled Snacks.  Another- a tirade against some bureaucratic agency or another got chopped because we still (and will forever more) have to wrestle with said bureau, however full of nincompoops the bureau might be.

These edits are fine, these edits are fair, and these edits are done while keeping in mind that Peeled Snacks is real business that needs to keep its eye on the bottom line.  What's begun to happen, though, amidst the climate created by these and other edits, is that I've begun to self-censor, and frankly are starting to become a little paranoid.  Or maybe a lot.

Take, for instance, all this hubbub in China right now.  A few years ago it came out that the Chinese government was writing the Sudanese goverment a blank check for its genocide in Darfur.  Then there's the tainted toys and poisoned food.  Next comes Mia Farrow telling me that I should boycot the Shanghai Olympics.  And now those knuckleheads in charge of the Chinese Government are accusing the Dalai Lama of encouraging armed revolt!  Do they even know what a Dalai Lama is? 

But here I find myself wary of mentioning anything bad about China because a: we might sell our products in China some day, b: it might all just be fascist propaganda courtesy of some fanatical anti-China cabal, and c: there's a whole heck of a lot of Chinese people over there, and if they all ganged up on me at once I would be COMPLETELY screwed.   With these thoughts in mind, I self-censor....

We decided a long time ago at Peeled Snacks that we stand for a few things- REAL food, PREMIUM ingredients, CONVENINENT snacking, ETHICAL yet PROFITABLE business, and, prehaps most importantly, YUMMINESS.  Along the way we've picked up "Buy American" and "Go Green", and occasionally we try on "HOORAY for NEW YORK CITY".  But every time we pick up a new mantle, mustn't we then make a new enemy as well?  Like, "Hooray for New York" means we're saying "STICK IT, Albuquerque!"

For us to really stand for something, inevitably we need to come out against something, but that's really inconducive to traditional, Western, "It's Just Business" practice.  I can't help but root for the REAL food revolution, but I don't want to alienate the BIG Consumer Packaged Goods Empires, er, I mean, companies, because we may need their distribution channels some day.  I scream and shout about high quality ingredients, but can't deny that the cheap, crappy stuff a: makes more money than we do (so far), and b: makes us look really good....

But there's absolutely no denying, and I think that you'll with me on this, that....

ALBUQUERQUE SUCKS!!!!

Go New York,

Ian K, Peeled Skinny 

Posted by iankusc at 09:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Anaheim's yearly Natural Products Expo wrapped up this week, and MAN was it an eye-opener.  Frankly, it was a CAN-OPENER to the eyes, which might seem an ugly image, but facts is facts- this show demonstrates that the Organic/Natural industry is opening a new can of worms, and the industry's likely to be uglier for it.

Over a thousand companies descended upon Disney Land's convention center in order to tout their wares, supposedly natural and organic wares.  By no means have I been around for long enough to know all the ins and outs of the organic industry, but this was my 4th year in attendence, which gives me license enough to point out some trends.

For instance, some trends that were growing madly over the past few years are now fading into oblivion, like souped-up coffee, and the always bad-tasting Goji berry.  Other trends are just gearing up to make a mess of their categories, like Chocolate and tea.  HOLY MOLEY, THERE'S TOO MANY CHOCOLATE AND TEA COMPANIES OUT THERE!

But that's nothing compared to what really stood out at the show as "NEW and NOW":  organic or natural comfort convenience food- mostly organic TV dinners, natural microwaveable burritos, frozen natural pizza after frozen natural pizza, and even toaster-oven-ready mini-natural hamburgers.  The Natural Food Expo has finally discovered junk food, in a BIG way!

And that junk food is making the industries JUNKIER.  So much of show was trending away from food, REAL food, that Michael Pollan actually mocked the show's exhibitors in his key-note address, mentioning several offending manufacturers by name.  He was payed tens of thousands of dollars to belittle the humiliating trends promoted by his sponsors, and he couldn't have been more right.

In the spirit of hypocracy, I found one bit of junk-food that I actually really liked: WholeMato Tomato Agave Ketchup, who are taking on the Heinz empire with a simple, delicious product that was due for an update.  The snack category had few new entries into it, though the Jerky World was OUT of CONTROL!  If you like grass-fed Jerky, then Expo West was the place to BE!  Grass fed or no, I find the consumption of ANY jerky makes me feel like a flesh-eating zombie.

Shows like this remind me that our product really is great- it's a clean, delicious, simple (though not EASY- "simple" is rarely "easy") product that doesn't need to bost anything besides "Yummy".  Everything else our fans can comfortably take for granted.  

One more shout out- my favorite tea in the world (and, in all fairness, the BEST tea in the world, no fooling, if you doubt me just do a taste test, I DEFY you to prove me wrong, and will wager $1,000 on it, yes I'm that sure) just finally, FINALLY updated their website.  Do yourself a favor and go visit the lovely Himalayas at www.ineeka.com.  Better yet, BUY some.  Then send me a check for $1,000.

Posted by iankusc at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

As Winter threatens its us all with its final three weeks, Spring looms and promises that warm, fuzzy feeling, the snow thaw, and (most eagerly anticipated around the Peeled Snacks World Headquarters), this year's crop.  But talk lately by qualified scientists and unqualified politicians alike focuses on global warming and all its dangers and treacheries.  I ask you, though- is Global Warming ALL bad?

Well, yes.  But some things might confuse the issue a bit...

Take for example the once mythical but now nearly-real "NorthWest Passage", the shipping route North of Canada.  For 500 years now, if you wanted to get something from Atlantic Ocean or the Pacific, you really had to go around South America, which burns a LOT of fuel and/or time.  For a century we've been treated to the Panama canal, but today's super-tankers are too wide for that relic.

Well, thanks to modern science and 200 years of rampant air pollution, the Artic ice-cap is melting, making available, perhaps in the next couple of years, a passage long sought for by explorers from Magellan to Drake, but always a myth like El Dorado or the Yeti.  That could save OODLES of money for companies that can now cris-cross across an enormous water-way that's just waiting to be exploited.

With the cost of oil going up, up, and away, all sorts of companies stand to benefit from this new oceanic super-highway, Peeled Snacks included- now we can get Philipine rambutans delivered to a port in Hudson Bay, cutting heaps of cross-country shipping, saving who knows how much money per rambutan order.  SO much money, in fact, that I've been considering buying a bunch of styrofoam and stomping on it just to usher things along.

Let me underline this- Global Warming might be GOOD for economies, particularly free-trade based economies that like to buy their apples in China.  There may be corporate forces out there that try to interfere with green movements with an eye to their bottom line, and said corporations might act in subtle ways to accomplish these goals.  This is NOT PARANOIA.  This is BUSINESS.

And this is frighteningly short-sighted.  But more on that later.  I've got to go by me some styrofoam....

Posted by iankusc at 12:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)