White Powders and Clear Liquids: Looking at 75 Food Additives

The guests on today’s Modern Notion Daily show are Steve Ettlinger and Dwight Eschliman, coauthors of Ingredients: A Visual Exploration of 75 Food Additives and 25 Food Products (Regan Arts, September 2015). Ettlinger, who had previously written about artificial ingredients in his book Twinkie Deconstructed, teamed up with Eschliman, a photographer who has deconstructed food in previous visual projects, to really find out what all of these ingredients are. Among their discoveries: MSG doesn’t cause headaches; a lot of additives are some variation on white powder; and it’s really hard to get a sample of high fructose corn syrup these days. Later in the hour, contributing editor Mark Hay recounts of the story of a murderer on the loose near his hometown.

Music this hour:

• “Octopus” by Jahzzar, from the album Sunlight
• “Soldiertype (militarised)” by Ketsa, from the album What’s Without’s Within