How your posh silverware makes food taste bad

The Telegraph ^ | February 12, 2015 | Saffron Alexander

[ConservativeInPA]

A new study reveals that the material of your cutlery affects your food - so ditch the silver spoons, and opt for gold instead Being born with a silver spoon in your mouth may no longer be seen as a desirable characteristic after new research reveals silver spoons actually make your food taste bad. Determined to make the "best spoon in the world," Dr Zoe Laughlin, director of the Institute of Making, led a study to reveal which material made the best spoon for dining.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Ghost

[ilovesarah2012]

My daughter hates using silverware to eat. She prefers plastic. I always tease her, but maybe she’s onto something.

[discostu]

A lot of our disposable plastic these days is made from corn, makes it sweet to the taste. You might have a dog or cat that has a fondness for chewing on grocery bags because of this.

[PapaBear3625]

Nature.com: Silver makes antibiotics thousands of times more effective

Like werewolves and vampires, bacteria have a weakness: silver. The precious metal has been used to fight infection for thousands of years — Hippocrates first described its antimicrobial properties in 400 bc — but how it works has been a mystery. Now, a team led by James Collins, a biomedical engineer at Boston University in Massachusetts, has described how silver can disrupt bacteria, and shown that the ancient treatment could help to deal with the thoroughly modern scourge of antibiotic resistance. The work is published today in Science Translational Medicine1.

“Resistance is growing, while the number of new antibiotics in development is dropping,” says Collins. “We wanted to find a way to make what we have work better.”

Collins and his team found that silver — in the form of dissolved ions — attacks bacterial cells in two main ways: it makes the cell membrane more permeable, and it interferes with the cell’s metabolism, leading to the overproduction of reactive, and often toxic, oxygen compounds. Both mechanisms could potentially be harnessed to make today’s antibiotics more effective against resistant bacteria, Collins says.

More at the link.

[ilovesarah2012]

Interesting.

[Tijeras_Slim]

He did not use pure distilled water.

[bgill]

What about all those that eat with their fingers ?

Depends on where your fingers were before you grabbed that French fry.

[napscoordinator]

Caviar? Sheesh. I have had it once in my life. I know some of you guys are filthy rich but many of us are not....However, even if I was filthy rich, I would never eat caviar again.

[sheana]

Yeah groceries. I can still recognize my grandkids without my glasses. lol

[SampleMan]

Consuming something that is antibacterial is not particularly good medicine. The gut is rather dependent upon bacteria to function.

And FYI, honey is also antibacterial and its topical application is a bit easier than silver.

[Georgia Girl 2]

So true. Sterling silver makes no difference in the taste of food. Now a spork is a different story. :-)

[pluvmantelo]

[docbnj]

Did they test bamboo or ivory chopsticks? What about plastic spoons from a fast-food restaurant? What about fingers? During the Middle Ages, people ate with only one utensil: a knife. The rest was handwork.

[Ben Ficklin]

"Depends on where your fingers were before you grabbed that French fry"

[Covenantor]

What a bummer!

[jasbd1985]

Also kills werewolves

[null and void]

Good choice! Fish eggs are better on sushi.

[Mears]

Ditto !

Pure garbage masquerading as science.

.

[reformedliberal]

Don’t care for caviar. I have sterling and a set of gold-washed & enameled sterling demitasse spoons. Have had them and used them for 40-50 years. Grew up with sterling for holidays. Never noticed a difference.

[reformedliberal]

I use the sterling infrequently. I do use the sterling and gold-washed sterling serving pieces quite often. I also use chopsticks for some meals. Not all chopsticks are raw wood. Some are enameled, some are plastic, some are ivory. I’ve eaten sushi and sashimi with everything, including plastic and fingers (sashimi/sushi prepared by certified chef right on the beach.) Sorry, but I notice no difference. And my family and friends rely on my sense of taste because they believe it is sensitive.

A few months ago there was an article, also from a Brit source, IIRC, to the effect that silver, with its antiseptic qualities, was used by the upper classes to avoid illness. Personally, I believe this is all just nonsense. Notice the use of *posh* in this headline. Just another “everyday folks against the elite” sort of thing, IMO.