Do you wash fresh ingredients before using them?

morning glory - I think you're asking an unanswerable question, because you're looking for pure logic in the behavior of the most illogical creature on the planet - humans.
I like macaroni. I also like cheese. Yet, I loathe macaroni-and-cheese. Why? Who knows? Nature gave us humans these big ol' brains for all that reasoning and critical thinking power, and the side-effect is, we also got a lot of neuroses and contradictory thinking into the bargain.

Also, you're trying to apply an all-or-nothing explanation to it: "If you're worried about germs here, then why aren't you worried about germs there?" That's kind of like asking the jogger who smokes why they're smoking if they're obviously interested in their health, or asking the person who just ordered a Big Mac why they bothered getting the Diet Coke. If you're going to trash your health, may as well go all the way, right? But people don't look at it that way.
Besides, like I said earlier, it's easy to wash produce, so a person probably gets a good feeling when they do it.

I'll bet I could set up a box with a plain old light bulb in it, and put up a sign that says, "Do you know who's handled your bread? Studies show fresh-baked bakery loaves have 14 billion germs on them on average! Please use our germ-eradicating ultra-violet box to kill 99.99% of the germs on your bread!," and by the end of the day, at least half the shoppers would try putting their bread in it to kill the germs. Why? Low effort for a possibly positive outcome.
 
TastyReuben said:
morning glory - I think you're asking an unanswerable question, because you're looking for pure logic in the behavior of the most illogical creature on the planet - humans.
I like macaroni. I also like cheese. Yet, I loathe macaroni-and-cheese. Why? Who knows? Nature gave us humans these big ol' brains for all that reasoning and critical thinking power, and the side-effect is, we also got a lot of neuroses and contradictory thinking into the bargain.

Also, you're trying to apply an all-or-nothing explanation to it: "If you're worried about germs here, then why aren't you worried about germs there?" That's kind of like asking the jogger who smokes why they're smoking if they're obviously interested in their health, or asking the person who just ordered a Big Mac why they bothered getting the Diet Coke. If you're going to trash your health, may as well go all the way, right? But people don't look at it that way.
Besides, like I said earlier, it's easy to wash produce, so a person probably gets a good feeling when they do it.

I'll bet I could set up a box with a plain old light bulb in it, and put up a sign that says, "Do you know who's handled your bread? Studies show fresh-baked bakery loaves have 14 billion germs on them on average! Please use our germ-eradicating ultra-violet box to kill 99.99% of the germs on your bread!," and by the end of the day, at least half the shoppers would try putting their bread in it to kill the germs. Why? Low effort for a possibly positive outcome.
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I agree with a lot of what you say - but I don't reckon its as simple as the effort involved. Its probably more to do with conditioning and learned behaviour. Your macaroni cheese example is not the same as 'habits of washing or not washing stuff'. Combining foods creates a different result so its quite logical that whilst an individual might like all the ingredients tasted separately, they might not like the combined result.

I think neurosis does come into the equation quite a lot. I once had an obsessive compulsive disorder (when I was a kid) which meant that if I ever went outside the house, I had to wash my hands when I came back in. It wasn't to do with touching anything (although if I did touch things outside it made it more 'necessary'). It was quite barmy and I had to work hard to apply logic to get over it. It almost got to the point where I couldn't go out!

I love the idea of your light box for bread!
 
caseydog said:
I guess I like living dangerously. :hyper:

Back in my SeaDoo riding days, I (unintentionally) swallowed lake water from time-to-time, and it didn't make me sick. So, I don't think an unwashed strawberry is going to do me in.
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Indeed, im the one who believe on you, back on the past decades ago, people don't usually wash foods. In fact their using they're bare hands eating.

We Filipino are one of those who practiced that kind way of eating.

"Being clean, is not as safe as you know."
We also need to eat not washed foods for our immune system to get use to it.
 
Logically I know that washing everything is best. You don't know what bacteria and viruses are there, and you don't know if there's anything lurking on the skin that can make you sick. There are so many reports about potential health problems and some people even going to hospitals for not washing their produce, fresh or otherwise.

Even still, knowing all that, I probably wash about 10% of my produce, :p:
 
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