Archive for September, 2020

Sides of the story

Thursday, September 17th, 2020

We live in a world in which technology has increased people’s ability to sell bullshit. But it has also increased our options to check information and decide on our own if we believe it. The trust we once had for information sources is mostly gone – I find myself quoting the source and explicitly stating that I am just relaying information and not endorsing it way more often than I did. Sadly the ability of assholes usually evolves faster than our own ability to call them on their bullshit.

So it is weird to me that we haven’t become more wary of what people we know tell us. One would think that in the age where we don’t adopt any conclusions without checking with multiple sources, we’d do the same when information is shared privately – and one would be wrong. In other words – the government is lying to us, the media is lying to us, but what we hear at the bar is all true.

I’ve recently tried to become less susceptible to these kinds of one sided stories and try to check the other side before creating an opinion. I’ve been called out on adopting other people’s opinions a few times in the past and I’m trying to be better at this. But this means work and a few additional variables with all information you store in your brain – source and reliability. So now whenever I hear something I try to check it before I store it memory – and if I can’t, I store it as a rumour with a low reliability score, just as I would when I hear something on the news.

Adopting this has made me more content with myself, but also made it harder to converse with people who refuse to question things they have been told.

Hazelnut spreads

Friday, September 4th, 2020

I recently had a chance to taste two Slovenian bio hazelnut spreads and wanted to record my notes for future reference. Both are basically the same – 60% hazelnuts with coconut sugar and cocoa as the only other 2 components. Both are also advertised as eco, vegan, lactose free (no.2 notes that means <0.1g lactose per 100g), gluten free and both are marked as handmade in Slovenia.

  1. Lešnikov namaz (Hazelnut spread)
    lesnikov-namaz-20chocolate
    Manufacturer:
    20 Chocolate
    Weight:
    200g
    Expires:
    23-10-2020
    Certification from:
    SI-EKO-003 (Bureau Veritas)
    Ingredients:
    hazelnuts, cocoa beans, coconut sugar
    Energy per 100g:
    2373kJ/572kcal
    Fat / saturated per 100g:
    43,1g / 5,4g
    Carbohydrate / sugars per 100g:
    29,2g / 27,4g
    Protein per 100g
    12,6g
    Salt per 100g
    0,16g
  2. Bio lešnikov namaz (Bio hazelnut spread)
    lesnikov-namaz-lizin-vrt
    Manufacturer:
    Lizin Vrt
    Weight:
    190g
    Expires:
    02-03-2021
    Certification from:
    SI-EKO-002 (IKC UM)
    Ingredients:
    hazelnut paste, cocoa paste, coconut sugar
    Energy per 100g:
    2560kJ/618kcal
    Fat / saturated per 100g:
    49,0g / 8,7g
    Carbohydrate / sugars per 100g:
    31,0g / 24g
    Protein per 100g
    9,42g
    Salt per 100g
    <0,01g

So even though they look the same based on the big claims on the container, they are quite dissimilar with the second one using more fat (8,7g vs 5,4g) and less sugar (24g vs 27,4g) resulting in higher energy value. I’m also a bit annoyed that it is 10g lighter even though it seems it’s using the same container.

Taste wise and texture wise I prefer the first one – it tastes a bit sweeter and creamier. I’ll see if the second turns creamier with time. Oddly, the second has a somewhat bitter taste as if the hazelnuts were a bit over and not really perfect. Might be a batch issue or an overall quality issue, who knows. Either way, I’d buy no.1 again, keeping no.2 in mind only as a backup.