Search

Placeholder Content Image

$30 ALDI buy sparks viral debate over old wives' tale

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text redactor-styles redactor-in"> <p>A woman has accidentally sparked a passionate debate on social media after sharing a controversial "gift idea" from ALDI - a cheap set of knives.</p> <p>Angela Joyce Frost took to Facebook group Aldi Mums to share her excitement over a bargain set of knives she purchased for $30.</p> <p>She posted a photo of the Crofton six-piece knife set with sharpener and wrote: "Brought this knife block set at Aldi today. So impressed how nice it is for only $29.99! Great for a gift idea."</p> <p>The shopper said she thought it would make for a perfect housewarming gift, however the suggestion quickly divided critics.</p> <p>"Bite me if you like, but you don't give knives as gifts, they cut the friendship or bond. (old wives tale)," one ALDI fan wrote.</p> <p>The conversation instantly shifted to be around the legitimacy of the old superstition, with critics clashing in the comments section.</p> <p>"Don't give knives as presents. Bad luck. You will cut the connection," another Aldi fan wrote.</p> <p>"Yes! I was just going to say the same. Twice, people have given our family lovely knives and both times the friendship got cut off," another claimed, with a fourth agreeing: "Well this explains the demise of a 6 year relationship after some $400 knives."</p> <p>These anecdotes weren't enough to satisfy some skeptics though, with one critic writing: "Good to see superstitions and old wives tales are alive and well in 2021".</p> <p>"A good friend gifted us a knife set and we are still happily married after 12 years/17 years together!" another Facebook user stated.</p> <p>"I gave my husband a set of knives years ago when we were just dating... when does this bad connection happen? He'd be keen to know," another wrote, followed by laughing emojis.</p> <p>A third asked: "What kind of sorcery do you believe in if giving a gift causes doom and gloom?"</p> <p>But there was a third group of people who believed they had found a solution to the knife-giving fallout. "No, if you put a coin with it, it removes the spell," one critic explained in the viral thread.</p> <p>"My dad wouldn't even give me his good butcher knife. I had to give him $1.00," another agreed, with a third weighing in: "If you give knives as a gift you have to give a coin with it. Its [sic] meant to stop the bad luck. Another old wives tale."</p> <p>Needless to say, the superstition had some users concerned.</p> <p>"My husband just gave me a set of Japanese chef knives for our 6 year wedding anniversary."</p> </div> </div> </div>

Relationships

Placeholder Content Image

Takeaway containers shape what (and how) we eat

<p>Home cooks have been trying out their skills during isolation. But the way food tastes depends on more than your ability to follow a recipe.</p> <p>Our <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25713964/">surroundings</a>, <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/485781">the people</a> <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jpepsy/article/25/7/471/952605">we share food with</a> and the design of our tableware – our cups, bowls and plates, cutlery and containers – affect the way we experience food.</p> <p>For example, eating from a heavier bowl can make you feel food is <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0950329311000966?via%3Dihub">more filling and tastes better</a> than eating from a lighter one.</p> <p>Contrast this with fast food, which is most commonly served in lightweight disposable containers, which encourages <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195666312001754">fast eating</a>, <a href="https://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f2907">underestimating</a> how much food you’re eating, and has even been linked to becoming <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23773044/">impatient</a>.</p> <p>These are just some examples of the vital, but largely unconscious, relationship between the design of our tableware – including size, shape, weight and colour – and how we eat.</p> <p>In design, this relationship is referred to as an object’s “<a href="https://jnd.org/affordances_and_design/">affordances</a>”. Affordances guide interactions between objects and people.</p> <p>As Australian sociologist <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/how-artifacts-afford">Jenny Davis writes</a>, affordances:</p> <p><em>…push, pull, enable, and constrain. Affordances are how objects shape behaviour for socially situated subjects.</em></p> <p>Designed objects don’t <em>make</em> us do things.</p> <p><strong>The colour of your crockery</strong></p> <p>When you visit a restaurant, the chances are your dinner will be served on a plain white plate.</p> <p>But French chef Sebastien Lepinoy has staff <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=-5gCBAAAQBAJ&amp;pg=PT118&amp;lpg=PT118&amp;dq=Sebastien+Lepinoy+paint+plates&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=8jc3yBavYd&amp;sig=ACfU3U0jRwMOQtM_NmOspLXcyXp9SiVTuQ&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjqzNzj3MPpAhUOxjgGHQnvDlEQ6AEwCnoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&amp;q=Sebastien%20Lepinoy%20paint%20plates&amp;f=false">paint the plates</a> to match the daily menu and “entice the appetite”.</p> <p>Research seems to back him up. Coloured plates can enhance flavours to actually change the dining experience.</p> <p>In <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22128561">one study</a>, salted popcorn eaten from a coloured bowl tasted sweeter than popcorn eaten from a white bowl. In <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Does-the-colour-of-the-mug-influence-the-taste-of-Doorn-Wuillemin/476e322e1de2c705e8691e14c72c814fd79e5e09">another</a>, a café latte served in a coloured mug tasted sweeter than one in a white mug.</p> <p>This association between colour and taste seems to apply to people from Germany to China.</p> <p>A review of <a href="https://flavourjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13411-015-0033-1">multiple studies</a> conducted in many countries over 30 years finds people consistently associated particular colours with specific tastes.</p> <p>Red, orange or pink is most often associated with sweetness, black with bitterness, yellow or green with sourness, and white and blue with saltiness.</p> <p><strong>The size of your plate</strong></p> <p>The influence of plate size on meal portions depends on the dining experience and whether you are <a href="https://www.deakin.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/897365/DUBELAAR-JACR-Plate-Size-Meta-Analysis-Paper-2016.pdf">serving yourself</a>. In a buffet, for example, people armed with a small plate may eat more because they can go back for multiple helpings.</p> <p>Nonetheless, average plate and portion sizes have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/25/problem-portions-eating-too-much-food-control-cutting-down">increased</a> over the years. Back in her day, grandma used to serve meals on plates 25cm in diameter. Now, the average dinner plate is 28cm, and many restaurant dinner plates have expanded to <a href="https://www.nisbets.com.au/size-of-plates">30cm</a>.</p> <p>Our waistlines have also expanded. Research confirms we tend to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0195666311006064">eat more calories</a> when our plates are larger, because a larger capacity plate affords a greater portion size.</p> <p><strong>Plastic is too often ignored</strong></p> <p>The pace of our busy lives has led many people to rely on those handy takeaways in disposable plastic food containers just ready to pop into the microwave. And it’s tempting to use plastic cutlery and cups at barbecues, picnics and kids’ birthday parties.</p> <p>In contrast to heavy, fragile ceramic tableware, plastic tableware is <a href="https://discardstudies.com/2019/05/21/disposability/">designed to be ignored</a>. It is so lightweight, ubiquitous and cheap we don’t notice it and pay little mind to its disposal.</p> <p>Plastics have also changed how we eat and drink. An aversion to the strong smell of plastic containers that once might have caused people to <a href="https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/0747936042312066?journalCode=desi">wrap their sandwiches before placing them in Tupperware</a> seems to have disappeared. We drink hot coffee though plastic lids.</p> <p>Australian economic sociologist Gay Hawkins and her colleagues argue lightweight, plastic water bottles have created entirely new habits, such as “<a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/ics/news/news_archive/2015/history_of_bottled_water_focus_of_new_book">constant sipping</a>” on the go. New products are then designed to fit and reinforce this habit.</p> <p><strong>Aesthetics matter</strong></p> <p>Healthy eating is not only characterised by what we eat but how we eat.</p> <p>For instance, eating mindfully – more thoughtfully and slowly by focusing on the experience of eating – can help you feel <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/why-eating-slowly-may-help-you-feel-full-faster-20101019605">full faster</a> and make a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/351A3D01E43F49CC9794756BC950EFFC/S0954422417000154a.pdf/structured_literature_review_on_the_role_of_mindfulness_mindful_eating_and_intuitive_eating_in_changing_eating_behaviours_effectiveness_and_associated_potential_mechanisms.pdf">difference</a> to how we eat.</p> <p>And the Japanese cuisine <a href="https://guide.michelin.com/en/article/dining-out/kaiseki-cheatsheet-sg">Kaiseki</a> values this mindful, slower approach to eating. It consists of small portions of beautifully arranged food presented in a grouping of small, attractive, individual plates and bowls.</p> <p>This encourages the diner to eat more slowly and mindfully while appreciating not only the food but the variety and setting of the tableware.</p> <p>Japanese people’s slower eating practices even apply to “fast food”.</p> <p>One <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/00346651211277654/full/html">study</a> found Japanese people were more likely to eat in groups, to stay at fast food restaurants for longer and to share fast food, compared with their North American counterparts.</p> <p>Affordance theory is only now starting to account for <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0270467617714944">cultural diversity</a> in the ways in which designed objects shape practices and experiences.</p> <p>The studies we have reviewed show tableware influences how we eat. Size, shape, weight, colour and aesthetics all play a part in our experience of eating.</p> <p>This has wide implications for how we design for healthier eating – whether that’s to encourage eating well when we are out and about, or so we can better appreciate a tastier, healthier and more convivial meal at home.</p> <p><em>Written by Abby Mellick Lopes and Karen Weiss. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/plates-cups-and-takeaway-containers-shape-what-and-how-we-eat-137059">The Conversation</a>.</em></p> <p><em> </em></p>

Travel Tips

Placeholder Content Image

Common mistakes ruining your best knives

<p>Have you ever tried cutting a pumpkin with a bread and butter knife? You'd be advised not to. The result the majority of the time is a knife stuck in the flesh of the pumpkin.  </p> <p>Incorrectly using a knife for the wrong task is one of the most common ways to ruin it, said Shannon Fryer, operations manager at House of Knives in Mt Eden.</p> <p>"A paring knife should be used for trimming, topping and tailing, not for opening a packet of bacon."</p> <p>If you're investing in a knife set, Fryer recommended starting with four basic knives, A cook's knife, the most common knife for kitchen use, cuts anything from herbs to pumpkins and should be the main knife in your set. A paring knife is for the smaller items; a carving knife is ideal for hot and cold meats (not for heavy vegetables) and a pastry knife should be used for breads, doughs and sponges. </p> <p>Dishwashers are another enemy of knives. "Companies will claim that their knives are dishwasher safe, but in reality, they're not going to last as long if they're always put in the dishwasher," Fryer said.</p> <p>The detergents can be abrasive and the movement of the dishwasher can give the blade chips. The best solution is to wash your knife in warm soapy water and dry with a soft cloth before putting it in storage straight away.</p> <p>"I once left one of my Japanese knives out on the bench to dry overnight and in the morning it had rusted,” Fryer said. "Japanese knives are more vulnerable however, a German knife is a lot stronger at resisting corrosion."</p> <p>Owner of House of Knives John Fryer says New Zealanders often store their knives in the cutlery drawer.</p> <p>This is a big no-no as the blades will bang together and chip. Only store knives in drawers if the knives have a blade guard or if the draw has a liner (a plastic insert with cuts in it to hold the knives still).</p> <p>"There's no one correct method to store knives but the goal is the same - to protect the edges and afford a degree of safety to those around," he said.</p> <p><em>Written by Bea Taylor. Republished with permission of <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stuff.co.nz.</span></strong></a></em></p>

Home & Garden

Placeholder Content Image

Genius trick to sharpen knives without sharpener

<p>Finding your kitchen knives going blunt but don’t have a knife sharpener? That’s no problem with this nifty trick. Using only a standard ceramic mug, here’s how you quickly and easily sharpen your knife. Watch the video above to see how it works in action, and remember, if you’re trying this at home, be careful.</p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/home-garden/2016/01/natural-ways-to-get-rid-of-cockroaches/"><strong>8 natural ways to get rid of cockroaches</strong></a></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/home-garden/2016/01/expert-summer-gardening-tips/"><strong>Expert tips for a thriving garden this summer</strong></a></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/lifestyle/home-garden/2016/01/household-uses-for-vaseline/"><strong>Clever uses for Vaseline around the house</strong></a></em></span></p>

Home & Garden

Our Partners

Over 60

© Copyright 2024 OverSixty.All Rights Reserved.