Stay Food Safe While Celebrating with Family and Friends
Stay Food Safe While Celebrating with Family and Friends
October 1, 2024
Food Tech Gifts
A Dozen of the Best Food Tech Gifts for Home Cooks
December 1, 2024
Stay Food Safe While Celebrating with Family and Friends
Stay Food Safe While Celebrating with Family and Friends
October 1, 2024
Food Tech Gifts
A Dozen of the Best Food Tech Gifts for Home Cooks
December 1, 2024
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Food Conversation

Food ConversationFood Conversation Questions

When you work in the food industry, there are 1,001 questions you hear.  Many of them, of course, are about your business, and some of those questions, I’ve learned, can be very fascinating, especially when you walk through a food manufacturing, processing or packaging plant.  But personal questions can be pretty intriguing as well.  Recently, I came across an article by Ian Chew, MHFA with a ton of insightful questions for stimulating great conversations.  I’ve chosen just seven in each category below (for the full list, click here).  When you’re asking these food conversation questions, don’t forget to ask “Why?”

We begin with the best food conversation questions.

Best Questions (especially for friends, new or old)

  • What was your favorite food as a kid?
  • What food reminds you of family?
  • What is the most exotic or unusual dish you have ever tried, and how did it taste?
  • What does your favorite food/beverage say about your personality?
  • Would you rather have free grocery store meals for the rest of your life, or free Michelin dishes for the next ten years?
  • Would you rather have the superpower to eat without getting fat, or the superpower to eat everything for free?
  • If you lost your taste in all flavors except one, what flavor would you like to keep? (the five flavors are sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and meaty/umami)

Small talk (that you may want to preface with “this may sound funny, but…”)

  • Are you a breakfast, lunch, or dinner person? Why?
  • Do you usually cook at home, eat out, or get food delivery? Or a mix of all three?
  • What’s your favorite meal?
  • What’s your favorite snack?
  • What’s your favorite restaurant/cafe?
  • What’s your No. 1 food pet peeve?
  • How good are you with spice?

Questions for foodies  (or even non-foodies)

  • What’s your guilty pleasure food?
  • What’s your favorite comfort food on a bad day?
  • What food should everyone try at least once in their lives?
  • What is the most exotic or unusual dish you have ever tried, and how did it taste?
  • What food did you think you would hate but end up loving?
  • What food combo sounds weird but is actually amazing?
  • If you were a restaurant owner, what would be the name of the restaurant and what would you serve?

“Would you ever…” questions (for a fun chat)

  • Would you ever go on a water diet? (Learn more about water fasting here)
  • Would you ever go on a three-day fast? (Learn how to fast safely here)
  • Would you ever eat McDonald’s for one entire month? (Here’s a guy who actually did it)
  • Would you ever try lab-grown meat?
  • Would you ever try eating insects? (you could specify e.g. grasshoppers or silkworm pupae)
  • Would you ever drink raw egg white?
  • Would you ever eat unchopped, raw garlic or onions?

Need more food conversation questions?  Read on…

“If you…” food questions (for a fun way to dig-in to someone’s personality)

  • If you were a competitive eater, what would your nickname be?
  • If you could only eat the same breakfast, lunch, and dinner for one year, what would you eat?
  • If you lost your taste in all flavors except one, what flavor would you like to keep? (the five flavors are sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and meaty/umami)
  • If you were a dish, what dish would you be?
  • If you could only eat one dish for the rest of your life, what would it be?
  • If you could only eat one kind of fruit/vegetable for the rest of your life, what would it be?
  • If you could have a meal with anyone in the world, who would it be?

“Would you rather…” food questions (be sure to include “Why?”)

  • Would you rather have free grocery store meals for the rest of your life, or free Michelin dishes for the next ten years?
  • Would you rather eat overheated or cold leftovers?
  • Would you rather eat your favorite food every day, or never get to eat it again for the rest of your life?
  • Would you rather have the superpower to eat without getting fat, or the superpower to eat everything for free?
  • Would you rather be a supermodel that eats as little as possible, or a competitive eater that eats as much as possible?
  • Would you rather be a homeless person that dumpster dives for food, or a king/queen that eats possibly poisoned dishes?
  • Would you rather eat 100 hotdogs or 100 pieces of fried chicken in a competitive eating contest?

“This or that” food questions (for a quick query-maybe with a group)

The good…

  • Doughnuts or muffins?
  • Pizza or ramen?
  • Sushi or tacos?
  • Ice cream or cake?
  • Coffee or tea (or neither)?
  • Wine or beer?
  • Sweet or savory?
  • Crunchy or chewy?

…and the bad 🙂

  • Cottage cheese or soft-boiled eggs? (credit: this hilarious Reddit thread)
  • Raw oysters or raw mushrooms?
  • Boiled sausages or boiled egg white?
  • Tomatoes or celery?
  • Super spicy or super bland?
  • Sour or bitter?
  • Gritty or slimy?

“Yes or No” food conversation questions (simple but might open the door to something deeper)

  • “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach” – yes or no?
  • Dinner for breakfast – yes or no?
  • MSG – yes or no? (Don’t ask Uncle Roger, LOL)
  • Beautiful plating – yes or no?
  • “Mayo makes everything better ” – yes or no?
  • “Fast food is NOT real food” – yes or no?
  • Phones at the dining table – yes or no?

Food & culture questions (these are a little harder, but very thoughtful)

  • What food represents your culture the most?
  • How do you define authentic food?
  • What’s the simplest recipe from your culture – one that will take 5 minutes or less?
  • In your culture, what food used to be popular but no longer is?
  • If you could only eat one type of cuisine for the rest of your life, which one would it be and why?
  • Would you rather only eat food from your culture, or all other cultures except yours?
  • How does your culture celebrate birthdays?

10 Questions that good chefs will know the answers to (maybe not-so-great for those who don’t cook)

  • What’s the minimum cooking temperature for steaks?
  • Why does ground meat have to be fully cooked?
  • What’s a chef’s knife?
  • What are some essential ingredients every home cook should have in their pantry?
  • How do you properly season and flavor your dishes?
  • What’s the first thing you do after cooking a steak?
  • How many ways can you cook an egg?

And our final set of food conversation questions:

Deep questions about food (a final set of personality and character revealing questions)

  • Have you ever eaten alone? Why or why not?
  • What food reminds you of family?
  • What’s your earliest memory of homecooked meals?
  • How has your diet changed/not changed over time and why?
  • What does your favorite food/beverage say about your personality?
  • What do your food choices say about your values?
  • If you were to die tomorrow, what would your last meal be?
  • Are table manners outdated or essential still?

So the next time you’re sitting around wondering what to talk about, try out some of these food conversation questions. If you’d like, answer any (or all) the questions and send your answers to testrods@testrods.com and we’ll post the responses.  For more information about our metal detection and x-ray inspection verification test pieces, email that same address or call us 866-691-8560.  Or checkout the rest of our website.

 

 

Taken, with permission, from https://deeperconvos.com/food-conversation-starters/

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Floatable Thermoform Test Cards

Some applications involve large tubs, vats, or some other type of product travel where it would be nice to have a test piece that floats. Once again, our thermoform cards provide the simplest solution. We simply insert some type of structure that forces the thermoform card to retain air, which, of course, is what makes it float. We have also manufactured floating rods, which are more difficult because there is less space to close in enough air to make the rod float but is doable.

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We took an ordinary plastic “chip clip” as defined by the customer and embedded the contaminant into the clip. The clip can be attached to the product on the line without damaging or opening the product for testing purposes.

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Bone is a difficult contaminant to find because it can vary widely based on the size, age, and calcium content (as well as feed used) of the animal. After working with several customers, Regal Packaging Services offers Pork, Beef and Chicken Bone Simulate. We have a small range of sizes at a variety of depths to simulate whatever you might expect to find in the product. Our recommendation (assuming your x-ray has visual display) is always to start with a multi-card. Using a multi-card gives you an easy way to test several sizes and depths to determine what matches the bone you’re using. Once you’ve made a comparison, testing the card against the bone you’re looking for, you can purchase a card with a single contaminant for regular testing.

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This small pill shaped test piece is used in a system with a vacuum tube that shoots the test piece through the aperture and returns it to the “home” base. Your system may never be like it, but the point is that we can make a customized solution no matter how unusual or impossible it might seem.

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As you may have seen in some of the other thermoform card descriptions, we can put nearly as many seeds as you can imagine on a single card. Pictured here you will find a wide variety of configurations and contaminants. Just let us know your specs: size of the card (up to 8” x 8”) along with size and type contaminant(s) and we’ll get you a quote as quickly as possible. Working with a multi-card is especially helpful when you are looking for multiple types of contaminants or when you want to determine what size of the same contaminant you are able to detect. In that event, once the size is chosen, you can order individual card(s) for regular, standard inspection and detection.

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There are a wide range of applications that require a test piece much longer than our standard 5” or 6” Testrods. We can make up to 3/8” x 34” or 1/2” x 34” rigid test pieces which can then be extended well beyond that length with a “handle” made of acetal cylinder larger than the 3/8” or 1/2” extension. In the photos, we used a 1” x 24” cylinder handle with a 3/8” x 24” inch extension.

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Test pieces can be made in a variety of sizes and given a pointed end in applications that require the contaminant (metal) to be inserted into a food package such as sugar or some other soft packaged food product. This allows the metal to reach the center of the aperture.

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Double-End Test Whips are also available, with metal in both ends. One consideration is to make certain that the whip is long enough to keep the metal on the non-testing side of the whip outside the metal free zone of your detector. If you insert, for instance one end of a whip with 2.0mm and 3.0mm Ferrous, you need to make certain that the 2.0mm metal doesn’t affect the detection of the 3.0mm metal (and vice versa). If the 3.0mm metal is inside the metal free zone, then the detector will be reacting to the 2.0 as well as the 3.0 as if they were combined.

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Multi-seed laminate test cards are designed for seeds 4.0mm or less. Multi-cards are useful in x-ray inspection to determine what sizes and types of contaminants your system can achieve. They can be especially useful in temperate environments and applications. If your application is rugged or wet, or your standards are larger, we recommend our thermoform multi-cards.

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We can simulate a variety of packaging in an application where you need the test piece to mimic what is traveling down the production line. In this case, we manufactured a clear “package” with the seed inside. With this method, the customer is able to reject the container appropriately, and, in the event the package is not rejected, it is easily seen by the line worker for manual removal.

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There are two types of “candy bars” pictured here – one similar to a flat candy bar and the other in a custom, near perfect copy of a candy bar. Since we’re now able to produce many variations using colored material, the copy was made in red (Fe), green (NFe) and blue (SS 316). We have the equipment to accomplish nearly anything you can imagine, and these kinds of designs are proof positive.

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Need a test piece that looks and handles like chicken nugget? We can do it. Interestingly enough, in this situation, our first version for the customer left too much “void” in the hole where the metal was placed. Given the sensitivity the customer system was using, the void had the effect of causing false positives. We were able to minimize that hole and supply the test piece with almost no void. It’s an example of how we can work with you before, during and after manufacturing to ensure all the specifications were met.

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Our standard acetal card is 2 1/4"x3 3/8,” but if needed, we can cut that size down to as small as 1 1/4” x 1 1/4” (with limited engraving). If a larger card or a card with multiple seeds is needed, see our Custom Shape-Size Blocks and Tablets.

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This distinctive test piece was created to mimic an actual hamburger patty. The customer supplied photos of the raw product, which we were able to reproduce and then we placed blue glove contaminant. Using this configuration, the customer was able to determine what size piece the vision scanning system could detect with the raw burger as the background. Had they simply used a blank card with the glove, the system could easily have achieved contaminant rejection, but they needed to be sure the system could “see” the blue against the product itself.

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A card with 100 seeds in a 10x10 configuration is used to place beneath whole chickens on a production line. This gives the x-ray system operator the ability not just to see IF the equipment can detect the metal in the card, but also WHERE the equipment can detect it. If there is a problem, the operator (or company) can make any changes necessary to achieve the end goal – safe chicken in this case. This card really highlights another valuable facet of our thermoform cards.

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In this scenario, a company processing sugar needed to have a “bag” simulated with the same weight in order to accurately fall through the reject mechanism. A lighter test piece had the risk of passing over the reject mechanism.

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Our standard cubes are 1” and 1.5,” but we can also manufacture other sizes if needed. The cubes shown here are 1/2" in dimensions. Cubes can be helpful in applications where a ball or cylinder may bounce or roll away during testing, making their retrieval difficult, or, in some cases, present a hazard to the product or production equipment.

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This is a test piece that is dropped into a bottle. It’s designed so that the metal appears in the center of the aperture when testing the metal detector. In addition, the round stop makes the test piece easily removable after testing.

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Hexagonal Shaped test pieces can be very useful in places where a cylinder or ball might roll or bounce around a production floor whether dropped by a line worker or ejection from a reject mechanism. Hexagons are similar in weight to the 1inch cylinders without having the smooth, rounded cylinder edge.

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Our customer in this plant needed a test piece with a thickness less than 5.0mm. Because we have the capacity to customize sizes and shapes, we were able to mill down a product that met their specifications. That’s always our goal, meeting the specs you need for your product, testing environment and contaminants.