The Miracle That Is Cool Whip And ‘What You Just Put In Your Mouth,’ Explained By Patrick Di Justo

Aside from counting calories, do you even think about what you eat? The food we eat is a subject that writer Patrick Di Justo was fascinated by when he worked at Wired magazine. Based on that fascination, Di Justo has written "This Is What You Just Put in Your Mouth?" which covers the weird world of food, ingredients and U.S. Food and Drug Administration definitions. In an interview with International Business Times, Di Justo explains the scientific marvel that is Cool Whip, why your Slim Jim is alive and who the "serving size" is really based on.

"It was the Super Bowl and we’re sitting down there watching the game," Di Justo said. "A friend of mine, who shall remain a nameless drunk, lifted up a can of Easy Cheese and said, in that drunken way, ‘You know, does anyone like really know what’s inside this stuff?’ ” From there, “This Is What You Just Put in Your Mouth?” was born. Di Justo's idea was, “Let’s just take everything we could get our hands on and see what they’re made of, how this ingredient works with that ingredient to produce whatever solution you need.”

Science has let us do some incredible things, but perhaps the pinnacle of science-produced edibles is Cool Whip. Di Justo is fascinated by this product and says it's like "a bunch of space aliens tried to make cream just by knowing the formula but not having ever tasted whipped cream. Is it like there's a worldwide shortage of whipped cream? Like, we have to make this artificial cream because we're running out? No! They just made it because they could," Di Justo said. "It's such a wonderful example of 1960s food technology run amok. It's such a weird thing to re-create!"

The ingredient list on a food package provides you with a general understanding of what’s inside, but there’s a lot of interesting stuff that’s happening before you even get to the ingredient list. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has food definitions that companies must abide by. “Have you ever noticed that a power bar has a “chocolatey” coating? And you’re like, ‘I can eat chocolate, but what’s chocolatey?’ It turns out there’s a strict definition for chocolate and it must only contain cocoa butter as the fat. If you use another fat you can’t call it chocolate but you can call it chocolatey,” Di Justo said.

That Slim Jim you may have eyed on the gas station counter is totally alive, by the way. There's bacteria injected into the packaged sausage that's used to kill other, worse bacteria. Just think about that next time you're snapping into one.

Beer is another fascinating thing, and the process of making it is basically a physics lesson, Di Justo said. For the book, he called the Samuel Adams brewing company and soon was on the phone with co-founder and chairman Jim Koch. Koch would rather talk beer than go to a meeting, said Di Justo, who learned how complex the beer process is and that the key ingredient is yeast.

Have you ever wondered who came up with a serving size and who is it a serving size for? "If you ask the FDA, which I did, they will tell you it's based on what a 4-year-old will eat," Di Justo said. "This sounds ridiculous, so you ask why and the answer they give is because that's when a child moves from toddler food to adult food. It's like they chose the smallest being they could that eats adult food and used them as the basis for the serving size."

Di Justo's book is not meant to scare you into never eating again. It's meant to highlight the intriguing science and thought behind food. Through his research, he confirmed what we all know happens when salt, sugar and fat are combined. He calls it the "unholy trinity," and companies know that once you start eating food with this combination of ingredients, you can't stop. "This unholy trinity affects your brain in the same way, to a lesser extent, that cocaine does," Di Justo said. "It actually triggers the pleasure mechanisms in your brain, not quite addiction but heading toward that."