21st Century Addictions: Popcorn

My fellow movie-goers, be alert; not alarmed. For your beloved super-sized bucket of salty, buttery movie theatre popcorn holds more than your average day’s worth of fat allowance. Yes, indeed, that popcorn you are cradling in your arms, juggling a Coke (OK OK, perhaps its diet-coke, but, whatever), is a cardiac artery smothering medley of 1,100 calories, 60 grams of fat and 1,235 milligrams of sodium.

Movie Night Addictions: f/5.6; 1/60sec

May I put that into perspective. The average adult should aim for – each day – 2,000 calories or less, should take in no more than 65 grams of fat and 1,500 milligrams of sodium. Viola! You’ve got it in one: addiction in a bucket. Add a drink to quench your inevitable thirst, then mindlessly munch on more salty popcorn, then guzzle some more soda, and on it goes…till the very end of the show and the credits roll. Drool.

Movie Night: f/5.6; 1/125sec

Now you must know, this killer combo is a tried-and-true formula. The amalgam of salt, fat, crunch and chew is so sublime that most cannot say ‘no’. Add to this the visual marvel of each oddly shaped popped kernel; see how it twists upon itself?

Each corntorted gnarly knot of starch is infused with moisture and oil and bound within a hard husk. When cooked, the husk doesn’t yield to high heat, so the moisture turns to steam and the starch gelatinizes. Eventually, the outer shell ruptures and the inner starch turns itself inside-out because the sudden drop in internal pressure, combined with the expanding steam, produces a foam that cools and becomes the puff we all find so addictive!