Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley for December 26, 2018

I try not to think of that…. natural colour though.

Need an English to American dictionary ;-)

Nick = stealTa = ThanksShufti (pronounced “shooftee” = a quick look (from Arabic, picked up by British troops in North Africa during World War II)

At first I thought Mac was being polite, and assuming Rob was going off to do some personal business. The comments reminded me that “shuf” means “look” in Arabic. I had no idea it had been adopted into homeland slang. So Rob was going off to have a look at Google, as he said, and Mac was fully understanding of that.

I don’t do yogurt, but if I did I would be Googling that now myself!

Cochineal and carmine are red food dyes extracted from the same tiny red bug…

Cochineal in particular has been used for centuries…. but its popularity had almost died out in the 20th century, replaced by synthetic red dyes…

until the most used of those, mostly red #2, came under fire in the late 70’s for being carcinogenic, and were replaced by weaker reds and/or real cochineal again.

I remember it was when my nephew was small that red M&M’s disappeared.

Natural food grade shellac comes from another tiny insect.. i think it’s called the lac, but I’m doing this from my fading memory.

It’s the natural food movement that made some manufacturers go back to bugs instead of chemicals….

but I’ve read that an anti-bug backlash, especially from vegetarians who consider them animals, has made some rethink that route too.

If you see cochineal, carmine or shellac in the ingredients, it may be bug extracts…. but in some countries artificial red dye is also called cochineal.

Supposedly, it’s all pretty far from actually eating bugs… but yuck!

The Truth About Red Food Coloring Made From Bugs

https://www.livescience.com/36292-red-food-dye-bugs-cochineal-carmine.html

Cool red bugs aside… The important thing for Bucky to learn from M3, is the concept of asking permission to eat Rob’s food (1st panel)!! (btw, ‘red bugs’ in the southern U.S. are usually ‘chiggers’)

Thought Mac was talking about one-celled animals (Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus bulgaricus) and the Splenocytes used to color them.Enter Bucky “Botulism” Katt, the bad bacteria.

…What the hell, it’s protein.

red food dye is indeed made from crushed beetle shells, of course, that’s only if you insist on all natural ingredients.

I’m pretty sure a Brit wanting something in my fridge would make me reconsider whether or not I did!