BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)

Subject: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 12:21 AM

If the title intrigued you, hang on just a second and I'll get to the point. First I want to send a HUGE THANK YOU to Greg Stephens, my Secret Santa, who sent me the most wonderful assortment of things from his area, including the local a paper, a nice touch!! There was a fine little cookbook with BEAUTIFUL artwork which my son Michael loved, a pair of his CD's (equally wonderful), and just a fun little package to open overall. One item though I need to discuss, hence the title of this thread.

Over the past seven years on Mudcat, by far the biggest topic outside of music related issues has not been political at all. It's food. And over those past years I have shared some American regional dishes and recipes with folks around the world and had them share theirs with me. I think we have all enjoyed those threads enormously. Additionally we have discussed all manner of food related topics from utensils to antacids and god knows what else.

Many times someone has sent me something from there part of the world and I have often done the same. I have even had a proper Yorkshireman stand in my kitchen (actually sister Connie's kitchen) and demonstrate how to make a proper cuppa' in detail, using proper Yorkshire tea, a proper teapot, and the proper technique. I wonderd afterwards if I took a proper piss but I didn't ask. I was sent a jar of Vegemite from Oz and Marmite from GB and I now have even found sources for them locally although I have friends here who suggest a substitute could be made from pine tar pitch and lampblack! Greg Stephens has now introduced me to something which Iwill have to find some source for as well.

In my Christmas package was this thing about 2" by 5" and about a half inch thick which felt and weighed like something akin to a brick......a very hard brick! Yet the wrapping said that inside was something called a "Kendal's Mint Cake" and it was indeed food. One certain thing, it sure didn't seem to be cake as I generally knew it! I thumped it another time or two and figured it was more closely related to a diamond then any food I had ever eaten. My first thought was along the lines of how many teeth I would break biting into the thing but then I read on the package their proud proclamation that Sir Edmund Hilary had carried one to the top of Everest where he and Norgay shared it upon reaching the summit. Their only regret, I read on, was that they only had one! The only other information on the wrapper was the ingredients of which there are only two..........sugar and mint.

Now I gotta' tell ya' that if I were able to have eaten anything of this high a sugar potency as a kid, I would have entirely rotted teeth before turning eighteen and never been able to bite into one of these damn things. I decided there muat be something in the water all over the United Kingdom that washes away the sugar-decay effect or maybe your teeth are rotting out of your heads and I hadn't paid attention. I will be looking a lot more closely from now on.

I decided to take the bar still wrapped to Sunday Dinner at Connie's place that week so I called ahead to be sure Wayne's bandsaw was working properly as I felt pretty sure we'd need it. I mean I don't recall reading about it, buty for all I knew, Hilary had carried a bandsaw with a 27,000 foot extension cord up Everest. After supper I carefully unwrapped it, wanting to save the wrapper, and found that inside there were TWO bars and each was a quarter inch thick. Plus there were deep lines cut into the bars as divisions so I could now see how easy it would be to separate, no bandsaw needed. I figured a cold chisel and a 10 pound sledge would do the trick maybe.

We all had some of each bar as each was a different mint. Oddly the one bar was brown, not a color I associate with mint. I popped a nice chunk of this brownish tan thing into my mouth and gave that sucker a suck and.........SWEET JESUS IN A CANE FIELD!!!!..........My eyes crossed and the world tipped slightly to one side as I slid off the stool I was sitting on.   A few moments passed and as my sinuses cleared and my nose began to run I knew this was as strong a mint flavor that I had ever encountered. The white a bit milder but I snuck away another few chunks of the brown because anything that initially painful has got to be good!!!!

To finish up this tale I must say that we all enjoyed the Kendal's Mint Cake and like Sir Edmund only wish there had been more. Thnak you Greg for another "Food of the World" experience and now I have to go and check for additional decay.

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: Jeri
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 12:29 AM

Does this mint brick have something to do with where you've been? Took that long to recover? Welcome back, and thanks for making me laugh like I haven't laughed in a long time.

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 12:30 AM

Spaw,

We used to be able to get those at REI (Recreational Equipment, Incorporated) for climbing food, but I don't see it in their online catalog.

This place has it if you want to order it from the UK. Here is the Google search on the tooth-cracking confection. Good luck finding a local supplier!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: robomatic
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 04:10 AM

One of the earlier Simpsons episodes had a dentist threatening a kid who wasn't brushing his teeth enough (Ralphie) with the "Big Book Of British Smiles".

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: Les from Hull
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 08:33 AM

It's just mint-flavoured sugar in an easy to carry form. The difference between brown and white is in the refining of the sugar (white sugar/brown sugar). It's a quick energy thing, which is why it's taken on expeditions. In fact you could only get it in hiking shops at one time, but it's now available in newsagents/sweet shops, even in chocolate-covered form. It's called cake in the same way you can refer to a cake of soap (or at least we can!).

I've got very few teeth left.

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: BanjoRay
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 08:48 AM

Kendal Mint Cake is the traditional British hillwalker's emergency rations - only to be eaten in emergency. Trouble is it's too edible to be left undisturbed in your rucksack. A friend of mine thought of a much more suitable emergency food that definitely wouldn't be eaten unless there was a REAL emergency - a block of lard.
I don't think he's nibbled it yet!
Ray

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: Micca
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 09:21 AM

Yeah, Spaw, it Is Meant for EMERGENCY use, My Climbing companion (when I was still allowed Mountains) always carried a vacuum Flask full of Food for Emergency use, he always tried to make it something you would ONLY eat in an emergency (unlike KMC which it was easy to snack on, on the move). On one memorable ocassion he filled it with (and am I GLAD no emergency arose) with Curried Oxtail Porridge!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: mack/misophist
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 09:48 AM

According to a report I saw from the British Health Service about 20 years ago, our English friends have some of the most deplorable teeth in the western world. The Health service blamed it on a fondness for boiled sweets. These mint cakes ought to qualify, marginally.

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: jacqui.c
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 09:55 AM

Part of the problem is a lack of dental care as well. In some areas it is impossible for a National Health patient to get on to a dentist's list and, when a new practice opens up there are long queues to sign up. There isn't, also, quite the awareness of dental hygene that might be seen in other countries - flossing isn't a practice that seems to be common - although I think that this is changing.

Kendal Mint Cake - lovely stuff, in small amounts!

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 10:31 AM

I knew a backpacker who kept a can of Alpo dog food for his emergency ration. He knew he could eat it if he really, really had to, but he wasn't tempted to eat it other times.

I use MREs, myself. I can get "civilian versions" here.

Kendal Mint Cake is also available. I think I saw some at the REI in Salt Lake City about three weeks ago.

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: JennyO
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 11:34 AM

Mmm! Kendal Mint Cake! I first had some when I was in the UK in 2001. Then, thanks to a few well placed hints, my SS in 2003, Col K, sent me some more. I like the white and the brown, but I think I prefer the brown one. There doesn't seem to be anything quite like it in Oz :-(

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: lady penelope
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 12:16 PM

I think it has something to do with living on hills in the British isles.

In Scotland they make Tablet. It's like hard fudge and consists of a 2lb bag of sugar, large can of Nestles condensed milk and a few drops of vanilla essence, boiled till a spoonful dropped in cold water goes hard. It's an enduring picture from my childhood of my mother sitting on the work top next to the stove, whilst she stirred the boiling mixture (usually for about 20 minutes). I'm always amazed that I have any teeth left!

TTFN Lady P.

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: Megan L
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 12:38 PM

Ah Spaw yer a darlin they did try to make us change the name a few years back but there are somethings go beyond the bounds of endurance and expecting us to call it Kendal mint bar was one :) lady P did yer mum ever mak ye cinder toffee ye made the toffee then addaed bicarbonate of soda it frothed like blazes when it set ye broke it intae cinders wonderfull stuff a bit like the inside of a chrunchie but usually harder.

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: dianavan
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 04:50 PM

True enough - In Canada we can always tell if someone is British by the state of their teeth. Sad, but true. I'v always wondered why a country that seems so civilized would be populated by people with rotten teeth.

I have a British friend who insists that when Brits cross breed with Canadians, the children will have terrible problem with tooth decay and will probably need braces as well.

Very odd!!! I'm sure this isn't true but maybe the Brits just don't have the same standards as N. Americans where a big, toothy grin will open many doors.

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 05:13 PM

North America? I dunno....

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 09:43 PM

it could be worse. . .

Meth Addiction Leading to Rotting Teeth

February 06, 2005

MARYVILLE, Mo. - The growing use of highly addictive methamphetamine throughout the country is creating a prominent scar on an increasing number of users - rotting, brittle teeth that seem to crumble from their mouths. Methamphetamine can be made with a horrid mix of substances, including over-the-counter cold medicine, fertilizer, battery acid and hydrogen peroxide. Together, the chemicals reduce a user's saliva, which neutralizes acids and physically clears food from the teeth, said Dr. Eric Curtis, an Arizona-based spokesman for the Academy of General Dentistry. "When the saliva isn't flowing, the bacteria build up a lot faster," said Dr. Darrell Morton, an Atlanta dentist.

Jeffery Lotshaw flossed regularly. He brushed faithfully, sometimes four or five times in a day. All that care makes his condition seem incomprehensible - at the age of just 33, Lotshaw's grin is toothless. His teeth all broke apart, tarnished with yellow and black. "Before I started doing meth, I didn't have a cavity in my head," said Lotshaw, imprisoned on drug charges at Missouri's Maryville Treatment Center.

Meth users also may neglect their teeth, or moisten their dry mouths with high-sugar drinks, and anxiety caused by the drug prompts them to grind their teeth, which speeds decay. The problem is particularly noticeable among inmates, whose oral problems have some prison systems struggling to provide dental care. "They're rotting teeth, missing teeth, rotting way into the gums," said Kathy Bachmeier, the head of medical services for North Dakota's prisons. "It's ugly."

There are no statistics on "meth mouth" - as the condition has come to be known - because addicts are sometimes reluctant to admit their drug use and because it is difficult to distinguish between damage done by bad dental hygiene and that caused by narcotics. But there are signs it is on the rise around the country. The head of the company in charge of dental care for Missouri inmates says he is seeing teeth rotted by meth use nearly every day. In North Dakota, the number of days a dentist was serving inmates jumped from 50 in 2000 to 78 in 2004. And the tab for inmates' dental care in Minnesota rose from $1.2 million five years ago to about $2 million last year. "There are more and more urgent care needs, which pushes back routine care like cleanings," said Nanette Schroeder, director of health services for Minnesota's Corrections Department. "They're seeing just worse mouths, generally. This is really an emerging problem."

Missouri pays a company $7.50 per day per prisoner for health care, regardless of what's needed, so no major cost increase has been incurred. "My dentists always opt for the best treatment we could offer our patients, as we would in private practice," said Dr. Ernest Jackson, whose Jefferson City-based company is in charge of dental care for Missouri prisons.

But that philosophy isn't necessarily at play everywhere. Schroeder said there's a constant juggling act between constitutional obligations to inmates, costs and the risk of lawsuits. "Do we always think that it's fair to provide some services to our offender population that people on the outside might not get? Of course not," Schroeder said. "On the other hand, we have to balance that with the risk."

Bryan Rogers, another inmate at the Maryville facility, which is exclusively for convicts with drug problems, said he noticed other users' teeth were rotting but made sure he brushed regularly. "I was always thinking that's not going to happen to me because I keep brushing," he said. Rogers, 30, has had three teeth pulled since arriving at the prison in August, and he's awaiting a dental plate. Lotshaw's last 11 teeth have been removed since arriving, also in August, and he's waiting for dentures.

Lotshaw has been drug-free for more than five months, but there's no denying what is to blame for his empty mouth. "It reminds me a lot of my addiction," he said.

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 09:52 PM

Our family's choice of Hiking Emergency High-Energy Rats (rations) was Bit o'honey and we've all got pretty good teeth. My mom and dad still had all but one or two of their own, respectively, when they passed on.

I think it was my big sister, bet, who first introduced us to the above candy.:-)

Good to hear from you, Spawdarlin',

luvyakat

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: Sorcha
Date: 06 Feb 05 - 10:44 PM

Edain is addicted to Kendal Mint Cake. During her year in exile (in California) I tried to recreate the stuff for her. Came close, but no cigar. PS--Not all Brits have bad teeth. I was shot down in flames when I asked. It's due to the few dentists who want to be NHS dentists and the high cost of private ones.

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: jimmyt
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 11:06 AM

Meth mouths defy description ! the problems I have seen related to this is absolutely apalling. I would recommend people not use meth. It seems bad for you.

Subject: RE: BS: The UK & Tooth Decay(Bite a Brick)
From: greg stephens
Date: 07 Feb 05 - 02:27 PM

Spaw: I'm very glad you enjoyed the presents. I dint actually send you the Kendal Mint Cake in order to rot your teeth. The fact is, I had been reading a diet-related article in the papers and it claimed that sugar makes you
FAAAAAAAAAAART.
   So, this was a scientific experiment. Kendal Mint Cake is made out of sugar, powerfully flavoured with mint. So (a) did it make you fart, and(b) did the farts come out minty-fresh?