Kavin Can’t Even: Food Babe, Did You Know that “Indian” Isn’t a Language?

[HuckleB]

http://skepchick.org/2015/03/kavin-cant-even-quickie-food-babe-did-you-know-that-indian-isnt-a-language/


"This will be an extremely short edition of “Kavin Can’t Even.” I have been taking one for the team and reading Vani Hari’s book, “Food Babe Way,” a New York Times bestseller. For the life of me, I cannot imagine how anyone believes that this book is factually accurate. Even her personal anecdotes are reductionist to the extreme. Case in point:

“Dad and Mom had my brother first and then, seven years later, me. They named me Vani, a name I hated as a child because my schoolmates made fun of it and no one could pronounce it. But in Indian, it means “voice”—how prophetic, because I’ve definitely developed one.”

-Food Babe Way, page 7

Vani must be aware that there is no language called “Indian.” India is a vast, diverse nation with a rich and varied culture, where over a hundred officially recognized languages are spoken. More accurately, “Vani” can mean “voice” or “expression of thoughts” in Hindi; the word originated from Sanskrit. If she is aware of this fact, does she not believe her audience to be savvy enough to look up the word “Hindi?”

I previously wrote a post called “Kavin Can’t Even: Food Babe Way Exotifies India, and Grossly Exaggerates or Lies About Her Dad.”I hadn’t noticed this line about the meaning of her name, though it would have fit perfectly in that post.

..."



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Link to Kavin's earlier post noted in the quote:

http://skepchick.org/2015/02/kavin-cant-even-food-babe-way-exotifies-india-lies-about-her-dad/

[jmowreader]

1. Food Babe, do you know Joseph Mercola is the worst quack in America?

http://foodbabe.com/2013/06/24/lunch-with-dr-mercola/

Apparently Tiger Beat thought this too gushy.

[HuckleB]

2. LOL!

Indeed.

[jmowreader]

3. She's also seen as a quack in her own right

http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/four-biggest-quacks-plaguing-america-their-bad-claims-about-science

This one rates her right up there with Mercola and Mike Adams, the "Health Ranger."

There are more if you choose to look...remember folks, this is the woman responsible for the "yoga mat bread" bullshit.

[HuckleB]

8. Oh, she is a scam artist of the most classic type.

And yet her defenders love her. The anti-vaccine, anti-science crowd at DU contains many people who support her. It's astounding.

[hunter]

4. ??? Do I even want to know ???

I've never heard of any of these people, and now for sure, I don't want to.

Who is Vani? Who is Food Chick? Who is Kavin? Who is Joseph Mercola? Who is Skepchick?

Is this some New York Times or television alternate universe meme?

I'm afraid to google it...

[HuckleB]

5. Skepchick is a great web page.

It's feminist and pro-science. Awesome stuff!

There is no "Food Chick," as far as I know.

"Food Babe"/Vani Hari is a food scam artist, conning people into buying expensive BS.

[KamaAina]

6. Vani Hari, did you say?

Mata's granddaughter?

[HuckleB]

7. I don't think Mata would claim her!

[jmowreader]

11. Welcome to DU!

Joseph Mercola is a "natural health" doctor. His website, which you can find easily, is a compendium of charlatanism. He's anti-vaccine, anti-silver-fillings, believes Vitamin D can cure anything...in short, if there's a bullshit medical theory out there, Mercola loves it.

It's kind of a real life version of T. Coraghessian Boyle's "The Road to Wellville" (a fictionalized story about pre-Great Depression woo-peddler John Harvey Kellogg's Battle Creek Sanitarium) except Boyle was trying to be funny.

[HuckleB]

10. If I Were a Food Activist By Nurse Loves Farmer

"...

If I were a food activist, I could share statistics and studies without providing accurate sources (or any at all!).

If I were a food activist, I could demand honesty and transparency and not give the same in return.

If I were a food activist, I could not care about a farmer’s right to choose how they farm and petition to take away their choices.

If I were a food activist, I could act like an expert but have no actual experience or knowledge in agriculture, nutrition or biotechnology.

..."



Read more http://www.nurselovesfarmer.com/2014/11/food-activist/