My Favorite Processed Foods

I just finished reading Michael Pollan's "In Defense of Food", and it got me thinking about my favorite processed foods.

My diet is pretty close to the ideal one that Pollan recommends--mostly vegetarian, plenty of fresh fruits and veggies, tasty meals cooked from scratch--but there are a handful of processed foods that I'd hate to never eat again.

1. Fantastic Foods' Instant Hot and Sour Soup-I'm a sucker for instant noodles in a bowl. I choose this stuff sometimes even when I have homemade soup available. I'll probably go to eco-hell because of the packaging, but at least I'll see some of my friends there.

2. Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup-That's right, Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup. It's not the soup itself, but the fact that nothing else works as well in a tuna-noodle casserole. I've substituted sustainably caught albacore for the Bumble Bee brand. I've even found some relatively clean fried onion rings at Whole Foods and Trader Joe. But I have yet to find a decent substitute for that white trash cream of mushroom soup in a can.

3. Red Vines-It's a texture thing. I've heard that candy companies rarely change their recipes because people are so attached to the exact flavor and mouth feel they remember from their childhood. The ones in the package are much softer than the ones you buy individually from the big plastic container, but I tend to buy them individually so I can stop after one or two.

4. Annie's Macaroni and Cheese-I've been eating this stuff since it was made by a small company in Putney, Vermont. The product is made by a much larger company now, and I still eat it from time to time.