A few months ago, as I watched  a video in a post by a colleague called “A Fascinating Look Inside a McDonald’s Photo Shoot” I remember thinking “Hey, all that food styling is pretty neat and I want one of those crème brulee things!” Of course, slick advertising is only part of the fast-food formula. This past weekend, I couldn’t put down Michael Moss’s New York Times Magazine piece on the processed food industry, “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food.” As Moss writes, countless staples and  grocery aisle treats  are made with the “perfect” amounts of the Holy Trinity of processed food: added sugar, salt, and fat (along with other chemicals designed to make us crave more). And then there are the additives and preservatives that keep it all looking “fresh” days, weeks and months longer than natural, unprocessed foods. As these evocative videos from the experimental kitchen lab of Pandora’s Lunchbox author Melanie Warner remind us, a chicken sandwich shouldn’t last longer than a high school romance.

And here’s a bonus. How does the evolution of your cheese unfold?

Simultaneously grossed out and intrigued (just like me)? Then you’ll devour her just-released  book, Pandora’s Lunchbox: How Processed Food Took Over the American Meal.