Time-lapse of rotting food

In this brief clip from the BBC's "Bang Goes the Theory," Dr Yan narrates a timelapse of food rotting over several days. My favorite part is the exclamation of genuine delight when the maggots decamp from the minced beef and head for the softening fruit.

Dr Yan's Rotting Food Time Lapse - Bang Goes The Theory - BBC One (via Kottke)

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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Anonymous

Excellent choice of music in the background of the video :

Clark – Growls Garden
narddogz

Yuck!

But as someone who had to clean out the wet rack weekly in the produce section of a supermarket, I can attest that rotten produce can be pretty nasty too. Especially under the broccoli section.

Rotten watermelon is one of the most gag-inducing odors I’ve ever encountered.

Also,

Unicorn Chaser, please!
tsukiii

This is really unappetizing, yet fascinating at the same time. I probably won’t be eating ground beef for a day or two after seeing that maggot explosion, I must say.
dhalgren

Was just about to go downstairs to make breakfast. Bratwurst, eggs, bacon. Thanks Cory. Now I’m gonna sit up here and drink my breakfast. Guinness anyone?
ROSSINDETROIT

The only prepared food in the video is the bread. Note that it is shunned by the bugs. The plum actually still looks OK, which would be the case if it was unripe and the skin was intact.
AllisonWunderland

OK, I just revised my will to specify “cremation” . . .
Brother Provisional

Rotting â‰ being eaten my maggots.
- palindrome
  
  Exactly.
Lady Katey

Wow. Between this video and this lovely ‘lung in a plastic dome’ video on Boston.com: http://www.boston.com/video/viral_page/?/services/player/bcpid104472445001&bctid=616390213001 I think I’m going to have to stick with dry toast for a while.
Mitch

The concept is interesting but the video is way too short and talky.

When I was cleaning a very large industrial meat grinder I dislodged a piece of meat with maggots on it from a hidden crevice in the machine. It landed on top of a hydraulic reservoir and I was very surprised that the maggots all crawled very quickly toward the cap of the reservoir and tried to hide under it. I didn’t think maggots could show that much intention. I thought they just randomly crawled around on rotting things.
Anonymous

Back when I was in the Army, we had a 3-ton truck loaded with fresh (cooked) food parked away in a yard. It was meant for lunch over training on a Friday. Somehow it was forgotten, and we left camp for a weekend break. When we got back, the smell was epic.

There were maggots everywhere – and I mean everywhere. The truck was *dripping maggots*. They fell, plump and writhing through gaps between the floorboard slats and stacked in neat conical piles under the truck. Birds were swarming the yard like some crazy Hitchcockian nightmare. We disposed of the food, but were helpless against the maggots in the general area. The birds feasted for four days.
Sean Blueart

I love Michel Nyman’s score for A Zed and Two Naughts, which includes titles like “Angelfish Decay” and “Swan Rot”.
THEGODOFTHUNDER

Dr Yan’s spots on Bang Goes The Theory are the best parts of the program but they are always too short.
He is also never Wong… er, wrong. Sorry!

“Do you think a zebra is a white animal with black stripes, or a black animal with white stripes?”

Anyone tempted to watch A Zed and Two Noughts might want to check IMDB first as it is a bit strange. A woman has a leg amputated after a car crash and then has the other leg removed because it is a bit lonely.
Drowning By Numbers is a far superior film and soundtrack.
Anonymous

Just try that with product from a certain fast food restaurant and you may see a different result.
hadlock

This video kind of blows in the sensationalistic exclamations on how disgusting it is that cooked mcdonald’s hamburgers are virtually unchanged after a month+. Heck, even raw fruits seem to just shrivel up due to water loss and the cuts of meat stay virtually untouched.

To complain that cooked food with already very low water content doesn’t decompose is an argument that doesn’t…. hold water *puts on sunglasses* yeaaaaaaaah
Anonymous

The only thing funnier than the “exclamation of genuine delight when the maggots decamp from the minced beef and head for the softening fruit” was your description of the event.
Brett Myers

The PREVIOUSLY links, as they appear on my screen, slightly truncated, make for a surreal headline:

* There’s more energy in wasted food than there is in the Gulf of …
* Corpses are rotting more slowly than they used to — is it because …
* Happy Meal is ageless: no decay in a year on a shelf
Nash Rambler

I like eating food, so my comment is this: I will not watch it, Sam I Am.
Anonymous

The full video is here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bang/videos/ask_yan/bangib_askyan_foodrot/

This wasn’t on TV, by the way, it’s a web only film – part of the Ask Yan feature where users send in questions.
kkkyle

I’m sad. That video is disappointingly short.
- strandedlad
  
  You should watch A Zed and Two Naughts (Z00) by Peter Greenaway. Lots of time-lapse rotting in that one, if you’re into that.
Atlacatl

Reminds me a lot of Project Stinkymeat.

http://www.stinkymeat.net/
Jack

Nice! But no real explanation as to why other fruit/veggies were not attacked and why the bread was left alone.