Friday, July 1, 2011

Light Mayonnaise Strikes Again

It happened again the other day.

While discussing our society's unfortunate shift from whole foods to chemical concoctions marketed as low-fat and light (I used light mayonnaise as a particularly egregious example), a client mentioned that a nutritionist he was seeing had advocated light mayonnaise to help cut fat and calorie intake.

UGGH!


"Did the nutritionist talk about the soybean oil and modified corn starch in the light mayonnaise?" I asked.


"No."


Many people believe that this line of thinking (avoid fat and calories) without concern for the genesis and health ramifications of actual ingredients has made us sick. Our bodies do not know how to read these processed and synthetic foods, sending our system haywire.


I'm not sure our nation's low-fat experiment (yes, experiment) of the past 35 years has done us much service. So much of what we now take as gospel is dubious, at best. According to Gary Taubes in "Good Calories, Bad Calories," debatable scientific theories based on little or no evidence have morphed into governmental policy,
thanks to a host of factors.

3 comments:

Gansetter said...

I make my pate brisee for pies with butter and lard. I render the lard that I get frozen from Flying Pigs Farm in upstate New York and freeze it in 1/4-lb. sticks. People love the pastry, but how I make it has to remain my "secret."

Chef Rob said...

Unfortunately, I am pretty certain that most nutritionists would not understand why that pastry (with the high-quality, nutrient-dense lard and butter) is so healthy. And I am sure it tastes unbelievable!

Matt said...

Though the full fat version just has more of that GM soy oil in it, so in this case I venture low fat is better. Does anyone package egg yolk/olive oil mayo?