There are a few more things I want to share with you before we move on from our discussion (my diatribe?) on fats. I didn't get a chance to write much about vegetable oils/fats and I really want to clear up a few misconceptions. I think we all started to get the message about margarine a few years back, and the idea that butter was better (something our tastebuds knew all along) slipped back into our consciousness. Let me quickly explain why. Remember polyunsaturated oils? The ones that are so potentially damaging to your health because they become oxidized or rancid when exposed to heat, oxygen or moisture and let loose a whole lot of marauding whoop-ass? (This is why you are told never to heat flax seed oil.) If not, review here. I forgot to tell you that this is why you should seek out cold-pressed or expeller-pressed oils if you are going to cook with any polyunsaturates. These are rendered in a heat-controlled environment. But it probably won't surprise you to hear that these phrases are bandied about rather liberally in this country and that chemicals often find their way into the mix. Spectrum is a good brand to seek out for their conscientious practices. This is yet another instance of how new technologies have rendered obsolete the old-fashioned, time-consuming yet much healthier ways of extracting nutrition from foods. Grinding things between two slow-moving stone presses turns out to be the way to go.
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At a photo shoot almost 20 years ago, a hairstylist (I think it might have been Sam McKnight) said something that I remember vividly to this day: Animal fats make me fat. At the time it struck me as rather profound. Of course, I thought, that makes perfect sense. But it really doesn't. I hope you'll stick with me as I take you through all the reasons why. If I’ve done it right, you will clutch butter, coconut oil and, yes, even lard to your bosom, and forever shun margarine and canola oil for their evil anti-nutrient ways. I’m very passionate about this subject but also a little afraid I’m going to come across like Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton, running around a parking lot, stark naked and raving about the injustices of big agri-business. There’s tons of relevant information on just this one topic of fats, and I so want to make it palatable for you. This will be the first in a series of posts on nutrition from a more macro perspective but don’t worry, I will always keep feeding you recipes for delicious, wonderful, flavorful treats, interspersed with this food for thought.
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