Posted on 08/13/2017 10:57:06 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Malcolm Gladwell’s latest contrarian position could go over worse than the time he defended Lance Armstrong’s doping: McDonald’s fries suck, he declares on the latest episode of his Revisionist History podcast.
Before you rush out and declare him un-American, though, realize he means well. Gladwell opens the podcast by telling listeners that “McDonald’s betrayed me so many years ago” when it stopped frying potatoes in beef tallow, so his ultimate goal is to help the fries return to their former glory. But his personal vendetta is woven into the far more interesting story of Phil Sokolof, the drywall magnate who spent millions crusading against saturated fat and cholesterol, and convinced McDonald’s to swap the beef fat for vegetable oil.
Megaphone @MegaphonePods Follow Malcolm Gladwell ✔ @Gladwell Episode 9 of Revisionist History is out! In which I take aim at the Golden Arches. McDonalds: You broke my heart. https://megaphone.link/PPY8679820909 9:14 AM - Aug 10, 2017 91 91 Replies 112 112 Retweets 483 483 likes Twitter Ads info and privacy Gladwell talks about how, at Sokolof’s insistence, the chain moved to a canola-corn-soy oil mix on July 23, 1990, the day McDonald’s “changed the recipe of their fries forever, and turned their backs on everything I once held dear.” He argues texture and taste suffered, and to prove there’s general consensus about this, Gladwell interviews people his age who get nostalgic about the old fries, then feeds a facsimile of them to millennials who are too young to have tried the pre-1990 version. They all agree he’s right.
In typical Gladwellian style, the podcast goes to great lengths to explain the dire consequences of McDonald’s switch: Fryers started spewing a mist that left McDonald’s chairs and tables sticky; workers’ protective overalls had the propensity to spontaneously combust; the new oil contained a mixture of scary-sounding, possibly unsafe compounds (carboxylic acids, aldehydes, and whatnot).
Yet Gladwell’s goal is a noble one: This is really just to get his beef-fat fries back. His parents didn’t let him eat fast food, so he didn’t try McDonald’s fries until he was 13. “Have you ever seen a puppy encounter snow for the first time? He burrows his nose into it with this look of perplexity and sheer delight because he can’t understand where this white thing came from,” he says. “It was like that for me.”
McDonald’s, please just do the guy a solid and mail him an old Super Size box of beef-tallow fries Rick and Morty–style.
That doesn't invalidate the statement.
"Canola" is an acronym of sorts...the Rapeseed Association of Canada chose the name "canola" to represent "Can" for Canada and "ola" for oil.
And as you say, it was made this way because they didn't want to use rape oil or rapeseed oil in the name.
Every cell in the body produces cholesterol. The body needs it. Reduce your cholesterol and your body will make up the difference.
My favorite eggs are fried in bacon fat.
You must have a serious genetic sensory problem. We are not all blessed with identical taste or metabolic response to all foods.*
I can tell instantly. My wife likes the bacon. (; )
My second choice is pure lard, from the local supermarket Mexican foods section.
* Prof/Dr. Bruce Ames, UC Berkeley
I'll have to try the coconut oil popcorn. My favorite is olive oil popcorn with parmesan cheese.
Good link :-)
Thanx
"GMO" is not the problem. It is the glyphosate (from "RoundUp") those crops are bathed in that is the danger. The substance is carcinogenic and hormone disrupting. And even companies that state they use "No GMO ingredients" have found glyphosate in the end product foods, including Ben and Jerry's whose ice cream was found to contain it -- traced to the feed used for their cows.
“It is the glyphosate (from “RoundUp”) those crops are bathed in that is the danger. The substance is carcinogenic and hormone disrupting.”
Also not true.
The radical left was trying to find a study to show this; and they have been shut down
Canola oil was originally LEAR. Low erucic acid rapeseed. Depending on where you look, Canola is an abbreviation meaning “Canadian Oil Low Acid” or “Canadian Oil”
Groan. I can see this is a waste of time, since you deny even Monsanto's own "adverse effects" disclaimers.
“Groan. I can see this is a waste of time, since you deny even Monsanto’s own “adverse effects” disclaimers. “
There are adverse effects on anything including water.
As someone with a agriculture and science background; I get a bit nuts when I see misinformation posted about food or agriculture.
It gets political; just like climate change information.
GMO’s for example; are a wonderful technology. When I farmed; I used very nasty and dangerous (to me)organophospates to control root worms. GMO corn made that obsolete fortunately
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