FoodBanter.com - View Single Post - Fat Substitute, Once Praised, Is Pushed Out of the Kitchen

at Sun, 13 Feb 2005 13:47:46 GMT in >,
(zxcvbob) wrote :

>Alex Rast wrote:
>> at Sun, 13 Feb 2005 04:36:40 GMT in <1108269400.278161.299140
>> @l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>, (MrPepper11) wrote :
>>
>> ...
>>
>>>Bob Pitts knows doughnuts. ... But Mr. Pitts, the company's
>>>doughnut specialist, cannot find a way to make one that tastes good
>>>without using partially hydrogenated oil, now considered the worst fat
>>>in the American diet.
>>
>>
>> What baffles me is, why is it that these companies don't think of the
>> obvious - using the traditional fats that were used before
>> hydrogenation came along: lard, beef tallow, and coconut oil? ...
>
>They don't wanna **** off donut-eating Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and
>vegetarians.

I see at least 2 possible solutions.

Solution 1 is to use coconut oil - non-pork, non-beef, non-animal.

Solution 2 is to state explicitly what fats you're using, so that such
people as have dietary restrictions can stay away if they must.

In addition, people with specific dietary restrictions understand (or
should) that they are also choosing to make certain sacrifices with respect
to certain foods not originally associated with the dietary traditions that
created the restrictions they've chosen to abide by. So they also need to
be prepared to make those sacrifices gladly. With respect to fats, for
instance, I wouldn't be willing to assume in any case that it would be a
given that a food made with fat wouldn't be using a fat forbidden to me. So
I'd always ask at restaurants, and check ingredient labels carefully.

>I don't know why they don't use *fully* hydrogenated vegetable oil. It
>does not contain any trans- fats, just saturated fats and maybe a little
>monounsaturateds.

AFAIK, fully hydrogenated fats still contain large amounts of trans fats
because it's a by-product of the hydrogenation process. Let it also be
understood, that natural saturated fats also contain some trans fats, but
not in nearly the same amounts. The hydrogenation process is, essentially,
more indiscriminate about how it saturates the hydrogen-carbon bonds.

--
Alex Rast

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