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How Crisco Made Americans Believers in Industrial Food

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: How Crisco Made Americans Believers in Industrial Food

#21

Post by ljm »

kop316 wrote: post #11

So something I saw with shortening now (to include Crisco) is that it now is mainly palm oil, which has been fairly controversial due to deforestation: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/palm-oil-health-imp... I have actually gone to using lard/ghee now for myself instead of shortening. It also seemed to be cheaper as well, to my surprise. I'm curious what other's think? EDIT: I meant lard is cheaper, not Ghee.…

Ghee is quite cheap and easy to make by yourself, so long as you use a good butter. A lot cheaper than the ready made stuff, I’ve found.

Re: How Crisco Made Americans Believers in Industrial Food

#23

Post by squish78 »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #14
squish78 wrote: post #8

The agro-industrial complex in general convinced Americans to buy trademark branded products instead of real food

You're giving the marketing department way too much credit in my opinion. Pretty much all of these highly processed foods are highly processed in order to reduce cost in some way (e.g. increasing shelf life, decrease storage requirements, use a substitute ingredient, remove the need for some other product, etc). All the finicky bits of producing food (e.g handling ingredients that are much less shelf stable than the…

Thank you for a detailed and nuanced history. No doubt the industrial processed food supply was necessary for the population growth in the latter half of 20th century. The agriculture industry will need some massive overhauls to survive the next century

https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/hidden-costs-industrial-agr...

Re: How Crisco Made Americans Believers in Industrial Food

#24

Post by peter_retief »

notthatdude wrote: post #20
peter_retief wrote: post #15

For the last 5 years we have made our own lard and use as little processed oil as possible. Our health has improved, we have lost weight and generally been very healthy. We also add very little sugar to our diet. Processed foods are generally bad for health, its been quite difficult to find food that is free of these harmful oils

Oils, be it rapeseed/canola, olive, sunflower, basically any seed-oils are just about the same level of processed as homemade lard.

Not sure what you mean, vegetable oils are hydrogenated, the lard or drippings we collect are from the cooking process.

Re: How Crisco Made Americans Believers in Industrial Food

#25

Post by squish78 »

rayiner wrote: post #22
squish78 wrote: post #8

The agro-industrial complex in general convinced Americans to buy trademark branded products instead of real food

What is “real food?” Are sausages, for example, “real food?”

Are you doing a semantic word-play thing, or are you genuinely curious about the food supply?

Edit: I see that you're a former lawyer. I'm going to assume it's a semantic word-play thing

Re: How Crisco Made Americans Believers in Industrial Food

#26

Post by kop316 »

ljm wrote: post #21
kop316 wrote: post #11

So something I saw with shortening now (to include Crisco) is that it now is mainly palm oil, which has been fairly controversial due to deforestation: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/palm-oil-health-imp... I have actually gone to using lard/ghee now for myself instead of shortening. It also seemed to be cheaper as well, to my surprise. I'm curious what other's think? EDIT: I meant lard is cheaper, not Ghee.…

Ghee is quite cheap and easy to make by yourself, so long as you use a good butter. A lot cheaper than the ready made stuff, I’ve found.

I saw that, I may have to try it sometime!

Out of curiosity, how much Ghee can you make out of butter (I.e. start with 16 oz of butter, get approx 8 oz? Or how much?)

Re: How Crisco Made Americans Believers in Industrial Food

#27

Post by TazeTSchnitzel »

melq wrote: post #18
kop316 wrote: post #11

So something I saw with shortening now (to include Crisco) is that it now is mainly palm oil, which has been fairly controversial due to deforestation: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/palm-oil-health-imp... I have actually gone to using lard/ghee now for myself instead of shortening. It also seemed to be cheaper as well, to my surprise. I'm curious what other's think? EDIT: I meant lard is cheaper, not Ghee.…

Not only that, but fully hydrogenated oils are supposed to be quite bad for you. I think. It’s really hard to keep current on nutrition debates and “healthy” is a fairly nebulous concept when it comes to food.

It's not fully hydrogenated any more for that reason, though I couldn't tell you what it is instead.

Re: How Crisco Made Americans Believers in Industrial Food

#28

Post by abdullahkhalids »

rayiner wrote: post #22
squish78 wrote: post #8

The agro-industrial complex in general convinced Americans to buy trademark branded products instead of real food

What is “real food?” Are sausages, for example, “real food?”

If you make them yourself at home, yes. If not, no.

Re: How Crisco Made Americans Believers in Industrial Food

#29

Post by ebg13 »

peter_retief wrote: post #24
notthatdude wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oils, be it rapeseed/canola, olive, sunflower, basically any seed-oils are just about the same level of processed as homemade lard.

Not sure what you mean, vegetable oils are hydrogenated, the lard or drippings we collect are from the cooking process.

> vegetable oils are hydrogenated

As a general statement about vegetable oils, that is super false. You can tell because the oils are liquid at room temperature and hydrogenated oils aren't. Maybe you meant vegetable shortenings?

Re: How Crisco Made Americans Believers in Industrial Food

#30

Post by kevinmchugh »

abdullahkhalids wrote: post #28
rayiner wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is “real food?” Are sausages, for example, “real food?”

If you make them yourself at home, yes. If not, no.

If I buy them from the butcher at the end of my block who make them in house, they're not real food? If the butcher makes them at the store and takes them home, they're not real food?

What if I make them at my house and take them to someone else's home?

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