By PAUL WHEATON
I remember …. because of the cookies ….
In the 80′s a Missoula bakery generated cookies that I had a hard time resisting. The secret ingredient? Lard. I still struggle with the idea. It was lard that made the cookies delicious?
In the cold case of Albertson’s, I remember buying lard and using it for all sorts of things. And then we were told that lard was bad, but Criso was good! (Did you know that originally, Crisco was designed for candle wax? Just as they come out with their superior candle goo, people turn keen on the electric light bulb.) Then the lard disappeared. Now we are told that Crisco is bad.
A recent article in Acres USA shares how good lard is — some of the best food you can eat. Especially when the hogs are raised on organic pasture with foraging access to acorns or other nuts.
Recently, I watched a movie called “fat head” that does an excellent job of pointing out that a diet high in good fat is what we are designed to eat. For years I have been researching fat quality and have concluded that fats from animals are far superior for human consumption (in my opinion) than any fats from a vegetable source. Except, possibly, coconut oil.
So I popped over to The Good Food Store to get some organic lard. I couldn’t find any, so I asked the guy at the meat counter. None. Zip. He said that if enough people asked for it, he would start to carry it. In the meantime, he special ordered some organic pig fat for me.
flickr / lastquest
I took the pig fat home and rendered it to lard. Wow. How is it that this stuff makes everything taste so much better?
In Michael Pollan’s book “In Defense of Food” he makes a case for how food that tastes really good is often far more nutritious. He does point out some exceptions with highly processed foods. And at the end of the book he advises that people shop for food as if their great grandmother was with them looking at every label – and if she didn’t recognize something, you don’t buy it. And I’m certain that my great grandmother would recognize lard.
About the “organic“ part. This is probably the most important. Remember when we were told that red meat causes cancer? And then we were told that they figured out that it was the fat in the red meat that caused cancer?
And then, suddenly, we heard nothing more about it? Well, it turns out that when carcenogenic pesticides are sprayed on cow-food that ends up in the cow, the pesticides end up concentrating in the fat cells. So it really isn’t red meat fat that causes the cancer, it’s the pesticide.
I now hope you are all tasted up for lard. Rediscover the deliciousness! Contact The Good Food Store and ask for organic lard. (Lard is rendered pork fat, but for some reason they wanted me to call it “organic pork lard” so you might try asking for that.) Apparently, if enough of us ask for it, they will start carrying it again.
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BIO: Paul Wheaton is is the tyrannical ruler of two on-line communities. One is about permaculture and one is about software engineering. There is even one for Missoula. Paul has written several permaculture articles starting with one on lawn care that he presented at the MUD Project 17 years ago, including articles on raising chickens, cast iron and diatomaceous earth. Paul also regularly uploads permaculture videos and permaculture podcasts. In his spare time, Paul has plans for world domination and is currently shopping for a hollowed out volcano in the Missoula area, with good submarine access.
See all of Paul’s contributions to MakeitMissoula on this Blog Homepage here.
for those in Seattle, SeaBreeze farms offers awesome lard the U district and Ballard farmer’s markets
http://www.seabreezefarm.net/
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I don’t think ANY animal product is healthy or necessary in our diet..
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Organic lard being a health food is like saying that to be hit with a 22 long rifle is healthier than getting hit with a 44 magnum!
I remember when i was young, we always had a coffee can on the cook stove for saving bacon grease.
We cooked everything in it and it really added a lot of flavor .
I would cook up a half pound of bacon with onions and collard greens, then throw in about 6 well beaten eggs——oh how we loved it!
When I was 29 I had a cholesterol problem and became a vegan——-that was 38 years ago.My sister and brother both had cholesterol problems and had their chests opened up for triple bypass, only to clog them up again and within 10—-11 years. They are both gone now and I miss them dearly.
They told me that my diet was too severe but I felt that splitting open my chest was more severe. We had the same mother and father ———only thing that was different was diet!
I have been organic gardening since I was 18 and really into permaculture .
just wanted to put in my two cents worth
Peace and love to all my permie brother and sisters
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I like what everyone has said. I thought it would be good to minchin that to much of anything can be bad, and That Lard is just one part of a good diet. at least that is what makes since to me!!
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We have high cholesterol in my family too. Recently (in my early 30′s) my doctor had me start a diet for keeping it in check. Oatmeal, salad for lunch, nuts for snacks, normal dinner options but limit red meat, about an egg a day, and use olive oil as the main cooking oil. Baking options not limited. For the first few months I did a half-assed job of sticking to this diet, and my cholesterol improved anyway. So I only break my diet once a day
and it seems to be working.
My friend has been an ovo-lacto vegetarian for about 50 years, occasionally eating seafood but mostly whole grains and fresh garden produce he grows himself, and local organic dairy and eggs. Now in his 70′s, he has tremendous cholesterol problems: had a heart attack and eliminated all animal products from his diet, but still has massively clogged carotid arteries. Does not want surgery, not particularly interested in taking pills. Scary to watch. He has one of the healthiest diets I’ve seen, good amounts of exercise, but it turns out he’s mortal anyway.
I suspect diet just doesn’t control these things, although eating healthy can certainly help. Most of my aunts and uncles take cholesterol-limiting medications, and luckily we have been able to avoid surgery so far. My sympathies to Forestdweller on the loss of your loved ones.
A lot of things that are supposed to be ‘good for you’ or ‘bad for you’ may be so, if your health condition is the common baseline in the culture that the ‘advisors’ are advertising to: too much junk food and chemical exposure, not enough exercise. My husband has the opposite problem: most of his life, he worked hard in cold climates, and had trouble keeping weight on. Getting the healthiest high-calorie foods, without fat-soluble toxins, makes sense for either survival needs or supplemental treats.
Poisoning our world’s fat reserves may be right up there among the stupidest things we as a culture have done. Hope we can live it down.
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I think Diet is not all cause of disease. Why does the fat clogg the heart and not for example the liver. Are these patients keeping theirr emotional loving heart open? Or are they hardened emotionally against other humans.
I am a licensed Acupuncturist in California.
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[...] against the grain. You’ve been told to cook with Canola Oil… but Paul claims “organic lard is healthfood“. You try to recycle cans and plastic… Paul shows us “how to recycle wood” [...]
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