Bread, Butter and Better Food

We are fans of the movie Julie and Julia. Not just because it was the "feel good movie of the year,” but because, as food innovators, we recognize significant food trends that we are seeing in our work.

In part, the movie reflects the Real Food Revolution which we’ve written about before. Real ingredients, less chemicals: consumers are moving away from “fake” food and specifically seeking out products that have clear, understandable ingredients.

But more than that, the cooking in Julie and Julia reveals another development in buying behavior: the trend back towards traditional cooking, where real butter and white flour are not demonized. With a little more knowledge that sensible quantities of these items can offer taste, satisfaction and satiety, they are no longer viewed as the root of all things wrong with our diet.

It’s part of our changing sensibility of food. The book French Woman Don’t Get Fat, which bills itself as a “non-diet” book, tries to demonstrate to readers that food doesn’t have to be your enemy to be thin – it should be savored and enjoyed. Foods like butter, chocolate and (gasp!) white bread should be enjoyed, but not mindlessly and with attention to fullness, frequency, quality and quantity. Cooking should be creative and fun; meals should be planned with attention to fresh ingredients, vegetables, herbs and spices.

Some of the most popular TV chefs have absolutely no regard for fat and calories, but a passion for taste and cooking, and their popularity continues to grow. Rachel Ray, Ina Garten (the Barefoot Contessa) and Nigella Lawson all revel in the preparation and sharing of food instead of the much more dreary efforts to cut fat and – in their opinions – taste – from food.

Even scientific evidence is supporting that low-fat diets no longer guarantee a long and healthy life. Obesity is up; yet Americans are eating less fat than ever. One of the studies most shocking to the low-fat conventional wisdom was published in 2006 in JAMA. According a summary by the Harvard School of Public Health, in an eight-year trial with almost 49,000 women, researchers found nearly identical rates of heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular disease in women who followed a low-fat diet and those who didn’t. The finding of this study supported equally groundbreaking news from the Nurses' Health Study which did not find a link between the overall percentage of calories from fat and major health issues like cancer, heart disease, and weight gain.

But Julie and Julia weren’t concerned about the science; and the American public may be wearying of it too. As we receive an overload of news information of what’s good and what’s bad, going back to whole foods, sensible portions, indulging now and then, and treating food as an enjoyable experience is a much more pleasurable – and healthier – way to experience life.