Friday Food Face Off: Margarine vs. Butter

Not much of a contest. Butter is so much better than margarine–in colour, texture and definitely in taste!

Since Meghan describes butter as a “fabulous fat” (in small doses, of course), I’m thrilled that it is the contest winner.

Butter: An animal fat made from the churned fat/cream that rises to the top of milk if it’s left to sit.

Unlike margarine, butter contains natural fatty acids that are good for our bodies and it is a source of Vitamins A, D, E and K. And while it may be slightly higher in fat, it has the same amount of calories.

So why does the Heart and Stroke Foundation still recommend margarine over butter? “Cook with olive, canola and peanut oils (monounsaturated) or safflower, sunflower and corn oils (polyunsaturated) when cooking. Also use non-hydrogenated margarine and substitute it for butter in your recipes.”

I am not a nutritional expert, but I’m coming round to the idea that a whole food is always preferable to one that is processed, contains additives and/or preservatives.

So for me, it’s butter all the way.

Update for my regular readers: I bought some of the infamous organic Almond Butter and I am officially converted. It is currently standing upside down in my fridge!

The beautiful pic of the buttery stick is courtesy of yours truly.

After Edible Action

While I was excited to meet Sally Miller and hear all about her new book, I was also a bit wary about going into Toronto’s Centre for Social Innovation, fondly known as CSI. My past experiences with eco-movement fans have not always been fun: I have found most activists (of any kind,  not just food) to be an angry people who enjoyed sarcasm, shouting and judging others on their pitfalls.

When I was with them, I felt like I didn’t belong and that I couldn’t have fun because they were somehow ideologically opposed to everything I did and I enjoyed.  Naturally, by Friday afternoon I was worried that in the CSI I would be the only girl wearing make-up, carrying a purse and wearing shoes made of leather.  Thankfully, I was wrong!  Not only were people–for the most part–well-dressed, but they were friendly, smiling, they ate food, drank beer and generally enjoyed themselves.  They even made self-deprecating jokes!

Sally was a bit more serious and while she said that we should enjoy our food, we can also view it as a medium for change.  She pointed out that in North America, 10% of our population suffer from hunger. She asked us to reflect on what we have done and are currently doing to change this and to brainstorm about what we can do next.

The overall message was that we often take our food for granted; we don’t always think about where it comes from. However, she also argued that food is good–a precious natural resource that needs to be protected so that we can continue to enjoy it with our families and friends.  Afterwards, we were encouraged to eat and drink at the centre and it was at this point that I met some really interesting people from Canadian news source Rabble. I also met the fantastic Toronto-based activists who founded The Movement that night.  Overall, it was a positive experience capped off with a mango-banana-strawberry smoothie from Fresh with my new food-pal, Meghan.  Now I just have to read Sally’s book…

Pep Talk: Edible Action

To kick-start my rehab, Ms. Meghan Telpner suggested attending a book launch called Edible Action 

It’s advertised as an evening of dialogue about ideas for changing the world through food, which wouldn’t normally be my thing, but I’m going to give it a try.  I’m hoping that the talk will get me excited about changing my diet. Plus, I’ll get to meet Sally Miller, the author of Edible Action: Food Activism & Alternative Economics. 

If you want to join us, come to the Centre for Social Innovation on Friday Nov. 14 from 5:30 – 7:30 pm at 215 Spadina Ave., Suite 400