Chapter 2

Fantastic Fats and Ominous Oils

My recollections from childhood in the late eighties and
nineties have a few standout milestones: singing the lyrics to
the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song on repeat
(turtle power!), my first Ghostbusters Halloween outfit, and
waking up at an ungodly hour on Saturday mornings to
watch one of the first great serials of the modern television
renaissance: X-Men: The Animated Series.
My memory of my family’s dietary pattern is a little less
vivid. Meals in my house were often prepared by my mom,
who was as health-conscious as any busy woman with three
little boys (and a fourth, if you count my dad) could be. She
watched the Nightly News, read the New York Times and
various magazines, and was generally hip to the mainstream
health advice of the time. There was no social media, but
TV and magazines did a pretty good job of relaying the
latest discoveries and government recommendations. This
was how many, including my mom, got their ideas about
nutrition.
The main cooking oils in my home were canola oil and
corn oil, because they were cholesterol-free and had no
saturated fat. Many nights, dinner consisted of some kind of
wheat-based noodle or spaghetti, tossed in margarine—the
purported health alternative to “artery-clogging” butter. It