Beef Tartare Gratinée Letterman

I had an email from a 15-year-old who says that adults laugh when she tells them they should eat a high-fat diet.

Don’t worry, Abby, they laughed at Julia Child too!

(Via Kristen, the Food Renegade.)

  1. When I got married in 1956, a friend gave me a copy of “The Good Housekeeping Cookbook.” All through the years, that book made the cut as we moved from house to house and state to state.

    What’s that got to do with the topic of this post?

    Almost every recipe starts with a C. of Heavy Cream or a lb. of Butter, many recipes have both and then there are the recipes that call for copious quantities of lard, bacon fat …

    • erp – Those were the days!

      It’s remarkable that thousands of years of lore about food and healthy eating could be displaced in a few decades. All it took was the invention of a few new industrial foods and a scientific and government establishment eager to promote those foods.

      When people a century hence look back on this era, they are going to be incredulous.

  2. ooh my mom had this book from the 1920s about home remedies and cooking…all was nutritional based and NOTHING to do with doctors/antibiotics etc bone marrow seems to cure a lot, castor oil(?) for joint problems and digestion, fermented veggies and they stressed potatos and rice with lots lard, tallow for satiety

  3. Mallory – Sounds like a smart book … We might be re-inventing the wheel, but that’s OK if everyone has forgotten wheels! I would love to learn the name of that book.

  4. I love old cookbooks. They use real food. I scour the various used books sales for old Fannie Farmer books and such.

    Loved this clip and wish we hadn’t laughed at my mom for watching Julia on PBS so many years ago when we didn’t know any better (10 year olds seldom do). Somehow my mom didn’t pick up on the butter attitude, though; she fed us margarine and skimmed milk. Maybe she missed some episodes.

    Julia’s the best, and she lived a very good long life to prove it. I loved reading “My Life In France”.

    And Letterman’s expression was priceless and probably quite genuine. He looked like he was being fed a turd.

  5. will have to ask he and get back to you!

  6. My partner laughed at me too when I mentioned that saturated fat isn’t bad and doesn’t cause heart disease.

    I’m starting the diet mentioned in the book. But he refuses to go on it even though I’ve shown him studies, various books and research backing paleo diets. His mindset is too ingrained in grains and carbs lol. He still reckons being a vegetarian will do him wonders.

  7. Hi Chloe,

    People have to be persuaded one healthy person and one health problem at a time, I think. Perhaps if you feel great, he’ll get interested!

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