The only thing we have to fear….

If I remember correctly, it was shortly after doctors prescribed full fat egg nog as a panacea for many illnesses that we learned that eggs were probably more dangerous than Plutonium.

So whiplash fast, we learned  to use the offending foodstuff sparingly. Of course, in our house, a recipe that used more than two eggs was considered a waste, so beyond frying an occasional egg for breakfast and the egg nog that my mother made for our father when he had been sick, the proscription meant little in terms of behavioral change. But, and here is the rub, it was the beginning of the fear of food. FEAR OF FOOD.

Swiftly after the egg proclamation, we learned that butter was as evil.  Also not a problem in our house since butter was expensive and cost was the bottom line for us when shopping.

So, cutting out something we didn’t use wasn’t really difficult, but the FEAR was there. We then learned that salt in excess will cause high blood pressure. We were told to us lemon instead.  Have you ever tried to eat a French fry without salt? Throw out the salt shaker and get used to food that tasted like the box in which it was transported, knowing that tastelessness was good for you. Mrs. Dash anyone?

Then and not subtly, we heard that all animal fat was causing Americans to drop in the streets, hands clutching chests.  Mr. Morrissey, my physics teacher, hinted that it was a Communist plot. One wonders about his credentials, but the pronouncement fits right into the fear thing.

The whole milk that was delivered to our door with the luscious cream floating on top was the cause of weight gain, heart disease and a myriad of other horrible ills. Skim milk and its relatives were the only options for those who wished for good health.

Those who ate the whole milk were courting bodily mayhem. Whipped cream was the tool of the grim reaper. For a good while my mother only used powdered milk, laced with some skim milk to make it more palatable — but then that might have been for cost reasons. There were four children in the family and milk was a life force for us.

Of particular concern was the adipose tissue from bovine ungulates…cows …(every once in a while  I like to throw in a relatively obscure word or two).

Pork was right up there in the pantheon of “foods that will kill you.” Mutton, lamb,  goat, etc. were all suspect, although for most of us holding U.S. passports, the idea of eating goat was as foreign as you can get. So what was left? Chicken, but not all parts of the chicken. Chicken thighs, though succulent and tasty, were verboten. Thus we entered the long and persistent age of the chicken breast as the preferred source of animal protein.

My cookbooks are a testament to this. We all collected, cooked and ate from a seemingly unending source of recipes for “white meat.”

I do believe that I have over 2,436 recipes for ways to use this substance. Broil, bake, sauté (without fat of course), braise, cover in tomato sauce, cook in the crock pot with an after sauce that includes white grapes, salad… you get the idea.

There is this memory of me, standing at the stove, children pitifully waiting, while I, after working all day,  prepared their evening meal. Having taken chicken breasts out of their then natural home, the freezer, before I left for work, I was now going to cook them in a bath of canned chicken soup with a side of rice and if I had the energy , frozen broccoli.

Fear does strange things when you are tired.  The best I can say about this is that you will eat almost anything when you are hungry. You just can’t make a chicken breast taste like barbecued ribs. No, you can’t.

Happily, there were prescriptive messages too.

People who live around the Mediterranean apparently eat a healthy diet.  To be more specific, those cultures that eschew butter and meat except in small quantities and focus on things like vegetables, sea food and olive oil have longer healthier lives — with at least one notable exception.

It seems that French food, redolent with rich, butter based sauces, meat and full fat cheeses produce just as healthy a crop of citizens. Scientists, and I emphasize this, scientists told us that it was because of the French custom of drinking wine at most meals that made the French so healthy. Does this mean that we can indulge in all of those verboten foods if we also drink wine?   One does pause at this, smiling.

As time rolled by, and the term “foodie” became a part of our lexicon and television elevated the occupation of chef to rock star status, more voices entered the food arena.

Words appeared that most of us had never heard before.  Words like arugula, coulis, kefir and such fell into fashion. Phalanxes of “know it alls” began to admonish us for eating one thing or another.  .

The drum beat of the Paleo people joined the concert along with those that swore that there were populations that lived long healthy lives because they ate yogurt  or others that were exclusively vegan.

There is the no dairy crowd that points out that many people are lactose intolerant. Then there are the scientists to tell us that there have been genetic changes in populations that raise cattle and similar beasts to accommodate the consumption of dairy products.

We all know about the gluten free adherents who lay a rather impressive list of maladies at the doorstep of people who consume gluten. Genes may be the culprit.  The fact that cilantro tastes like Ivory soap to me is supposed to be caused by a gene.

Recent genetic research hints that what affected the lives of our grandparents, particularly our grandmothers, can be carried on RNA down through two generations to affect us today. One wonders whether the experiences with food that my grandmothers had at the turn of the twentieth century is the reason for my bad hair and chronic indigestion and my indomitable love of carbohydrates. Who knows?

So, time goes on and scientists learn more and more about how our bodies process food. Of late, we’ve heard that eggs are off the bad list, that butter is better than margarine and that full fat foods are preferred over low/no fat foods.

Eating a lot of red meat is still a no-no but pork and lamb are back on the OK list — at least in moderation and I’ve get to hear anything about goats one way or the other. Yesterday, on the CBS morning show, a contributor told us that she had been adding two tablespoons of butter to her coffee every morning and not changing any other thing in her diet or behavior… and she lost 16 pounds. Do I want to believe this?  Yes.

Last week the newest admonition came to us from Great Britain. This may make you want to pull the bedcover over your head.

Scientists there have found that toast is carcinogenic.  Toast?  Well, they go on to say that burned toast is carcinogenic in mice.

I don’t know about you, but I am not a mouse and I never eat burned toast. I scrape the burned part off, add some butter and a poached egg and I’m good to go. Life without food fear is good.