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Edible
Fats: A Global History
Butter, oil, tallow, lard, schmaltz—nutritionally crucial yet often villainized, at once rich yet cheap, fat is one of the most paradoxical categories of foods we consume. Shaping every cuisine on earth, fats in their various forms come with myriad cultural and symbolic meanings, playing an important role for a variety of people, from poor farmers to decadent aristocrats. Fats tells the story of this extraordinary substance—alternately reviled and revered but nonetheless always a crucial part of our diets.
Michelle Phillipov considers the changing fates and fortunes of fats across time and around the globe. From their past associations with prestige and social authority to their links to fast food and overindulgence in modern times, she explores the different meanings, debates, and controversies that have surrounded this staple food, which has been both an invaluable source of nutrition and the bane of public health concerns. She also looks to its current renaissance in media and popular culture and the renewed appreciation it enjoys as an important part of traditional foodways that stretch back all the way to prehistoric times, when the Paleo diet was even more popular than it is today. Dripping with recipes from around the world, Fats reveals and celebrates that one ingredient that makes everything taste better.
Michelle Phillipov considers the changing fates and fortunes of fats across time and around the globe. From their past associations with prestige and social authority to their links to fast food and overindulgence in modern times, she explores the different meanings, debates, and controversies that have surrounded this staple food, which has been both an invaluable source of nutrition and the bane of public health concerns. She also looks to its current renaissance in media and popular culture and the renewed appreciation it enjoys as an important part of traditional foodways that stretch back all the way to prehistoric times, when the Paleo diet was even more popular than it is today. Dripping with recipes from around the world, Fats reveals and celebrates that one ingredient that makes everything taste better.
136 pages, Hardcover
First published April 15, 2016
96 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 24, 2018
A surprisingly-fascinating book! It covers the historical use of fats to convey wealth, how fats are consumed/considered around the world, the process of the replacement of natural fats with manufactured fats, the trans fat debacle, and the use of fats by celebrity chefs and in art.
January 19, 2026
Well what an interesting take on Fats. A breezy short monogram on the "history" of edible fats and oils, which confused me a bit as it didn't spend long on the biochemistry or nutritional information and details on the different kinds of animal and plant lipids and the chemistry behind their various properties and cooking performance.
Butter, lard, tallow, olive oil all feature heavily, and the idea that fats and fatty feasts represent prestige and wealth in the past all makes sense. However it all gets heavy and confusing when the account bogs down in the scarcity of the depression and WW2 and the rise of margarine, then health scares of fat=heart disease risk causing huge misinformation disasters and the rise of unhealthy trans-fats, mono and poly unsaturated fat worship into the 1970s and 80s. Focussed on the US food additive wars it seems to lose its way when talking about GM plants but does mention the contemporary "real food" movement of today.
But "fat" in literature, media and art? The book did gross me out a bit at times but landed with mentions of the Two Fat Ladies TV show, Nigella Lawson and some extreme hyper-lipidose US extreme cooking shows. Worth a laugh. I'd have preferred more detail in the biochemistry and nutritional physiology perhaps. Like other books in the Edible series, well referenced and includes recipes!
My basic understanding that butter is lovely, olive oil, coconut oil and fish derived omega 3 oils are VERY good for you haven't changed. Real food. All the way. Lipids are not the villains. Hyper processed fake foods and excess simple sugars? Maybe.
Butter, lard, tallow, olive oil all feature heavily, and the idea that fats and fatty feasts represent prestige and wealth in the past all makes sense. However it all gets heavy and confusing when the account bogs down in the scarcity of the depression and WW2 and the rise of margarine, then health scares of fat=heart disease risk causing huge misinformation disasters and the rise of unhealthy trans-fats, mono and poly unsaturated fat worship into the 1970s and 80s. Focussed on the US food additive wars it seems to lose its way when talking about GM plants but does mention the contemporary "real food" movement of today.
But "fat" in literature, media and art? The book did gross me out a bit at times but landed with mentions of the Two Fat Ladies TV show, Nigella Lawson and some extreme hyper-lipidose US extreme cooking shows. Worth a laugh. I'd have preferred more detail in the biochemistry and nutritional physiology perhaps. Like other books in the Edible series, well referenced and includes recipes!
My basic understanding that butter is lovely, olive oil, coconut oil and fish derived omega 3 oils are VERY good for you haven't changed. Real food. All the way. Lipids are not the villains. Hyper processed fake foods and excess simple sugars? Maybe.
September 10, 2020
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Fat shouldn't be a bad word, in fact it's essential in cooking and helps in providing us with some of the best meals we have ever had. With recipes that come from around the world and the extensive knowledge that she provides us with, Phillipov has delivered the definitive book on fat.
Elisa - The Book Grocer
Fat shouldn't be a bad word, in fact it's essential in cooking and helps in providing us with some of the best meals we have ever had. With recipes that come from around the world and the extensive knowledge that she provides us with, Phillipov has delivered the definitive book on fat.
Elisa - The Book Grocer
April 21, 2022
A broad subject, but Phillipov does a good job of turning it into a coherent narrative.
May 28, 2024
This book wasn’t the best read of the edible series, but it did make me think a little more carefully about the foods I’m consuming. This details about how margarine was made was shocking!
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews