Introduction: Eat the Fat of the Land

Even in antiquity they knew we ought to be eating fat, and that's animal fat, as they didn't have rapeseed oil in antiquity. They did have olive oil, but that would have been pressed by hand. Nowadays, the olive oil you buy at the store may actually be soybean or canola. But that's another post for another day. I'm not very religious, but the name of this blog comes from the Bible, Genesis 45:18

Take your father and your households and come to me, so that I may give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you may enjoy the fat of the land. [New Oxford Annotated version]

Yes, you read that correctly. I prefer the New Oxford Annotated, not only is it the best translation of the Bible in English, but I find it more poetic in modern English than the NIV. My former students often accused me of going off on tangents, and that was one. At any rate, in ancient times, it was milk and meat that were sought after to eat. Why? Because you get to live a great, healthy existence and they taste good. Well, actually, for me minus the milk part. I have a casein allergy so I don't consume any milk products at all, but if you don't have an allergy to milk, it's a great food, when not tampered with. 

So, in this modern era we have been led to believe that milk and meat are bad for us. That we should focus on grains and fruits, things that our ancestors would have eaten in small quantities, if they could help it. Pellagra was a disease of the poor, of being forced to eat corn that had not been treated with lime (Nixtamalized). It used to be that meat was prized, only the dirt poor didn't get enough meat to eat. The poor had the goal of getting enough meat to eat on Sundays at the very least. 

Why is this? Why is it that the "authorities" tell us that meat is going to kill us? Well, one could grab their tin foil hat and believe that it is a conspiracy. When you're deficient in amino and fatty acids, and sick from diabetes and excess weight, you have trouble thinking and are easier to control. Historically, cults have often mandated a low fat vegetarian diet to their adherents. Did you ever wonder why that was? It's because you can't think clearly when you're deficient in necessary nutrients. 

Is it a conspiracy? You tell me.