Americans Have Lost the Plot on Cooking Oil

Cooking oil basics (smoke point, flavour, use-cases)

• Common rule:
  • For frying/sautéing: prioritize smoke point.
  • For dressings/toppings/sauces: prioritize flavour.
• Extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) is seen as poor value for high‑heat frying: lowish smoke point, expensive, and heating destroys much of its distinctive flavour.
• Some use two oils: EVOO or light olive oil for salads/low–medium heat, and a neutral high‑smoke‑point oil for frying.
• Smoke vs steam: normal cooking gives steam; visible smoke with a sharp smell indicates oil has reached its smoke point and may degrade and taste bad.

Olive oil quality, fraud, and contamination

• Several posters distrust “extra virgin” labels, especially blended or white‑label imports. California single‑origin oils are viewed as more regulated in the US.
• Others say Spain has strict EVOO standards and passionate small producers, but note that generic brands and exports can be dubious.
• German product tests (ÖkoTest) reportedly found mineral-oil contamination in many European olive and rapeseed oils, including some organic ones, likely from processing/harvesting machinery.
• Commenters note Italian “EVOO” often includes bulk oil from Spain, Greece, or North Africa.
• One poster calls vegetable oils unsafe and most olive oil fake; others demand evidence and treat that as unsubstantiated.

Prices and supply

• Multiple reports of sharp price rises for olive oil (often ~50% in months).
• Cited reasons: drought, harvest failures, and global crop issues.
• Some people are turning to local mills, pooling small harvests for personal-use oil at lower effective prices.

Seed/vegetable oils and “seed oil” panic

• “Vegetable oil” labels can mean palm, soy, cottonseed, or other cheap, highly processed oils, depending on region and price.
• Several commenters think the current anti–seed‑oil/omega‑6 panic is overblown; one links to a long critique of anti–seed‑oil theories.
• Others speculate about linoleic acid’s possible role in obesity but admit the evidence is not decisive.

Health, breakfast, and obesity (tangential but extensive)

• Large subthread debates breakfast and meal timing:
  • One side cites observational and meta-analytic data associating habitual breakfast skipping with higher GI cancer, cardiovascular disease, and mortality; and argues that late eating worsens metabolic markers.
  • The other side cites reviews of randomized trials suggesting skipping breakfast does not harm weight or resting metabolism and notes industry influence in promoting breakfast.
  • Some nuance emerges: very early or very late eating may both be suboptimal; effects may depend on overall lifestyle, metabolic health, and total caloric intake.
• Another long subthread debates obesity causes:
  • Some insist the core driver is individual lifestyle (overeating, inactivity); “eat less, move more” framed as thermodynamics.
  • Others emphasize environment and systems: food quality, pricing, built environment (walkability vs car dependence), psychological factors, medications, and gut microbiota, arguing these strongly shape “choices.”
  • There is partial agreement that energy balance still matters, but implementation is hard and simplistic slogans are insufficient.

US vs Europe food culture and cooking

• One claim that Americans “can’t cook” is challenged by others who note large produce sections in US supermarkets and competent home cooking.
• European posters describe cheaper, higher‑quality “everyday” restaurant meals (e.g., in Portugal) compared to fast food, and more walkable cities, as likely contributors to lower obesity despite similarly sedentary jobs.

Information, marketing, and trust

• Multiple comments highlight how industries (tobacco, food, dairy) have historically shaped nutrition narratives (e.g., vegetable oil rebranding, “breakfast is the most important meal”).
• Some advocate skepticism toward marketing-driven health claims and encourage looking at primary evidence rather than alarmist or commercial messaging.