I see how even in Mark Twain's day they were selling cheap US cottonseed oil as Italian olive oil, shipping it to Italy for packaging to hide its origin. And the whole industry knew, but not the consumer. Now we add cellulose (aka wood pulp) to shredded cheese to keep it from clumping. Oh, and sawdust is cheaper than cheese. That reason too. Modern food is industrial and all sorts of things are done to make it seem like good food while using the cheapest ingredients possible. Or to make it shelf stable. I want my food to be digestible, not stable, and don't want to eat something that might harm my gut microbiome. I also don't want to eat emulsifiers (surfactants). I can shake my oil and vinegar just fine. And if I do want to mix things, I can just use an egg yolk. It is tastier.
All the fancy packaging and advertising makes it hard to tell what the real risks in food might be. The whole food oil market is so dirty because we should really be eating oils we can verify like lard and butter. It's hard to think of clear oil in a bottle as a dangerous thing, especially with all the marketing. The olive oil issues are unfortunate. I stay away from olive oil now because it's just not worth the risk.
I see how even in Mark Twain's day they were selling cheap US cottonseed oil as Italian olive oil, shipping it to Italy for packaging to hide its origin. And the whole industry knew, but not the consumer. Now we add cellulose (aka wood pulp) to shredded cheese to keep it from clumping. Oh, and sawdust is cheaper than cheese. That reason too. Modern food is industrial and all sorts of things are done to make it seem like good food while using the cheapest ingredients possible. Or to make it shelf stable. I want my food to be digestible, not stable, and don't want to eat something that might harm my gut microbiome. I also don't want to eat emulsifiers (surfactants). I can shake my oil and vinegar just fine. And if I do want to mix things, I can just use an egg yolk. It is tastier.
All the fancy packaging and advertising makes it hard to tell what the real risks in food might be. The whole food oil market is so dirty because we should really be eating oils we can verify like lard and butter. It's hard to think of clear oil in a bottle as a dangerous thing, especially with all the marketing. The olive oil issues are unfortunate. I stay away from olive oil now because it's just not worth the risk.