Not all fats are created equal. In this week’s Rose café, Professor Robins discussed the history, chemistry, and politics of fat. Here are some fun fat facts:

1. Fat is malleable. That is to say, chemists can change the components of fat quite easily, and it is much more changeable than starch. This makes it an ideal ingredient for processed foods.
2. Palm oil is the most efficient producer of fat. It produces twice as much fat per acre as coconuts and 4 times as much fat as soybeans.
3. People thought that the agriculture industry would plummet as fats became readily processed, however that is not the case! Much of the fatty oil produced around the world goes into animal feed, stuffing our pigs and cows with little cost! (However, the real cost is on the animals, and on us)

This discussion of fat made me delve back into my ephemeral, yet very familiar and pessimistic the-world-is-doomed mindset that usually takes over me when I discover new ways in which people are profiting on widespread suffering. In this case, the exploitation is in the forests, the animals, and the bodies of consumers. Forests are being demolished for their palm oil. Animals are being subjugated to fatten-me-up-and-slaughter-me slavery. And we the people are getting diabetes and obesity left and right from processed fats that are pumped into almost everything we eat. However, one must remember that in demoralizing situations like this we have three choices: Become an exploiter of fat, fight the fat, or stop giving a fat.