At the Rose Cafe, Professor Jonathan Robins led a pretty interesting discussion on the many aspects of fats. Prior to coming to the talk, I was not particularly knowledgeable about the subject of fats. I was aware of the fact that small amount of fat should be consumed, and did not really know much about the healthiness of the various fat sources. And since the professor is a nutrition historian, he was able to share information regarding the narratives and discussions surrounding fats in both today’s world and in the past. One interesting thing he shared was the fact that consensus about what types of fat sources are most healthy has changed pretty significantly over the years. In fact, just a few decades ago, there was a remarkably negative connotation surrounding fats, and consensus then was that fat intake should be extremely minimal. There has certainly been a shift away from this belief in today’s world, and perhaps there will another shift in the future. For example, coconut oil seems to be a highly popular source of fat these days, but perhaps another fat source will be lauded and consumed more heavily in the future.

I also found the “political economy” of fats to be quite fascinating. The professor discussed how oil palm trees are actually remarkably efficient at producing palm oil, and thus is a remarkably large part of the economy of several nations, such as Malaysia. However, there are significant concerns about the impact that aggressive production of palm in these countries has on the environment, and as a result, there has been significant debate on the subject. Thus, something that we almost consume for granted on a daily basis possesses complexities that affect the environment and economy of several countries heavily. All in all, I realized after the discussion that the subject of fats actually possesses numerous complicated layers, including areas like nutritional health, production efficiency, etc. I’ll definitely try to take a closer look at all the various oil types and brands the next time I visit the supermarket!