Julia Child knew the answer – butter. In the opening French bistro scene of the super movie Julie and Julia, Madame Child overlooked her plate of incoming sole, sniffed the air and proclaimed, “Butter!” Julia Child was a butter maven for a lot of good reasons, but I doubt for the health promoting benefits of butyric acid.
Many people look at grass-fed raw milk, cheese and butter as road pavers to heart disease. I do not, nor does Nina Planck creator of the first farmers’ market in London, the legendary Greenmarkets in New York and writer of the indispensible Real Food-What To Eat And Why. In Real Food Nina tells us correctly that butyric acid is a fighter of both cancer and infections.
Remember growing up to grandma’s Jewish penicillin? We’re talking chicken soup of the first order. It is however unlikely that grandma knew about that the health foundation of Jewish penicillin. As Nina presents, chicken raised on grass contains conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) an unusual fat that fights cancer. Chicken fat also boosts immunity. Many folk today insist on skinless chicken and believe the nonsense labeling like free range, natural and organic.
Most industrial raised chicken is not raised outside on grass but inside to never see the light of day. None of the labeling above means a hoot. You want to search out local chicken and eggs from birds raised outside with Mother Nature, on a diet of grass, bugs even pebbles and hopefully some flax seed. As Ms. Planck tells us all “The Jewish penicillin wasn’t skinless chicken breasts; it was chicken soup, with droplets of golden fat that also makes chicken soup silky.”
I love Real Food. Nina Planck is a Sally Fallon, Weston A. Price, and Dr. Mary Enig disciple, all of whom I like a lot. The sections on further reading and resources as well as the glossary are among the best I have come across. In fact, I would rank the glossary #1. I would not want to be without this book for the glossary alone. I cannot imagine any household without Real Food. Buy it. You will thank me for the rest of your life. I read for a living. That’s what I do and on many different subjects. In the field of food and nutrition Real Food is a gold medal winner for sure. And one final note on one of Madame Child, Nina Planck and Dick Young’s favorite subjects butter, search out Delitia butter. This Italian butter has the highest concentration of vitamin A of any Debbie has run down. And Debbie turns over rocks in the butter search. Bon Appétit!
Warm regards,
Dick
P.S. Thanks to my friend Marra for recommending Nina’s great book to me.
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