Well, "better" means something different to each person, and I imagine you'll get a different answer
in every reply. You have to decide for yourself which you prefer, and that comes down to where
you'll compromise on taste, how much of a problem you have with "better living through chemistry"
and so forth. Read the ingredient labels.
Egg substitute is usually just egg white, vegetable oil, and food color. It is pasteurized, so it's
nice to use in, say, a Caesar dressing, where it won't get cooked, because of the salmonella danger
with raw eggs, but that's not really the topic here. You could just use egg whites, but I find them
unpalatable, and if I want an egg, I want the yolk, so I use whole eggs.
I like Equal in cold foods, Splenda in hot (as in cooking) foods. I have a bad sweet tooth, and the
substitutes help me get through that. Here's where I'm willing to compromise my preference to use
fresh, natural ingredients... bring on the chemicals!
Pam (I actually prefer Mazola because it comes out slower and in a finer mist, so I end up using
less) and other similar products are nothing more than vegetable oil in a spray can, so you're not
really making a choice of ingredients, but of the delivery system. Many kitchen shops also carry
spray bottles that you can put your own oil into.
I'm not sure that switching everything over to a fat-free substitute is a good plan. When you eat
fat, it satisfies your hunger. When you eat fat-free, you may find your hunger to be insatiable.
That's not a good thing. And I'm not altogether sure that the methods and chemicals that come
together to create some of the fat-free foods are all that good for you.
I won't use margarine, and won't go near the nasty reduced-fat versions of it. If I want butter, I
use butter and moderate the amount. I tend to go for canola oil or pure olive oil for cooking,
saving the extra virgin olive oil for cold foods (e.g., making hummus).
Oh, wait, there is one exception - the spray version of I Can't Believe It's Not Butter. I like it
on popcorn and corn-on-the-cob. It's good stuff, and the reason it's good is that they use butter
solids in it. When you melt butter, that's the stuff that settles to the bottom. It's also where 95%
of butter's flavor is.
I like the low-fat mayonnaise just fine, and now use it exclusively. I'm suspicious of the fat free
stuff and don't like it. I also enjoy some of the low-fat salad dressings (someone here mentioned
the "Just2Good" brand, and I really like the Country Italian flavor with four or five hefty dashes
of Crystal hot sauce).
I make my own low-fat yogurt and it's a good substitute for sour cream in some applications. Anyone
who says "it's just as good - after you get used to it you..." (a) "can't tell the difference" or
(b) "actually prefer it to sour cream" is a BIG FAT LIAR.
Reduced fat cheese tastes like plastic to me. I use the real thing and try to moderate the amount. I
go for the stuff that's very heavy on flavor - Stilton (a kind of bleu cheese) and very sharp
cheddar are two favorites - to help get more bang for the buck.
I can't think of any others off-hand. That oughta do for now.
Stan
On 13 Jan 2004 10:10:06 -0800,
[email protected] (Elana) wrote:
> What is better, higher-calorie natural foods or low-calorie substitutes.
>
> For example, eggs vs. egg substitute.. Sugar vs. Sugar substitute. Oil (olive/canola/etc.) vs
> PAM spray...