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Just about everybody has heard of the "French paradox," although most people incorrectly think it has something to do with red wine. But the French paradox properly defined is that, while only four percent of French people eat diets that meet U.S. nutritional guidelines, and while the French overall have higher levels of serum cholesterol than Americans, the incidence of heart disease in France is 33 percent lower than in America.

Not to be outdone by a real scientist, I spent the past month conducting a little psychological study of my own. This November, I dined in groups of three or more people on 14 occasions (both at home and in restaurants). On 13 occasions, people made one or more comments connecting the food with heart disease (22 comments in all). In 11 cases, there were also comments about weight gain resulting from those meals (15 total comments). And one of those meals (three comments total) was at a vegetarian health food restaurant.

At only one group meal were there no comments about food and health. You guessed it, my dinner companions were French. After this six-course meal, gloriously free of food neuroses, I was almost ready to forgive the French for denying us their airspace during the Libya bombing, although perhaps not for their complicity in the Holocaust.

"The simple truth is that fat is delicious," says Edward Behr, my other best friend and author of The Art of Eating quarterly newsletter. "Most of the flavor of meat comes from fat, and fat enriches the flavor of most any food. Fat carries flavor and feels luscious in the mouth. It's even delicious in certain raw forms, like olive oil and butter."

It is in this regard that I respectfully submit that Chanukah is a superior holiday to Christmas. I make this claim not just because I'm Jewish, and not because of the clear numerical advantage of eight dinners over one (although I'm hoping that the full-blown celebration of all 12 days of Christmas will someday make a comeback among my gentile friends, and that they'll invite me). Rather, I believe the preeminence of Chanukah derives from its cuisine. Chanukah is frequently called the festival of lights, but it could more accurately be described as a festival of fat. Technically, the miracle of Chanukah was that, while the Jews celebrated victory over the latest group of anti-Semites who had tried to kill them (in this instance, the Greeks), the one-day supply of oil in the temple's menorah lasted for eight. As a result, we who celebrate Chanukah are required by Jewish law and tradition to eat foods that are rich in oil. Potato latkes (pancakes) are the best-known example, but my favorite traditional Chanukah item is sufganiyot (little deep-fried jelly doughnuts).

Speaking of things Jewish, in the movie "Sleeper," Woody Allen plays a man who, after years in cryogenic freeze, awakens in a future where superior science has established that cigarettes and chocolate are good for you and that foods thought to be healthy in the 20th century are actually carcinogenic. But truth is stranger than fiction, and the last decade of the millennium has seen numerous flip-flops in the definition of healthy food. For my mother's generation, going on a diet meant eating lots of hard-boiled eggs and whole-milk cottage cheese. Today, these items are forbidden. The latest studies indicate that butter may be less dangerous than margarine, regular coffee may be less dangerous than decaf and proteins may be better than carbohydrates. The highly touted "Mediterranean diet" is losing its appeal now that we know Northern Europeans, who eat substantially more fat than Southern Europeans, live longer. Can a major study detailing the secret health benefits of fat be far behind?

It's no wonder that, as Rozin puts it, "Every bite, for some people, is fraught with conflict." Exaggerated reporting of specious epidemiological studies (which only show correlations and do not offer explanations) has made us into a nation of hysterics. "This availability of information has not been accompanied by education of the public on risks and benefits, basic concepts of probability, and on the gradual and rocky road, in science, from ignorance to knowledge," he argues. "This has led, at least among Americans, to frequent new concerns about particular dietary items, and has promoted tendencies to ignore it all, or to overreact to it all, or to develop simplifying heuristics which take the uncertainty out of every bite."

But here's one thing we do know: Stress is unhealthy. The studies showing links between stress and poor health are legion -- Rozin will be happy to show you hundreds. And, as he concludes, "It is not unreasonable to assume that when a major aspect of life becomes stressful and a source of substantial worry as opposed to a pleasure, effects might be seen in both cardiovascular and immune systems."

So the next time you find yourself face-to-face with a plate of creamy, salty, buttery mashed potatoes, enjoy them. Even better, ask for seconds. Your life may depend on it.
salon.com | Dec. 24, 1999

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