Living in the Matrix as a humble mortal is not the same as living as the head of a lucrative company. In that case, the shadows of the cave become more bearable. And that is precisely what seems to be happening with the real food phenomenon in Spain. Years ago, their leader, Carlos Rios, encouraged his followers to get out of the Matrix, moving away from the marketing tactics of the food industry, which only seeks to sell unhealthy products without thinking about the consequences. Suddenly though realfooding It has become one more brand of that food industry, which does not stop bringing out new products, each one more controversial than the previous one. The last one was his spreadable EVOO. That is, an extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), which is spread like margarine, but without being margarine. Supposedly.
As previously happened with other brand products, such as liquid yogurt or cocoa cream, your description is full of gaps. Supposedly, EVOO spread is basically olive oil. However, if it were, it could not be spread, so there is something wrong.
Everything is resolved by verifying that, in reality, this Realfooding product It is not pure extra virgin olive oil, but it is mixed with shea oil. Therefore, the spreadable EVOO is not EVOO. That would be the first loophole. The second is that it is sold as something new, despite the fact that, in reality, that same product it was already sold a year ago. The problem, as explained in a thread on his Twitter account by the doctor in Food Science and Technology Miguel Angel Luruena, is that the product was not successful in supermarkets, which is why it has finally joined the successful Realfooding label to achieve what it did not achieve at the time. Therefore, it is not new. Also, that it is not margarine should be thought carefully before making sure.
Why is olive oil liquid?
The term fat can be used to refer to many types of lipids, although it is generally used to name the fatty acids. These are composed of long chains of carbon and hydrogen, at the end of which there is a carbon linked, on the one hand, to an oxygen through a double bond and, on the other, to an oxygen and a hydrogen. They can be classified in many ways, although one of the most common is the one that attends to your number of double bonds between carbons.
If there are no double bonds in the molecule, it is Saturated fatswhile if they have one or more double bonds we will be talking about unsaturated fats. This means that they are fats with very different properties. To begin with, although with exceptions, in broad strokes unsaturated fats are healthier. The saturated ones accumulate more easily in our body and favor, for example, the increase in LDL cholesterol levels. And another factor that differentiates them is that unsaturated fats, such as olive oil, are liquid at room temperature.
That’s why in winter in very cold places the EVOO solidifies, because they reach a temperature below 25 °C normally considered as room temperature. Now that would be spreadable EVOO. But in this case the product only contains a 72% extra virgin olive oil. That is why it is solid at room temperature, otherwise it would be impossible. The rest is supplemented in part with shea oil, which does contain saturated fat and therefore helps give it that spreadable consistency.
Can you say that the spreadable Realfooding EVOO is margarine?
Margarine is defined in the BOE as a liquid or plastic emulsionusually of the water-oil type, obtained mainly from edible fats or oils that do not come mainly from milk.
Consequently, by definition, the spreadable Realfooding EVOO doesn’t seem to stray too far from margarine. It is true that it is not exactly the same as most margarines on the market. It could be said that it is less harmful than other margarines, but can you be sure that it is not? It is a complex question that should be left in the hands of food industry legislators.
But what is clear is that it is not extra virgin olive oil as such. And, therefore, it does not have the advantages of this. And yet it is much more expensive.
It is curious, since it is often said that olive oil is the liquid gold of the Mediterranean diet. But if gold is mixed with silver to make earrings, its value is greatly reduced. In this case it multiplies in an excessive way. It certainly gives a lot to think about.