July 31, 2018

Why Did We All Start Eating More Vegetable Oil When George Bush Was Elected President?

Vox reports today that our consumption of fats and oils has been increasing:

Can anyone explain this? I can’t find the original report, but this chart suggests that our consumption of vegetable fat increased from 55 pounds per person to 75 pounds per person between 1999 and 2003. That’s an increase of a third. Maybe it’s some kind of Y2K glitch in their database?

I’m not sure. But on another note, the USDA also informs us that consumption of avocados has skyrocketed since 2000, from two pounds per person to seven pounds per person. Needless to say, the explanation for this is no mystery at all: avocados are delicious and everyone should eat more of them.

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DEMOCRACY DOES NOT EXIST...

without free and fair elections, a vigorous free press, and engaged citizens to reclaim power from those who abuse it.

In this election year unlike any other—against a backdrop of a pandemic, an economic crisis, racial reckoning, and so much daily bluster—Mother Jones' journalism is driven by one simple question: Will America move closer to, or further from, justice and equity in the years to come?

If you're able to, please join us in this mission with a donation today. Our reporting right now is focused on voting rights and election security, corruption, disinformation, racial and gender equity, and the climate crisis. We can’t do it without the support of readers like you, and we need to give it everything we've got between now and November. Thank you.

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