Whose idea was it to commercialize/productize bacon grease? Better N Bacon LLC (BNB) is the company behind Bacon Up® Bacon Grease. BNB is a family-founded, family-funded entrepreneurial venture started and managed by five siblings who grew up in Owensboro, Kentucky. For decades now, the siblings and their extended families have been frying turkeys at their Thanksgiving gatherings. A few years back they used bacon grease instead of peanut oil and LOVED it. The light bulb went off and the brainstorming began on how they could package and market authentic, ready-to-use bacon grease for the masses – and what eventually became “Bacon Up” was born.
Read moreIn Tasty Affirmation That Flavor Matters, Healthy Fats Coalition Celebrates Dec. 8 as Sixth Annual #NationalLardDay
Lard — A traditional cooking fat that is heat stable, neutral in flavor, sustainable, high in Vitamin D, and essential for both baking and frying.
#NationalLardDay is the brainchild of the HFC, a group of like-minded organizations, companies and individuals that have developed an educational initiative dedicated to the proposition that healthy fats aren’t merely having a moment – they’re here to stay, as an essential part of the American diet.
Read moreGetting to know the Weston A. Price Foundation
Established in 1999, the Weston A. Price Foundation showcases the work of its namesake and the nutrition/health principles that are his legacy. Weston Andrew Valleau Price (1870 –1948) was a Canadian dentist known primarily for his theories on the relationship between nutrition, dental health, and physical health. He founded the research institute National Dental Association, which became the research section of the American Dental Association and served as the NDA's chairman from 1914 to 1928. In 1945, he published a seminal book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, on his theories. Today, the Foundation operates what is regarded as the most viewed alternative nutrition website on the Internet, westonaprice.org.
Read moreThe Fries Have It: Healthy Fats Coalition Celebrates July 13 as Sixth Annual #NationalBeefTallowDay
In what has become a yummy mid-summer ritual, the Healthy Fats Coalition (HFC) is marking today, July 13, as the Sixth Annual #NationalBeefTallowDay -- a celebration of beef fat, an authentic, traditional ingredient that brings out the very best in food. Like pure lard, duck fat, goose fat and other animal fats, beef tallow is enjoying a resurgence within America’s food culture, in restaurants and fast casual operations.
Read moreOn 6th Annual #NationalHealthyFats Day, Here’s One Rite of Spring: Praise Animal Fats
#HealthyFatsDay was established to spread awareness of the importance of fat in our diet & to help give a platform for information about the facts and myths surrounding it.
Read moreIn Tasty Affirmation That Flavor Matters, Healthy Fats Coalition Celebrates Dec. 8 as Fifth Annual #NationalLardDay
National Lard Day is a celebration of pure lard, a traditional, authentic animal fat that is enjoying a heyday within America’s food culture, in restaurants, fast food operations and home kitchens.
Read moreA Conversation with Dr. Cate Shanahan
A Q&A featuring HFC member, Dr. Cate Shanahan, discussing the importance of healthy animal fats in our diet.
Read moreFatworks, An HFC Charter Member, Outlines the Trajectory of its Healthy Fats Business
Welcome to Fatworks, the Fattitude Adjusters! What is our mission? Our big fat mission: to educate the mainstream population about the benefits of using REAL cooking oils like tallow, lard and duck fat while crafting these traditional fats the most natural way possible. For years fat has been marginalized, (no to mention margarinized), maligned, slandered, beat up, picked on and falsely accused! But no longer, for Fatworks is the Defenders of Fat!
David Cole, Fatworks founder
BACK IN 2010, David Cole, owner of Fatworks, hopped aboard the paleo train and had a hunch that a new generation of healthy-fats-seeking consumers were out there in search of well-rendered, premium tallow and lard.
He just couldn’t find any product on store shelves. He and his wife, Mieke, set out to make their own, taking midnight shifts standing over a kettle in Portland, OR melting beef fat in sweltering conditions. At 3 a.m. with 300 pounds of fat and no customers, they looked at each other and asked, “Are we nuts?”
Decidedly not. It quickly became clear they were on to something. With only vegetable, industrialized seed oils and coconut oils on the market, Cole set out with keto and paleo enthusiasts in mind, recognizing that a whole new generation was being educated about the benefits of healthy fats. Finding only lard or tallow at the farmer’s market, he realized that rendered animal fats were simply an afterthought. But now, his company, Fatworks, was ready to give these farm fats a starring role.
Fatworks made its first batch, created a Facebook page and reached out to paleo influencers to sample before “influencers” was even a thing. People went crazy for fat, confirming for the Coles they were both needed and wanted. The next day, the Fatworks page got 2,000 likes and Cole contacted every small co-op in the country. Fatworks became the OG. Literally no one else was doing what they were doing at retail. In the markets or grocery stores, lard that was bleached, deodorized and hydrogenated.
“We believed in the science with various studies out there,” Cole says. “There are enough people out there who believe and understand. People who grew up in rural areas saw their parents eat lard every day, and died at 95. Even without the paleo world, there are people who simply embrace healthy fats. Meanwhile the paleo people were doing all the education and legwork, fighting fat phobia. People like Nina Teicholz (The Big Fat Surprise) and Gary Taubes (Nutrition Science Initiative) were doing the education for us. I bought into it personally and started eating that way. I ended up losing weight and felt better, never having any issues with cholesterol. Research is bearing that out.
“It's amazing how much of our consumer base is eating fats strictly for health reasons,” he continues. “It's delicious but people don't care; they just want to make their food more gourmet, traditional. We get calls every day from people switching from vegetable oil and eating cleaner. In 10 years, it's so gratifying to see that. It was fringy when we started. If you said 10 years ago I'm eating paleo, you'd need to give a 20-minute spiehl about what that is. Now it’s in the mainstream.”
Known for premium quality, Fatworks sources its fat from small, U.S. based, pasture-raised farms, some so small that it would take a year to get a pallet’s worth. Farmers couldn’t believe he wanted the fat they had routinely been throwin out, some even selling to diesel companies. Fatworks ships the fat to a small artisanal USDA facility with two kettles in Longmont, outside of Denver. Once there, it’s ground and put into kettles - similar to the way someone might purchase from a butcher, chopping it up and putting it into a stock pot. The large kettles have better filters (unlike cheesecloth), which means no sediment or proteins get through. Fatworks also adds a small amount of organic rosemary, a great antioxidant, to keep peroxide levels low without affecting the flavor.
Over the years, Fatworks has seen trends that include devotees injecting brisket with Wagyu tallow like a poultice (full-blood, A-5 highest rated Wagyu has more mono unsaturated fat), using Wagyu tallow on bison which is leaner, and people seeking goose fat/grease for the their lungs during the pandemic. People have also been smoking and grilling pork with leaf lard (fat around kidneys) or lard made from trimmings and back fat. Influencer Alton Brown even endorsed Fatworks Leaf Lard in People Magazine.
Cole credits some of Fatworks’ success and brand appeal to an irreverent, almost iconoclastic brand personality. You’ll find that Fatworks is apt to frequently “Praise the Lard” and is encouraging “Fatworkers” to give themselves a well-deserved “Fattitude Adjustment.” Says Cole: “We take crafting fat seriously and understand that many people who come to Fatworks do so as part of a huge lifestyle change, but at the end of the day, it’s fat, and if you can’t have fun with fat, then lard have mercy on you.”
As for new products on the horizon, Cole says Fatworks just launched a pre-cooked Duck Confit (duck cured in fat). Among the other product line additions: Wagyu A-5 ultra premium skincare, including body butter and face butter. And Tallow Tush, a unique product to treat diaper rash. “All natural fats are ideal not just for eating but can serve as food for your skin,” Cole says. Branded tallow candles and fat-based snacks, such as add-on-value bars, are also on the horizon.
Duck Leg Confit
Fatworks just launched a pre-cooked Duck Confit (duck cured in fat).
#DidYouKnow? Healthy Fats Coalition Celebrates #NationalHealthyFatsDay, March 21, With Factoids – And By Testing Your Healthy Fats IQ
HFC Supporters Weigh in With Ideas and Suggestions to Mark the Day
Under the auspices of the Healthy Fats Coalition (HFC) and coinciding with the arrival of spring, March 21 marks the fifth annual #NationalHealthyFatsDay, a celebration of traditional healthy animal fats – pure lard, beef tallow, duck fat, goose fat and the like – that are enjoying a resurgence within America’s food culture, in restaurants, fast food operations and home kitchens.
For this year’s observance, HFC supporters are serving up tips, tricks and insights about optimizing the animal fats experience – offering suggestions for further reading, further viewing, further cooking and, of course, further eating.
National Healthy Fats Day is the brainchild of the HFC, a group of like-minded organizations, companies and individuals that have developed a new educational initiative dedicated to the proposition that healthy fats aren’t merely having a moment – they’re here to stay, as an essential part of the American diet. Its mission is simple: affirm that animal fats deserve a central place in the American diet and in the popular imagination.
Sandeep Agarwal, Pure Indian Foods
#DidYouKnow Retinol has gained a lot of publicity recently as an anti-aging agent for skin, which can help reduce wrinkles and dark spots and heal acne. Did you know that grassfed dairy fat is a natural source of Retinol, and it is not found in any vegetable oil? I guess that’s why grandma applied full-fat cream on her face to keep her skin healthy and young.
Jamie Ager, Hickory Nut Gap:
#DidYouKnow grass fed Beef has lower levels of saturated fat that grain fed beef.
#DidYouKnow grass fed Beef is a great source of nutrients - including Omega fatty acids. Grass fed beef has a higher Omega-6 to Omega-3 ratio than grain fed beef. A healthy diet should have roughly one to four times more Omega-6 than Omega-3 fatty acids. On average, the ratio for 100% grass fed cattle is around 3:1 while the ratio for grain fed beef is around 9:1.
#DidYouKnow Regenerative Agriculture helps restore the planet: Regeneratively-raised beef also helps improve soil quality - allowing for more water retention in the soil, less runoff, increased soil biodiversity. This results in healthier land, animals, and people.
Jordan Beeman, Heartbrand Beef:
#DidYouKnow certified Akaushi Beef contains a higher concentration of monounsaturated fat relative to saturated fat, which the American Heart Association notes can lead to lower cholesterol, the prevention of coronary heart disease and weight loss.
#WhatToWatch Learn more about a better beef eating experience here.
Amy Berger, MS, CNS, Adapt Your Life Academy:
#DidYouKnow there is no fat that is all saturated or unsaturated -- ALL fats & oils are combinations of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fatty acid components.
#DidYouKnow a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition stated that there's NO ASSOCIATION between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular disease.
#DidYouKnow Still think saturated fats "clog your arteries?" Think again! 1985 called...it wants its science back. Excess sugar intake is far more harmful for heart health than any kind of animal fat.
#WhatToRead One of my favorite books for the real-deal facts about fats & oils is Mary Enig's Know Your Fats. If you care about health, this needs to be on your bookshelf!
#WhatToCook Since low-carb diets have been shown to improve markers of cardiovascular health, you can consider bacon & eggs a heart-healthy breakfast. Bon Appetit!
Cassy Burnvoth, FATCO:
#DidYouKnow that healthy fats (specifically grass-fed tallow) are great for your skin!? Grass fed tallow is incredibly high in vitamins A, D, K and E, as well as CLA’s (conjugated linoleic acids), all which are very important for skin health!
Jamie Eifert, BaconUp:
#DidYouKnow that you can use bacon grease instead of vegetable oil to pop popcorn? It's delicious! AND healthier than using a hydrogenated oil!
#DidYouKnow that bacon grease is shelf stable and does not need to be refrigerated? BUT - when you save your own bacon grease, the tiny pieces of meat can go rancid quickly, ruining the grease -- so it's important to strain it thoroughly. (This is why Bacon Up® Bacon Grease is triple filtered!)
#WhatToWatch Learn how to use bacon grease to enhance your favorite recipes with these fun videos featuring Darryl Postelnick of @CookingWithDarryl and Benton Palmer of @GrillThisSmokeThat.
Amy Farges, M.A.D. Foods:
#DidYouKnow that duck fat is higher in monounsaturated fat (a healthy fat) than any other animal fat?
#DidYou Know Animal fats make divine pie and tart crusts? Flaky, golden, melt in your mouth delish.
#WhatToRead Here's our Fat Recipe Bible: The Fat Kitchen: How to Render, Cure & Cook with Lard, Tallow & Poultry Fat
#WhatToWatch Our duck fat video we made set to music by Thierry's band, Contraband https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6T5d-Y1p5I
Eric Gustafson, Coast Packing Company:
#DidYouKnow only artificial trans fats are harmful to your health? Fact is, only artificial trans fats – which are added to foods during processing — are toxic; naturally occurring trans fats can even be beneficial.
#WhatToRead Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon and The Big Fat Surprise, by Nina Teicholz.
#WhatToWatch Forget Everything You’ve Been Told About Fat -- Watch Fat Fiction.
Alfie McCaffrey, Old Farm:
#WhatToRead The books would be The Third Plate, by Dan Barber -- excellent read. And a small book published this May dealing only with cooking with fats, Blasta Books #2: Hot Fat, by Russell Alford and Patrick Hanlon.
#WhatToCook We suggest our recipe for Old Farm Black Pudding
Sally Fallon Morell, Weston A. Price Foundation:
#DidYouKnow the lung surfactants require two saturated fatty acids to work. If you eat too much polyunsaturated oils and not enough animal fat, your lungs won't work properly!
#WhatToCook: Crispy Onion Rings
1/3 cup lard
3 medium onions, sliced at 1/8 inch and separated into rings
1 cup unbleached flour
Sea salt, pepper, cayenne to taste
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Mix flour with seasonings and toss onion rings in the flour mixture
Melt the lard in a Pyrex pan in the oven. Add the flour-tossed onion rings and toss in the melted fat. Bake about 1/2 hour, turning occasionally. Serves 2
Ken Power, TruBeef:
#DidYouKnow that by eating more healthy animal fats, you are celebrating the whole animal and reducing food waste.
#DidYouKnow Healthy fats are an incredible source of energy for humans at 9 calories per gram. Sugar is only 4 calories per gram.
#DidYouKnow Beef tallow is a healthy and safe cooking fat with a smoke point of 400F
#DidYouKnow Beef tallow makes the most amazing natural allergen free moisturizer
#DidYouKnow Tallow was used by our forefathers not only to cook with but also to make candles and soap
#DidYouKnow Suet and tallow are nutrient dense and loaded with healthy fat soluble Vitamins A , D , E and K
#DidYouKnow consuming healthy suet or beef tallow stimulates the release of glucagon, the hormone that signals to your body that it's time to burn stored fat. The perfect fat for a ketogenic diet.
#DidYouKnow countries with the highest intake of animal fats have some of the lowest rates of coronary heart disease and diabetes.
#WhatToRead the cult classic “Nourishing Fats: Why We Need Animal Fats for Health and Happiness” by author Sally Fallon Morell is a great source of information on why animal fats are so important for our health and well-being along with lots of ideas on how to incorporate healthy fats into your daily diet.
#WhatToRead Check out 'The French Paradox,' a pan-European study in the late ‘80s found a low incidence of heart disease among countries with the highest saturated fat consumption. France – specifically the city of Toulouse -- showed a diet that was 39 percent saturated fat.
Diana Rodgers, RD, Sustainable Dish:
#DidYouKnow that animal fats like ruminant meat, milk, cheese, eggs, and butter come with A TON of key nutrients that your body needs to stay healthy and repair damage from daily stress? These fat sources are full of important nutrients like vitamins A,D and K and even help you to absorb these vitamins through your intestines when you eat them.
#DidYouKnow the active form of Vitamin A, known as retinol, is found ubiquitously in animal fats, but is especially high in dairy products like butter, milk, and cheese. Vitamin A in the form of retinol is needed in adequate amounts by your body to make hormones that keep your metabolic rate high and lower hormones like cortisol that promote stress and weight gain.
#DidYouKnow vitamins D3 and K2 work together to get the calcium you eat where it needs to go (preferably in your bones and not your soft tissues and arteries)! These fat-soluble vitamins are conveniently packaged in highly bioavailable forms together with calcium in many animal fats, but are found in the greatest amounts in dairy products.
#DidYouKnow we’re often told that saturated fatty acids are unhealthy, but this isn’t based on anything other than observational studies. In fact, your body actually makes saturated fatty acids when you need to store fat because of how chemically stable it is inside your body! It’s also important to remember that animal fats aren’t just fats, they’re full of vitamins and minerals too!
Cate Shanahan MD, DrCate.com:
#DidYouKnow health expert Cate Shanahan MD found that butter from grass- fed cows can contain more of the essential omega-3 fats than fish oil capsules?
#WhatToRead Read all about traditional diets in Deep Nutrition.
#DidYouKnow that "high smoke point" is a marketing ploy to get restaurants to use factory refined oils instead of traditional fats like tallow?
#WhatToRead Check out my List of Good Fats and Oils versus Bad
#DidYouKnow research shows that saturated fat actually protects your heart?
#WhatToRead Find out more Cholesterol: What the American Heart Association is Hiding from You
Elizabeth Swenson, Author of The Artisan Lard Cookbook:
#DidYouKnow there are four kinds of pork fat? Leaf lard, fatback, belly fat, and caul fat.
#WhatToRead Get a free online sample of the ArtisanLard Cookbook - The Practical Pig here.
#NationalHealthyFatsDay is of one of three “healthy fat awareness” spots on the calendar, as designated by the HFC. The Coalition also promotes #National Beef Tallow Day on July 13 (coinciding with National French Fry Day) and #National Lard Day, December 8, one day ahead of National Pastry Day, Dec. 9. The HFC’s message for each day: mark the occasion by tasting the difference yourself.
According to the HFC, artificial trans fats are out, and minimally processed farm fats -- for superior baking, frying and a host of other cooking applications – are most decidedly back. The color, texture and flavor that animal fats impart make them a vastly superior alternative to heavily processed, industrially produced substitutes, the organization notes.
In Resounding Statement that Flavor Matters, Healthy Fats Coalition Celebrates Dec. 8 as Fourth Annual #NationalLardDay
Yearly Observance Underscores Enduring Appeal of Authentic Animal Fat for Bringing Out the Best in Food
Under the auspices of the Healthy Fats Coalition and ideally timed for the holidays, Dec. 8 marks the fourth annual #NationalLardDay -- a celebration of pure lard, a traditional, authentic farm fat that is enjoying a heyday within America’s food culture, in restaurants, fast food operations and home kitchens.
#NationalLardDay is the brainchild of the HFC, a group of like-minded organizations, companies and individuals that have developed an educational initiative dedicated to the proposition that healthy fats aren’t merely having a moment – they’re here to stay, as an essential part of the American diet. The HFC’s mission is simple: affirm that animal fats deserve a central place in kitchen, on the table and in the popular imagination.
For the HFC, #NationalLardDay caps another year of “healthy fats” appreciation, which kicked off with #NationalHealthyFatsDay on March 21. The Coalition also promotes #National BeefTallowDay, July 13 (which coincides with National French Fry Day). The HFC’s message for each day: mark the occasion by tasting the difference yourself. #NationalLardDay occurs just ahead of National Pastry Day, Dec. 9.
“Fat is the soul of flavor,” wrote Nina Teicholz in her groundbreaking book, Big Fat Surprise (Simon & Schuster, 2014). “Food is tasteless and cooking nearly impossible without fat. Fat is essential in the kitchen to produce crispness and to thicken sauces. It is crucial in conveying flavors. It makes baked goods flaky, moist, and light. And fat has many other essential functions in cooking and baking.”
“Artificial trans fats are out, and minimally processed farm fats like lard -- for superior baking, frying and a host of other cooking applications– are back,” said Eric R. Gustafson, CEO of Coast Packing Company, a founding member of the HFC. “The color, texture and flavor that lard imparts make it a vastly superior alternative to heavily processed, industrially produced substitutes. Lard is traditional, authentic and impossible to duplicate. The pandemic has reminded everyone how much we all value comfort food, so on #NationalLardDay, taste the difference yourself!”
“I am firmly in the lard camp,” popular Food Network icon Alton Brown has proclaimed. “When you’re working with it… lard is going to stay more solid, which is great for flakiness.”
For more information on #NationalLardDay and the Coalition, email info@healthyfatscoalition.org.