Restaurant chain ditches seed oils 'lurking' in its ingredients
That's been the objective of the Arizona-based restaurant chain ever since Dr. Andrew Weil teamed with restaurateur Sam Fox to open the first location in 2008.
"We have the belief that food can be both good and good for you," True Food Kitchen chief growth officer Daniella Voysey Olson told Fox News Digital.
In support of that belief, all 47 True Food Kitchen locations in 18 states across the nation became 100% seed oil-free beginning this week.
"This is not a trend. This is a long-term promise," Olson said in an original interview.
"Since day one, [True Food Kitchen] really focused on whole, minimally processed foods, serving our guests with food that's good and good for them. So this has been a nearly 20-year commitment for us."
Weil "has been a vocal advocate for really focusing on heart-healthy oils like olive oil and avocado oil," Olson told Fox News Digital.
It was Weil, the director of his namesake Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, who recommended eliminating industrial seed oils from every ingredient on True Food Kitchen's menu, Olson said.
She said that in 2022, True Food Kitchen "moved away from having any seed oils that we were cooking with and moved to cooking 100% with avocado oil and olive oil."
But it was a long process to fully eliminate seed oils from the brand's menus.
"Seed oil is kind of lurking in all of these places that you might not expect."
"It's been a multi-year effort to really weed out all of the different hidden sources of seed oil across the hundreds of ingredients that we use in our restaurants," Olson said.
"What we found is that seed oil is kind of lurking in all of these places that you might not expect."
One such example was the dried cranberries, a core ingredient in True Food Kitchen's chopped salad.
Unable to find an oil-free dried cranberry, True Food Kitchen instead made the decision to swap the ingredient, replacing it with a royal raisin, Olson said.
"This [meant] reviewing hundreds of ingredients across all of our different providers that we work with across the country," Olson said, calling it "a huge lift" for the chefs and the supply-chain team.
Illinois-based fast-casual restaurant chain Steak 'n Shake recently announced that it would begin cooking its shoestring fries in "100% all-natural beef tallow" by the end of February, perhaps signifying a greater awareness of seed oils in American cuisine.
California chef and restaurant owner Andrew Gruel, who has shared his staunch opposition to seed oils in interviews with Fox News, said the "switch away from seed oils shows this movement is here to stay."
"People have researched the effects of seed oils, tried the alternatives and are now demanding their favorite brands make the switch," Gruel told Fox News Digital.
When Olson was asked why more restaurants haven't cut out seed oils by now, she said it likely has to do with money.
"There's a cost impact," she said. "So that's an investment that we've chosen to make for our guests and our brand."
Another potential hindrance, she said, is that it's "really difficult."
Said Olson, "Whether it's in red pepper flakes, whether it was in something like harissa paste, there's all of these places where it's hidden. Even avocado mayo — where it was using avocado oil but also had canola oil as part of that."
Not only does it involve a commitment to finding a new supply chain, creating new recipes and, "in some cases, bringing that in-house," Olson said, it also "requires that investment, both financially, as well as in time, labor and energy, to be able to do that."
Laura Abshire, director of food and sustainability policy with the National Restaurant Association, which is based in Washington, D.C., told Fox News Digital that True Food Kitchen's efforts are one of the reasons that 90% of consumers say they enjoy eating out at restaurants.
"The options give consumers the opportunity to choose dishes that align with their dietary preferences while trying flavors and dishes they can't always make at home," Abshire said.
Vani Hari, an author and food advocate living in Charlotte, North Carolina — and one of the many supporters of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the role of HHS secretary — told Fox News Digital that this is the start of a new era in the restaurant industry.
"When I see True Food Kitchen go to a seed oil-free menu, that is going to be the next wave of where restaurants are going to be headed to really provide a healthy alternative to what's available today," Hari said.
Gruel, for his part, said it's "great to see" the direction he believes the industry is headed.
"The market has spoken."
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