Food for thought

VEGETABLE WONTONS - cooked in palm oil. Deep fried dumplings. Many more recipes with a difference were being demonstrated. The occasion: a live event for palm oil, organised by the Malaysian Palm Oil Promotion Council (MPOPC). Chefs Mr. Wong Lee and Mr. Sameer of Hotel Park Sheraton stirred at the dumplings and sizzling vegetable stuff, folding, stuffing and frying even as the Master of Ceremonies invited the women to taste the results.

Dr. C. S. Goh of the MPOPC sought to break myths about cooking in palm oil. Palm oil consisted of 50 per cent saturated and 50 per cent unsaturated fatty acids, and its effect on plasma cholesterol was not harmful.

Experimental work on the influence of dietary fats on cancer development tended to show that high fat diets enhanced development. Consumption of palm oil resulted in a significant reduction in tumours that developed in the body, than consumption of some other oils, he said.The conclusion is that ``tocotrienols'' from palm oil inhibit the growth of human breast cancer cells.

The enthusiasm generated by the chefs was infectious as the enthusiastic audience copied down recipes to try out at home later - in palm oil, or any other cooking medium.

By Akila Dinakar

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