People make some crazy extrapolations when it comes to food and I think it is all about how the information space is dominated by magical thinking. It is not eating too much sugar and fat, it is ‘chemicals’ that are poisoning you. Or maybe fiber is secretly bad for you. Or maybe its actually protein, so go on a sugar diet (latest fad). And so on. The way to success is always paved with one single and very special solution. This isn’t an internet age thing either and, to be fair, we demonized fat until very recently. The food industry has been engendering this sort of thinking for a long time now.

The real value of homecooking is that you’re empowered to make your own choices. You eat storebought food, they can add a lot of salt, sugar and oil to make up for, say, diminished appeal from worse ingredients. When you make your homemade pasta, you decide how much fat goes into your dish and when. I love making garlicky pasta frying the garlic in as little oil as I can just so I can add a good deal of olive oil after the fact.