Mayo has that rare combination of tasting really gross and being really bad for you. (Usually those two factors are indirectly proportional) It’s difficult to quantify bad taste since that tends to be more instinctive , at least for those who have not been brainwashed by the fear of a dry sandwich. But in terms of being unhealthy, we can just take a look at the tale of the tape and abruptly end the argument. Let’s start with the #1 competitors, ketchup and mustard. One serving of standard yellow mustard, has no calories, no fat, no carbs, no cholesterol and only 55 grams of sodium. Hallelujah. In moderation, there’s really nothing wrong with ketchup as well. For example, Heinz tomato ketchup only provides 15 calories, 4 grams of carbs and 190 mg sodium per tablespoon serving. Now let’s get into the white gunk. The stats for one of the major national brands, Hellmann’s, are indicative of the entire disgusting genre: 103 calories, 10 grams fat, 5 mg cholesterol and 90 mg sodium per tablespoon. But if you just substituted some nice olive oil, your calorie count drops to 40 with no sugar and very low sodium levels.
The prosecution rests!
Happy Eating,
Craig Horwitz
Craig,
I hate mayo, and have since I was extremely small. Oddly enough (or perhaps not), I hate it for the same reasons you note on your fantastic blog.
I’m a libertarian in most things, but not when in comes to mayo. We have children to protect!
Timothy