'A fight about oil - for popcorn, that is' (This article misrepresents coconut oil)

A fight about oil - for popcorn, that is
By John Horn and Sheigh Crabtree

Originally published March 13, 2007
The Baltimore Sun

LAS VEGAS // Jose Mier will be working the ShoWest convention floor in Las Vegas this week, peddling his Capital Churros to theater owners there for the annual convention. He envisions the fried and sugary snacks - about 16 inches long and stuffed with Bavarian cream, caramel and strawberries - spicing up movie theater concession stands across the nation.

He's joined by other vendors, exhibitors and distributors - some 2,700 of them - at ShoWest, which kicked off yesterday. ShoWest is the industry showcase for a variety of products - rug shampoo as well as the latest DreamWorks animated movie.

And while everyone is trying to figure out what the summer's biggest popcorn movie will be, theater owners also will be wrestling with another weighty question: What kind of grease should the popcorn be cooked in?

Theater owners are determined to give audiences a thoroughly modern experience, with stadium seats, surround-sound speakers and 3-D digital projectors. But when it comes to peddling Star Wars-era junk food, exhibitors remain stuck in an artery-clogging time warp, health experts say: Although concessions are largely trans-fat free, the caldron-sized portions are still loaded with toxic saturated fats and tooth-rotting sugars.

Even after a highly publicized 1994 study forced many theater chains to steer away from cooking popcorn in coconut oil, several leading exhibitors - including Regal and AMC - pop their kernels in the unwholesome oil.

"Most foods in concession stands are high in fat. We wish they would minimize portion sizes, but we'd really like to see the more dangerous elements removed," says Dr. Pat Crawford, an adjunct professor in the School of Public Health at UC Berkeley.

Mary Beth Sodus, a registered and licensed dietitian at the University of Maryland Medical Center's weight management and wellness center, says concession stands billing food as free of trans fat may be confusing customers.

"You shouldn't be told that if it's trans-fat free, it's OK," Sodus says. "When they use coconut oil, they can say they are trans-fat free. But coconut oil is 86.5 percent saturated fat."

The theater owners say they are only responding to consumer demand for hot kernels coated in the butter-flavored fat.

"The concession stand is an entertainment destination, just like a movie theater," says Larry Etter, the president of the National Assocation of Concessionaires and vice president of the Southern chain Malco Theatres. "You don't go there to work out like a gym."

John Horn and Sheigh Crabtree write for the Los Angeles Times.