Tahini and/or olive oil that’s in it…and sometimes drenched on top at restaurants…that’s why it tastes so good! Calorically dense food in any case. Same as nuts / seeds.
Go to a chain restaurant that publishes nutrition facts and check out the calories for their salads. The dressings cause the calories to be basically the same as a pizza or burger.
For those that like to eat out, it’s a lot easier to adhere to a low carb diet than a moderate carb, but low fat diet. Just my experience. If you need carbs for glycogen dependent exercise (like weight lifting), then you need to eat less fat as a tradeoff.
well, although of course there is fat content in tahini, i don’t consider it a fat soaked product. and
i don’t put olive oil in hummus, except for a squiggle on top.
i don’t think anyone’s gotten fat on hummus.
“i didn’t get fat on filet mignon”
– minnesota fats
Haven’t tried WF deli salads, but I agree that I enjoy Gelson’s salads more than I do BF’s. I tried the SaMo Gelson’s once, and the salads didn’t have the same intensity of flavor as the ones at Encino and Century City; not sure if it was just an off day for them. And, yes, they’re not revelation, but I think they’re quite respectable for the price.
The salad bar at Gelson’s in Encino and Century City is also swamped during weekday lunch, which makes me very comfortable…
It’s been ages - two in MdR - they were chain supermarket quality. I normally don’t shop at Ralph’s much either. What would you rec, and would these recs only be available at certain stores? Thank you.
I like their cranberry apple kale salad, as well as the superfood salad. They also have a bastardized version of Waldorf salad made with kale and mustard vinaigrette, but no mayo. Go figure.
Good to know. The Ralphs near me recently upgraded their salad bar. The salads look delicious, but the lack of customers/turn over is a bit concerning to me. But may give it a try.
Tahini is sesame seeds and olive oil my good man, it is absolutely loaded with fat lol It probably is delicious, but you’re just subbing in the oil in the tahini with the oil you would normally just put directly into the hummus.
well i hope youre happy. i just got out of my comfy bed and looked at the jar of tahini i have.
as i suspected and googled, nothing in there but sesame seeds.
as far as loaded with fat goes, i didnt take any additional time to parse the label, because my neighbours probably dont deserve to look in my kitchen window and see a naked fat man digging in the pantry.
How can tahini just have sesame seeds?.. I don’t want to say your bottle is lying to you, but I don’t see how that is possible. Just sesame seeds would surely just be some type of butter?
I guess upon looking it up it is actually possible to make tahini straight up without oil, but it is more of a nut butter type thing at that point and is very thick. Any of the stuff you get in restaurants is surely the smooth, sauce-like kind. I would’ve thought most stuff in stores would also be that type. But I guess not.
So fair enough, if you’re selective in your purchases and make your own hummus at home you can avoid the oil I suppose.
I would presume the emulsifying effects of the oil whipped into things like tahini and hummus are what give them such lustrous textures, so I am kind of curious what sort of texture is taken on by hummus made with these dry tahini and just water? Is it more like peanut butter in texture?
We somewhat regularly buy from WF salad bar sans dressing and greens. Just ‘toppings.’ It will last several days that way and gives us a healthy side dish with far greater selection than I’m ever going to keep on hand for just the two of us.
In the past week, I have been to three heathy-centric eateries.
Rabano at Hermosa Beach. Highly recommended ATM. Its concept seems to be a mash up of Yellow Fever with a hint of Mendocino Farm. The ingredients they used are very fresh. I had the Pork Belly Banh Mi which was very good (not exactly heath food, I know). IMO it’s better than the MF’s signature PBBM. SO had the Roasted Vegetables, and she loved. For reference, she’s finicky with her health food choices. There are four vegetable centric alternatives in my area including Tender Green, Lemonade, and Yellow Fever. I much prefer Rabano ATM.
Brother’s Burrito in Hermosa. Food is good, just don’t expect the wow factor. But if you happened to be in the area, it’s one of the togo places. Lots of healthy options.
Erven in Santa Monica. Well, I’m sure you have read about this place. Food is good, but just not my kind of vib…
If you happen to be in south Torrance, try out Mama Says. Their Wraps seems to be quite popular, although I have never tried them. Their pastas are simply too good for me to go for anything else.
I just want to given another shout out to Chennai Dosa Corner. This place comes to mind whenever I feel like vegetarian but still wants a flavor boost. Rec: Order the Rava. They probably can customize the Dosa/Rava for if you didn’t find the right mix of ingredients in the menu (which they recently have expanded).
now, i’ve dropped the occasional hallucinogenic back in the day, and i’m a big fan
of merle haggard, but i don’t think my bottle is lying to me or letting me down.
it is possible you are confusing tahini with a tahini sauce, and if so, that’s o.k. it
is my understanding tahini is, indeed, a seed butter, akin to peanut butter or almond butter
or something like that. i am happy to be corrected.
as far as the hummus goes, i suggest you google the recipe and give it the proverbial whirl.
yes, i used to drizzle a stream of olive oil in hummus whilst i made it, but no longer. i really
prefer this recipe.
as far as other hummuses – hummusi? – i can’t speak to what’s in them. you seem an ambitious type;
a well placed text or phone call to hummus lina in the old city might be informative.
or maybe somewhere right here in los angeles!
n.b. hard ‘g’ in angeles, please, a la mitchum, anjelica or sam elliot.
oh, and this thread is entitled “healthy-ish eats.” unless a registered dietitian pops up and posts
different, i’m going to consider hummus totes healthyish.
edit:
i read some chefs in the u.s. swear by this stuff:
If tahini were a product unassociated with Mediterranean/Persian cuisine, we would probably call it a seed butter - sesame seed butter.
Traditional tahini is 100% sesame seeds - usually hulled and roasted before mashing. Health food stores do offer raw tahini. I think I’ve even seen unhulled tahini as well.
Tahini is relatively high in fat - according to wiki, 53%, and almost 18% protein. Raw tahini has a much higher water content, so lower fat and calories count. Unhulled has fiber, so again - lower in fat.
Looking up a couple of hummus recipes, seems one can of garbanzo beans will call for about 1/4 cup of tahini. If half of that 1/4 cup is fat, then 1/8 cup equates to two tablespoons of fat.
I think that even if one were to eat the whole bowl of hummus (I have), the amount of fat in the hummus is relatively modest. Now once one creates a pool of olive oil in the center, that’s a different game.
My general go-to “healthy” meal out, which is a bit pricey, is to go get a “trio” of salads at Gjelina take-away. Obviously you need to look at the salads you order, but you can usually get delicious stuff. Sure, they use oil, but the produce is fresh and nobody is getting fat on it. Resist the pizza.