"Mmmmm. You can taste the palm oil."
— actual quote from me after eating a Thin Mints cookie.
Okay, so I was being sarcastic. You can't literally taste the palm oil. But you may notice it when it's gone.
As heart-warming as the Girl Scouts are, and all of the wonderful things they do and learn, and how they need our support against a bizarre political accusation, you might be inclined not to buy the Girl Scout cookies … for the palm oil.
You've read the stories about the evils of palm oil, and how the Girl Scouts just won't take the palm oil out of the cookies.
This is also Girl Scouts cookie season when your co-workers that are parents or you're the parent and Girl Scout cookies are all around the office. Or someone you know bought some and passed one onto you.
My boss at my day job offered me a Thin Mint and I took it. It was good. Quite good. But I didn't want to eat a whole box. None would have been sad; one was just right.
I could have said "no" because of palm oil or high-fructose corn syrup or calories or any of a number of good excuses. And I had turned down the peanut butter kind. I said "yes" because I wanted a Thin Mint cookie.
Would it be better with sugar instead of high-fructose corn syrup? Oh, yea. Would it be better with trans fats rather than palm oil? No. Would it be better without palm oil? My hunch is that the taste would change, and not for the better.
I'm also not eating 10-20 cookies. One cookie with some palm oil won't make a difference.
How many are too much? Like the owl in the 1970's Tootsie Pop commercial, you can't always know the answer to some questions.
If you really feel bad about what is in the cookies, you can buy the cookies and not eat them. Buy the cookies and give them to someone else. Give the Girl Scouts money and don't take the cookies.
At some point, the Girl Scouts will likely get rid of palm oil in the cookies, and maybe high-fructose corn syrup. But we aren't going to hold our collective breath on this. Enjoy the cookies or don't. If you do take a cookie or a box, enjoy them at a leisurely pace. After all, a cookie is a treat but the money you give to those Girl Scouts pays itself in multiples down the road. The future of these young women is more important than a little extra palm oil in your life.
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