The Bad SEED?

Like sugar, dairy, and gluten before it, seed oil has become ingredient non grata among health influencers and the hordes who love them. But is it as dangerous as they suggest?

- FIORELLA VALDESOLO

A few months before chef Daniel Humm announced in August that Eleven Madison Park would abandon its strictly vegan policy on its almost $400 tasting menu, he made waves in New York's rarefied dining circles for another change: The restaurant would no longer be cooking with seed oils. Instead Humm switched to algae-based oil (specifically Algae Cooking Club; he is the company's “culinary officer”). At Coqodaq, a buzzy Manhattan destination for caviar bumps and fried chicken, said chicken is now fried in vats of sugarcane-based oil from Zero Acre Farms. (Gwyneth Paltrow is a fan, and chef Dan Barber of Blue Hill at Stone Barns was an early adopter.) While most chefs sidelining seed oil say it's about flavor and performance, online the conversation—which is being fueled by MAHA moms, wellness influencers, and opportunistic doctors—is about health.