Staff Reports
The fast‑food world just added a political flourish to its menu. Steak ’n Shake has named Michael Boes its first-ever Chief MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) Officer — and he’s already on TV explaining why fries cooked in beef tallow are somehow a patriotic act.
What Steak ’n Shake just put on the plate
Boes arrives with a résumé that includes a stint as a senior adviser in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at HHS, and Steak ’n Shake isn’t coy about the politics. The company frames his role as guarding “nutritional integrity, ingredient transparency, and the long‑term health” of menu items — and it slapped the MAHA slogan on the whole pitch. You can hear the angle in the line they punted: “Customers should never have to choose between taste and health.”
Flavors, marketing, and a tallow renaissance
Operationally, the stunt is simple: ditch seed oils and bring back beef tallow for frying, push higher‑spec beef, and sell the nostalgia. Steak ’n Shake says some fries are now cooked in 100% beef tallow, there are plans afoot for grass‑fed beef and even jars of rendered tallow to be sold in restaurants. For anyone who’s stood in line for a late‑shift burger, that translates into smell, texture and, yes, taste — something customers notice immediately at the counter when a batch comes out crisp and glistening.
Two very different appetites: health experts and the public
Not everyone’s applauding. Nutrition scientists point out that the seed‑oil versus animal‑fat debate isn’t settled, and they warn against simple narratives that blame processed oils for obesity while ignoring calories and lifestyle. Meanwhile, supporters of the MAHA approach — and plenty of regular customers — see this as a pushback against over‑processed menus and government guidelines they feel were influenced by elites. The real-world consequence is confusion at the grocery store and at fast-food counters: which fats are “safe,” and who gets to decide?
Why a former HHS adviser leading a restaurant’s nutrition PR matters
There’s something to like here: a big chain listening to customers who want fewer additives and more honest ingredients. But there’s also reason to be skeptical when government insiders slide into corporate marketing wearing policy language. If the MAHA brand becomes a selling point, Americans deserve clarity — not theater — about what the science actually says, what changes are permanent, and whether franchise owners are being forced into experiments that affect their bottom lines and customers’ plates. So ask yourself when you bite into that tallow fry: are you tasting better food, or a new kind of politics dressed up as flavor?
