'This reduction of food into aggregations of elements does not even acknowledge the benefit of the whole ingredient, let alone in a combination of ingredients. Pesto is a Genovese specialty that has become a prolific North American condiment. Filtered through the nutritional reductionist's lens, this would be abbreviated to merely basil and pine nuts and their respective nutritional contributions. According to the USDA nutrition data base, basil has 6% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A. Pine nuts are rich in omega 3 fats.
But isn't this traditional, versatile food with its countless variations more than a couple of micronutrients piled atop pasta? A more holistic approach would consider that even strictly nutritionally speaking, pesto is at the very least an ensemble piece and not a pair of individual characters monologuing at opposite ends of the stage. For example, the fat in pine nuts would make more bio-available the fat soluble vitamin A in the basil. The basil's volatile essential oil fraction would prevent rancidity in the fat of the pine nut.'
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