nosh nook #44 - thursday, may 14, 2009

list calories, and diners will at least look (link)
05.13.09 - boston globe - by stephen smith

we new yorkers have always been trendsetters. last year, led by the genius of folks like nanny-mayor mike bloomberg, we forced restaurants with more than fifteen nationwide locations to list their foods' calorie counts on their menus, allowing restaurant-goers to assess the damage before deciding what to eat. now, after a few other locales (philly, seattle) have jumped on board with this idea, massachusetts has decided to join the party.

as steven smith reports, posting calories has had some effect on peoples' purchasing decisions. "surveys by the new york city department of health suggest that the calorie counts at least make people think a bit more about what they put in their stomachs." i've always been a bit skeptical of the idea that chain restaurants should be forced to post calorie counts. on one hand, i'm all for keeping businesses honest, but on the other hand, i'm not sure it's the answer to our health & dietary problems. if consumers can't figure out that a mcdonalds big mac has a lot of calories by now, they probably shouldn't be eating it. although MA is the exception, with their state-mandated health care, i find it perversely humorous that governments in general fight so hard for regulations such as this, but not to get people health care.

since this article came out yesterday, the mass public health council has voted to adopt the regulations, meaning that starting in november 2010, any restaurant with over twenty locations will have to start posting calories. all the thousands of other restaurants in the city don't have to worry about it though, so unless you're someone who eats at mcdonalds every single day, you're not going to know how many calories you're taking in at all times. if you are eating fast food every day, then you have an issue that's larger than restaurants posting calories on a menu board.

nosh nook #28 - wednesday, april 22, 2009

fast food police: caribbean takeaway closed down for opening too close to schools (link)
04.21.09 - the daily mail - by dan newling

a proposal to separate fast food and schools (link)
04.21.09 - the ny times - by cara buckley

europeans are always way ahead of us in everything--fashion, the arts, abolishing slavery, etc. once again, they've beat us to the punch, this time in the u.k., in waltham forest, a borough in east london, where they've passed britain's first law that prohibits takeaways from selling fast food near schools. yesterday, the police moved in & shut down their first shop.

according to dan newling, "bamboo joint," a caribbean takeaway that opened just six weeks ago, was ordered by police to close the place down within three days.  the owner says that her place sells food that's "not even unhealthy. (they) sell jamaican-style rice and peas, and jerk chicken" and the "street is full of takeaways selling fish and chips and burgers," so she's not sure why she was targeted...because the local government's playing nanny...that's why.  sorry bout your livelihood, ma'am.

not to be outdone by our british counterparts, queens councilman eric gioia came up with a plan & this weekend, he put forth a proposal that would prohibit new fast-food restaurants from opening within a tenth of a mile from a school. sound familiar? who knows if gioia is even aware of the recently passed east london law?  either way, it's very coincidental.

as cara buckley reports, one thing he is aware of is a recently released study, "the effect of fast food restaurants on obesity," which linked students' obesity to the proximity of fast food joints to their schools. as such, he's proposing his ban along with "other tactics to fight childhood obesity, like easing access to food stamps, putting greenmarkets in poor neighborhoods and educating children about healthy eating." at least there's that last part in there about educating kids, because last i checked, we live in the u.s.a. & people should be able to open restaurants if they want to. ultimately, the root of the problem is not the existence of the fast-food restaurant. it's the consumer's lack of healthy eating habits & self-restraint. the nanny state stuff is for the birds.