It appears the opposition parties have started their campaign to lose the next general election with their latest himbo/bimbo scheme which they picked up from the UK. They want traffic lights on food to indicate the levels of salt, sugar and fat. Not only are the stuck in the 1980′s with the fat obsession, but they show such a basic mis-understanding of human nature that the scheme was obviously devised by a marxist.
If I want to buy fat-laden, carb-laden, salt-laden Tayto, I bloody will and they chances of me looking at some insulting graphics are zero. When I smoked, you could have put pictures of sliced open cancerous lungs on the box and I’d happily have puffed away.
Information is only useful to those seeking it. If we want nutrition information then we’ll use the amazing human ability to read to find out what is in the box. “oh but people don’t know what a safe level of salt is, so our traffic light system will enable them to figure this out without actually ever having to think”. “Next year, we’ll be bringing in a system which does an instant analysis of your blood and won’t let you buy anything with too much salt or sugar”.
I was pleasantly surprised that FF told the opposition to get a clue and that they would not be bringing in such a scheme.
The first political party which starts a campaign to destroy the ever growing nanny state gets my vote.
You want people to eat properly? Then make Home Economics, Social & Scientific, Cooking compulsory in schools for both boys and girls starting around age 7. Hell, you could do a double whammy and teach it through Irish.
Technorati Tags: Traffic+Lights, Food, Labour, Fine+Gael, Marxism, Nanny+State, Nutrition, Intelligence, Cop+On, Information, Knowledge, Cooking, Tayto
January 25, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Too bloody right!
January 26, 2007 at 10:52 am
January 26, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Somewhere in the north of France, I think, they did an exercise in teaching kids from the age of 5 upwards about nutrition and the net effect was to improve their diets and the diets of their parents. It should be replicated here I think.
I think the opposition are out of their minds here – ultimately I don’t do a weekly shop as I’ve a grocery store a five minute walk away and since then the amount of money I spend on food has fallen and the ROI has risen.
That being said, food is an easy target. In truth, the big problem is lifestyle which makes exercise difficult to build into a daily routine. And I am saying that from the point of view of someone who does frequently swim up to four times a week. If anyone was eriously interested in the health of the nation, they would look at food secondly and exercise/movement firstly. When you have people commuting for 4 hours daily, then you will have kids that are left to one side, you will have parents with no time to get any movement, and who are wrecked all the time and people who are wrecked will automatically reach for the quick food solution, eg ready prepared meals. Regardless of traffic lights. They’ll say “I know it’s not perfect but…” We have created a society where we just don’t have time for these things. Traffic lights will not make someone more likely to make a healthy home made meal if they just don’t have time. And it’s insulting them because most people, they already know this.
January 26, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Completely agree. I’m sure at some political think-tank, the phrase “low hanging fruit” came up and the result was traffic lights.
I need to lose a couple of stone and the only way that is going to happen is when I get up off my arse and take regular exercise. I dusted down the bike yesterday and did my first quick 3km of 2007 in and out of Bandon. Now to make it a regular thing.
All food campaigns seem to end up totally discredited in later years anyway. The egg-haters in particular look like total idiots now. Some of the stuff Haydn has told me about the lobbying behind the US food pyramid stunned me too.
January 26, 2007 at 11:18 pm
Agree totally. Half of my diet consists of chocolate and ice cream, I don’t seem to be getting any fatter (with a bit of exercise and some decent meals for snacking in between the sweets). I actually do believe in nutrition, but this is simplistic nonsense. Forget about the traffic lights – the opposition (sadly) seems stuck on a roundabout!
January 27, 2007 at 12:36 am
Just finished watching “Supersize Me”–no amount of traffic light systems will redress the wrongs of corporate fast-food culture and supermarket advert campaigns.
If you haven’t seen the film–it’s a must see.
January 27, 2007 at 10:10 am
I must admit the opening bits of “Supersize Me” bugged me in some way – particularly the puking which felt staged so I gave up. I’ll give it another go when it is on next. A documentary version of “Fast Food Nation” is something I would pay to see.
I am quite happy to eat fast food every once in a while. And good fast food like In n Out Burger is something I hope is never lost in the US.
The problem arises when it becomes people’s staple way of eating. My favourite movie of the past few months is “Little Miss Sunshine” and the scene of them all sitting down to dinner with KFC buckets really stuck in my head particularly when the grandad started bitching that it was all they seemed to eat.
I’m shocked that a hellhole like Jack in The Box managed to stay in business after killing people with food poisoning.
The Jamie’s Kitchen TV programme in the UK was a real eye opener. When schools are serving up food which you wouldn’t give a dog and is actually of lower quality than any fast food place, you have a deep deep problem. I’m still amazed how Jamie Oliver has managed to motivate so many people to fix that.
I might be wrong but I see some positive things happening in the US – like the banning of soft drinks machines from schools in certain states. But with such a huge country where eating cheap low quality food seems to be a problem at all levels of society, I’m not sure where you start.
Banning Burger King isn’t the solution so I think maybe we are back to schools again where at least there is some chance to instil knowledge of food, nutrition, health and cooking irrespective of a child’s social circumstances.
January 27, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Ach, the situation here in the states is worsening. The corporate stranglehold on government is about to ruin small farming. Farmer’s Markets are going to take a pummeling. Raw Milk is under heavy attack and the USDA is trying to make it easier for cheap, unregulated Mexican foods to flood the American market.
There are some great thing happening here–soft drinks getting out of schools is one. But our lunch program is as bad–or worse in some places–as a Nation, as the one Jamie fought against.
As the quality of food goes down, as more foods are imported–and therefore become cheaper–the American situation is going to get worse before it gets better. The way the economy is more and more people are turning to fast, cheap, unhealthy foods because the rest of their lifestyle costs too much–cell phones, satellite tv, etc. The corporations are dictating who can eat what, what they will eat and how much they will pay.
On a different note I was disheartened to hear in Droghda onions in the market were from New Zealand and garlic from China as the only options. And no Celeriac-aka celery root? What is happening to the world?
All symptoms of the same problem–corporate greed.
January 28, 2007 at 9:15 am
I’m guessing the Drogheda Market is not a Farmer’s Market and is one of the “traditional” ones where discount toilet-roll rubs shoulders with veg.
I am disappointed by the veg at our local market. One guy with a van selling the usual staples at a high price (non-organic). Some good herbs but none of the less common but interesting stuff that people would be happy to pay good mark-up on (like celeriac).
I haven’t been to the market in quite a while as we have a standing appointment nearly every Saturday morning and miss it (darned kids!). I’m really looking forward to the summer when we’ll hopefully see a huge array of fruit n veg.
Unfortunately if the US economy takes a dive then the cheap stuff will become even more prevalent.
January 30, 2007 at 9:29 am
Brilliant post Conor. Totally agree – lets get food on the agenda. I’m not sure I really like him, but Jamie Oliver’s school dinner program was amazing.
I just got back from the UK Soil Association conference. (Podcasts of the speakers available.) Really inspiring – and one of the most inspiring people was Darina Allen. She came out with the brilliant line:
“If I had my way I wouldn’t let a cook in a restaurant kitchen until they’d spent at least a year on the farm learning how to grow food.”
Her point was that we just don’t value how special food is and the effort and care taken to grow it. I recommend to anyone to start just growing a little bit of something – just a couple of lettuces, it’s a life changing experience.
(PS Hugh Fearnley was also there and did a great entry on the fashion show by running down the catwalk in a pair of organic underpants! Photo on my blog later in the week…)
January 30, 2007 at 9:42 am
Sounds excellent, looking forward to the photos!
Funny you should say that about lettuce. We were eating some horrible bagged stuff the other day and Catherine said “oh roll on summer so we can eat our own, I hate this crap”.
This year I swear I’m going to plant staggered unlike every other year where I end up with 2 tons of salad leaves all arriving at the same time.
Another year or two and I think we’ll go down the chicken route. A friend of ours is a live-in nanny for a family in Dublin. We visited her recently and I just loved the fact that we were in a multi-million euro house but they had three movable chicken enclosures on the lawn!