Conscientious Catering at the Democratic National Convention
The Wall Street Journal's article on extreme environmentalism at the Democratic National Convention includes a list of the Democrats' catering guidelines. Among them: 70 percent of all ingredients must be organic or local; no fried food allowed; and, since colorful food is supposedly more nutritious, each meal must include "at least three of the following colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white." One order of steamed American flag, please?
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15 Comments:
No fried food? WTF does that have to do with the environment?
Doctrine at 8:42PM on 06/25/08
No fried food? I see they have already given up carrying the south.
(I loathe it when extremists take over. I can guarantee you the food will be fantastic at the Republican Convention - then again its held in my home town of St. Paul so that goes without saying.)
bravian at 9:04PM on 06/25/08
How, exactly, is it "extreme" to require 70% of ingredients be local and organic?
producestories at 9:30PM on 06/25/08
No fried food? In Denver? What about the Rocky Mountain Oysters?
Ozymandiasxp at 10:16PM on 06/25/08
Don't they have something better to do...like choose candidates that can be elected???
elaine nan at 10:44PM on 06/25/08
WTF. You could fry a bunch of local ingredients then give the used oil the biodiesel set.
Adam Kuban at 10:45PM on 06/25/08
I don't think even Communist, Facist or Nazi political gatherings tried to restrict what their attendees could eat?
srhcb at 10:51PM on 06/25/08
I think this is great! Food is the backbone of our world and our country and something we do every single day. This celebrates the real people who actually produce it rather than those who are only interested in making a profit. After all I've learned about the food system in North America these last three years, this is wonderful that they are putting their fork where their mouth is.
KUDOS!!!!
And really, "extreme environmentalism"???? What world would you rather live in and have your food produced in?
Sieseye at 3:16AM on 06/26/08
Two points:
First, there's nothing outlandish or even "extreme" (see second point) about local and organic food. Both are respectable goals from a culinary *and* environmental perspective, and both have their limitations. On the other hand, the proscription against fried food exemplifies everything that's wrong with American health food culture, contributes to the bald-faced lie that frying food makes it unhealthy, and generally makes the "elitist" label that Democrats ought to be trying to avoid that much more sticky. Some folks never learn.
Second, the word "extreme" appears nowhere in the WSJ article, and seems to have been thrown into the post to sensationalize an approach that might be stupid, but isn't even close to "extreme." Seriously, get a grip.
organicmatter at 3:40AM on 06/26/08
It smacks of nanny-ism, that's all. True, their policy celebrates some of the best things about food - local, organic, etc. - but to outright suppress other foods projects a certain righteousness that comes too close to government control. It's when they start criminalizing those foods (it's already started in subtle and not-so-subtle ways), telling people they don't have the freedom to eat what they want, all in the name of "we know better what's best for you" that gets me angry. Public health is a worthy concern, but please, in the end, people have the right to make their own choices.
moibec at 9:05AM on 06/26/08
Before everybody rails against the Democratic Party for making a bold political statement against fried food, please remember that this is catering. No one at the DNC is saying that delegates can't eat fried food - they're just choosing not to offer them.
It's not as though they can offer every food imaginable that any delegate might want - restricting their offerings to the healthier end of the spectrum just seems reasonable to me. Given that there is a limited number of foods they'll be able to offer, it seems that eliminating heavy fried foods in favor of lighter, less fatty fare is a fine idea.
Many people may love fried foods, but because they are heavy and are not healthful enough to be a good choice for everyday eating (even those of us who know that fat isn't the enemy realize that), it makes sense to leave them out of a catered event that must appeal to a wide swath of tastes.
While the Republican commenter quoted in the article is "gleeful" in making fun of the Democrats' zeal for healthful food offerings, I am sure that if the DNC didn't go so far to keep their convention "green," someone in the Republican camp would surely mention that later on during a debate about the environment to make the Democrats seem like hypocrites for espousing environmentalist ideas but ignoring them when planning their own convention. So yes, it's political - but it's certainly not frivolous.
producestories at 9:46AM on 06/26/08
producestories, you are totally right. The problem is, your post has too many words in it for Republicans to read. Some of them even have more than three syllables. Can you dumb it down a little?
simon at 11:03AM on 06/26/08
thank god they banned the fried foods- everytime the politicos come to town here's how it goes.....
"ohhhh yum! Fried bull TESTICLES! ....gonna get me some of those!!!!
*disclosure* I live in Denver. and think it's funny everyone thinks our our "local food" is
ah-hem.....fried...balls.
Couldn't we perhaps fry up some politicians instead?
bisbee at 4:53PM on 06/26/08
@simon - In the interest of reaching across the aisle or whatever, I shouldn't admit how much I laughed out loud when I read your comment, but...it was a lot!
But fried-food-loving voters, don't worry: according to a TIME magazine survey, Barack Obama's favorite junk food is French fries, so I doubt the man is going to take a strong anti-frying stance during his campaign. Whew.
producestories at 9:37PM on 06/26/08
I get it: the DNC is probably just trying to make a statement about their feelings towards organic foods and eating healthfully, but what leaves a bad taste in my mouth is not fried food, but the dogmatic approach to "peripheral" issues taken by the Left. Not to say that environmentalism is a small issue, but the way the democratic party presents everything from the environment to trans-fats, for example, borders on cultish.
@simon: Was that really necessary?
iaspire at 3:03PM on 06/27/08