Stop Blogging and Cook

I am, of course, disgusted by mass marketing to children.
You can imagine my horror when I discovered that it’s virtually impossible
to buy a diaper without a . . .  corporate cartoon figure on it.
It’s deeply disturbing.  ~Ian MacKaye

TODAY’S PREPARATION

6-Word Saturday again.  The weekend meme, sponsored by Show My Face, has about a half-dozen dozen participants who boil down their lives to just six words, prompting pithy summations when thoughtful writing is applied.

On that note, I give you examples of just how far we’ve sunk:

SO MUCH S**T, INSIDE & OUT
Commercial Free Childhood discusses keeping childhood commercial-free through, you guessed it, diapers.  Yet another reason to to vote no on plastic.  Read the Comments as well; they will blow your mind even more.

FREE SPEECH VS FREEDOM FROM ADVERTISING
When you watch television, are you giving up your right to a commercial-free half-hour?  Appetite for Profit tweeted a NY Times.com article about our government’s effort to regulate marketing to children during Saturday morning cartoon time.

Citing industry efforts to curb advertising of unhealthy foods to kids, I see three statements illuminating 1 The Problem, 2 The Solution, and 3 Not the Solution:

[1]  “With obesity rates the way they are, it’s no longer acceptable for companies to be marketing foods to kids that contribute to obesity and heart disease and other health problems,” said Margo G. Wootan, director of nutrition policy of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, an advocacy group.

[2]  At the middle of the debate are questions about the industry’s effort to take steps on its own to improve the way it advertises food to children.  The effort, called the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, began in mid-2007 and now involves 16 large companies that account for about three-quarters of the food and beverage ads on children’s television. . . [where] each company sets nutritional criteria for foods it considers suitable to advertise.  The companies agree to feature only foods that meet those criteria in ads that appear during programming predominantly aimed at children under 12. . . .

[3]  Kellogg’s standards allow it to advertise cereals that are high in sugar, like Froot Loops and Frosted Flakes, to young children. . . [and] for a candy called Yogos, which has sugar as its main ingredient.  Celeste A Clark, the senior vice president for global nutrition at Kellogg, said in an e-mail message that the company’s cereals provided nutrients children need. Asked why candy qualified as a healthy choice for children, Dr. Clark said, “We believe that with balance and moderation all foods can have a place in the diet.”

SUMMING UP
To solve the problem of children growing to unhealthy proportions because of poor eating, regulation is necessary.  If we leave it to the food industry to self-regulate, they will continue to justify selling junk food.  Their arguments are nothing but a load of crap.  It is obvious that balance and moderation are the keys to healthy eating.  It is equally obvious that kids are not developing healthy eating habits, in large part to marketing efforts of junk food aimed squarely at them. The circular logic is enough to make you want to pack up the kids and go live in a cabin in the forest.

Despite the fact that our food supply is no laughing matter, we’d all be hideously depressed were it not for Stephen Colbert’s deep satire in his segment called Thought for Food.  The folks that bring us laughter are all over the food discussion.  I’d like to see Colbert do a piece defending Secretary of Agriculture Vilsack’s continuing allowance of Big Food to regulate itself.

SO MUCH BETTER THAN TAKE-OUT!
Today’s preparation is Pita Pizza from Daniel, that Teen Chef Sensation from Australia.  At the tender age of 15, he’s created a website of many and varied dishes.  I urge you to visit and try some of his creations.   During a camping trip he developed this pizza full of home-made goodness, starting with a base of pita bread.  What a bonus to those who truly need a dinner on the go!  Cheaper than delivery, tastier than frozen, and quicker than both.  What’s so great about this is, not only does it make a very quick and very easy pizza, you can get pita bread in small loaves or large so you don’t have to slice it to serve for lunch or dinner.  Slice small loves into bite sizes after baking for a talked-about cocktail party food.

Pita also comes in whole wheat.  While Daniel’s delight is a combination of meat and fish, you can also use leftover chicken or go vegetarian with mushroom, bell pepper, green onion and herbs like fresh basil, arugula or cilantro. If you’re feeling more energetic grilled vegetables, steamed broccoli or caramelized onion work great, too.  What’s your favorite pizza combination and how easILy can you whip it up?

Tags: dinner, good for you food, healthy choices, lunch, party, vegetables