Gigabiting
McNuggets of Truth
image courtesy of Serious Eats
The nation’s strictest menu labeling laws went into effect today in my hometown of Philadelphia.
It’s a small but significant victory. In all other cities where we have seen labeling laws, the restaurants have been able to limit the mandates to calorie labeling. Philadelphia’s law includes carbohydrates, sodium, saturated and trans fats.
The rest of the country know us as a cheesesteak-loving people that a decade ago earned Philadelphia a dubious distinction as America’s fattest city. In response to that public drubbing, we sucked in our beer guts and challenged ourselves to 76 Tons of Fun— a fitness campaign challenging city residents to lose a combined 76 tons in 76 days that had government officials roaming the streets with bathroom scales.
Of course we didn’t exactly make it; after all this is Philly, a perennial underdog of a town.
But we are picking ourselves up and dusting ourselves off. With a staggering 57% obesity rate among Philadelphia’s schoolchildren and more than one-third of our residents suffering from hypertension, it’s worth another try.
Maybe then Philadelphia’s residents can do something about the results of Travel + Leisure’s annual survey: we’ve been named America’s ugliest urban population for three years running.
A patchwork of city, county, and state-wide menu labeling legislation has been enacted with laws under consideration across the nation. See what your community is doing with this list of communities with pending legislation.
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3 Responses to “McNuggets of Truth”
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Blog: Gigabiting Topics:cooking, food, technology
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:33 pm
Customer: “What part of the chicken is in these nuggets?”
Fast Food Clerk: “I dunno, parts is parts.”
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:01 pm
You saw Food, Inc. You know what parts are in those nuggets!
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:09 pm
Thanks (heavy sarcasm)…for the reminder, Breakfast wasn’t as good the second time