Latest Massachusetts 'As-salt' Crosses State Lines

How bad is the nanny-state fever in Massachusetts? So bad that it even affects a national restaurant chain with a Massachusetts city in its name.

Last week, Boston Market announced that it would take salt shakers off its dining tables. Their customers and employees alike are sure to appreciate that added inconvenience.

But that's not all: they're also dropping the salt content in some of their signature dishes.

Obviously anyone seriously concerned about their saline intake is not hitting up Boston Market on a regular basis. Will the pepper shakers also go missing when some group comes out with a report claiming that black pepper's bad for you?

Dennis Miller had a great response: "Boston Market gets rid of salt? Didn't I impulse buy a Tollhouse cookie the size of a discus at their cash register once?"

Restaurants should be able to worry less about bowing to government pressure and worry more about pressure from the most important group: their paying customers.

If you can say anything for this top-down salt mandate, it's that it's consistent with the legislative direction of Boston Market's geographic namesake. The spirit of Boston has certainly changed since the days of the original Tea Party.

P.S. I will continue to visit my local BM on occasion for as long as they are one of the few restaurants in my area with a magical Coke Freestyle machine. It's hard to be totally uncompromising in the face of Orange Diet Coke and Raspberry Coke Zero.

Setting Her Back

Teen Olympian Gabby Douglas had already dealt with public criticism of her hair and the overblown 'monkey ad' controversy. But after winning gold for her country, Gabby still had to bear the indignity of being chided by the First Lady on The Tonight Show for the crime of—egads—splurging on a McDonald's Egg McMuffin after her competition. "You're setting me back, Gabby," Mrs. Obama said.

McDonald's, here's your new spokesperson.

Even for Michelle Obama, it was a stunningly un-classy moment. Does she expect every public figure to jump on board with her food crusade? Doesn't she realize that Olympic athletes can consume lots of calories and remain very fit? (It may be unfair, but it's true.)

Besides, the Egg McMuffin is about 300 calories. I once read an article in the American Diabetes Association's magazine that said it was a relatively benign fast-food breakfast option.

 

So who else in the public eye has been setting Mrs. Obama back lately? We suggest Michelle go over to the Capitol and give House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi a little talking-to, since Nancy has recently declared her taste for KFC (in a silly reaction to the Chick-fil-A controversy, but still), and talked about her obsession with chocolate and milkshakes.

 

And is she tracking her husband's intake out on the campaign trail? POTUS has reportedly chowed down on pork chops at the Iowa state fair and even fed a kid some strawberry pie! (She did draw the line on fried Twinkies, though.)

So Gabby isn't the only one setting you back, Mrs. Obama. And your war on obesity may suffer a serious setback on November 6.

 

Come n' Get It, Kids

"There will be more whole grains on school lunch menus this year, along with a wider selection of fruits and vegetables and other healthy options. The challenge is getting children to eat them," says The Daily Mail, which also called the new, USDA-imposed cafeteria changes "a victory for Michelle (Obama)." Nonfat milk, calorie limits, and minimum veggie requirements are now the order of the day, but don't think that the changes will stop there.

To get a taste of where the First Lady is trying to ultimately take kids' lunches, check out what was dished up at the White House 'kids' state dinner': cabbage sloppy joes, baked zucchini fries, and kale chips. You can get the recipes here--and you know you want them!
Basically, her goal seems to be to get kids to eat weird hippie food. I'm a grown man and the thought of a cabbage-infused faux sloppy joe is almost enough to make me hurl. What kid is going to want to eat it?

“We don’t want healthy trash cans. We want kids who are eating this stuff,” said one school official from Florida. Well, good luck with that.

In other news today: Believe it or not, there are actually people who think the White House needs to have more influence on the food we eat, to save us from threats like killer cantaloupes. Which are more dangerous than terrorists, dontchaknow.

Deli Owners Bite Back

President Obama offended a lot of entrepreneurs with his infamous you-didn't-build-that statement (or gaffe, depending on how you look at it). Deli owners in particular seem to feel cut down by Obama's anti-small-business sentiment, and they're letting the world know it.

After the Ohio deli she owns was featured in a campaign ad defending Obama's business record, Debra Krause-McDonnell said she wanted her store's name removed from the ad because she did not give permission for it to be shown and she feared she'd lose some of her customers.

I didn't build that sandwich, but I want to eat it.  (photo:groupon.com)

Then, this Wednesday, Ross Murty, the owner of the Village Corner Deli in Davenport, Iowa catered an event for the President’s press corps. While working at the press event, he made a clear statement by wearing a Romney campaign t-shirt with the message, “Government Didn’t Build My Business, I Did.”

"I felt the comments were not only uninformed but uneducated," Murty said to The Blaze about Obama's you-didn't-build-that comments. "Basically coming from someone who has had zero business experience, who has no idea what a business owner does in a typical day. What kind of financial risk they take to start a business. What personal sacrifices they make to stay in business.”

It looks like the next Joe the Plumber may turn out to be a deli owner—or maybe a bakery owner.

Obamacare Not Healthy for Restaurants

"Striking a similar theme to one her husband also struck last week," CNS News reported on August 6, "First Lady Michelle Obama said on Friday that President Barack Obama’s tax plan will help build the economy by building up restaurants.

"'So I want you to remind folks that Barack has cut taxes for working families by $3,600, and he has cut taxes for small businesses 18 times--18 times,' Mrs. Obama said in Springfield, Mass. 'Because what your president understands is that building our economy starts with the restaurants and the stores and the startups that create two-thirds of all new jobs in this economy. That’s what we need you to do.'"

Yes, this is the same First Lady who pressured Olive Garden and McDonald's to change their menus. In a funny coincidence, Olive Garden's parent company is one of the few businesses to get an Obamacare waiver.

One restaurateur who'd really like an Obamacare waiver is John Schnatter, aka Papa John. "Our best estimate is that the Obamacare will cost 11 to 14 cents per pizza, or 15 to 20 cents per order from a corporate basis," Schnatter said. "We're not supportive of Obamacare, like most businesses in our industry." For speaking this heresy, Papa John's Pizza has been boycotted by fans of socialized medicine.

If the First Lady is really so concerned about the success of restaurants, she'd probably stop meddling with their menus and let her husband know that his health care law is a threat to their business.

Great Idea: Pricier School Lunches Kids Won't Eat

Thanks to the Obamas' Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, kids heading back to school will be served lunches that cost more and have a greater likelihood of ending up in the trash.

These are the USDA's first major changes in school meal requirements in 15 years. “The new federal guidelines," the Levittown (NY) Patch reports, "require most schools to 'increase the availability of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat- free and low-fat fluid milk in school meals; reduce the levels of sodium, saturated fat and trans fat in meals; and meet the nutrition needs of school children within their calorie requirements,' according to the program's summary.

“On the surface, the concept makes sense, but the changes are detailed and complicated.”

Kentucky.com reports that the cost of school lunches will go up about 15 cents per meal. That is, if the student's family actually pays for the food. “Students who receive free-or-reduced-cost lunches based on their families' incomes and will not be affected.” (Well, there are a lot of unemployed people these days who need help, right President Obama?)

The new lunches will come with more vegetables which—let's face it—kids probably won't eat (unless Michelle's minions will be force-feeding them). I saw that the lunch menu for my kids' school had either cherry tomatoes and tomato slices almost every day of the week. How many kids do you know who would eat tomatoes that often? I'd wager that more of those cherry tomatoes will be thrown either at other students or in the trash can than end up in the kids' mouths.

As Sherri DiNello, director of business and finance for Southington, CT public schools, says, “Our biggest concern is that the students aren’t going to embrace the changes. I’m hoping students are willing to try. My biggest fear is waste. I’m afraid it will end up in the garbage.”

So, basically, the red tape and waste (but maybe not so much of the “pork”) we expect from Big Government has arrived in the nation's school cafeterias. And did I mention no more chocolate milk? Boo, people.

7-11 Spuds

Bloomberg and like-minded politicians have more than 7-11 Big Gulps to worry about. They have to make sure that these 7-11 mashed potato vending machines from Singapore never reach our shores.

Actually, I think the food police should give 7-11 some props for making vegetables more widely available.

(Hat tip: geekosystem.com)