As a big Alton Brown fan, I’ll give two-and-three-quarters cheers to the message the Food Network star delivered at the National History Museum this week.
Brown said that the federal government should get out of the food
regulation game and leave it to the states to partner with research
universities to identify and contain outbreaks. One audience member
challenged Brown on this point, asking if this would simply pass the
responsibility to another bureaucracy, but Brown held his ground,
saying that states and colleges are doing “real science” and are less
interested in “special interests, lobbyists and campaign donations.”[snip]
Brown referenced the documentary “Super Size Me!,” in which
documentarian Morgan Spurlock ate nothing but McDonalds for a month.
“People were SHOCKED. Shocked I say!” said Brown. “McDonalds’ job is
not to feed you … to provide nourishment … [It is to sell you
hamburgers] to serve its stockholders… And that’s fine. That’s how it
is SUPPOSED to work. … If you are dumb enough to eat it three times a
day, you should just die and get out of the way of the rest of us.” He
added that, if parents can’t teach your kids how to feed themselves
properly, “then you shouldn’t have them.”
He also took an ill-advised shot at cheap, canned foods sold at Wal-Mart. And I’m sure JLF’s Becki Gray could give Brown a few lessons about those busy lobbyists and special interests in state capitals.
Still, a call for individual responsibility from an unexpected source outside the world of politics is always welcome.
