I have to accept that some people have differing perspectives on government than I do. For me - I saw the need to cut down on my meat intake to shed a few pounds and to avoid heart disease - I began cooking more Chinese style dishes for my family and/or using more cabbage as a stomach filler to replace large portions of meat.
When I went to the grocery store the other night trying to figure out the recipe for "Chinese White Sauce" I slipped up upon a stir fry sauce recipe on the back of a corn starch box.
For me the greatest assess that I learned in college is how to do research. Most of the skills that I learned that are most relevant to the jobs that I have ultimately been employed within have been leveraged from the disciplined research methodologies that I learned yet applied via my own interests and motivations.
It seems to me that the biggest problem with this government directed food czar-coordinator is that the function is going to step in and seek to re-engineer the food consumption habits for the "least of these", their fundamental culture changed because the environment within which their choices are limited being the main driver for this change.
In essence it seems that the "bad choices" will be removed from their presence by this czar. The people's demands just prior to her arrival proved to be unhealthy for them. I don't have the energy for another ideological fight. I just can't help but notice that someone is going to get the grand idea that what is implemented at the city level should be put forth at the state and then federal level - as a means of regulating our bodies into top specimens.
What appears now as "voluntary coordination" is going to no doubt soon have the mandate of legislative dictum, especially when the maintenance of our bodies appear as a line item on the government balance sheet to a greater extent.
Baltimore Sun Article:
Baltimore's food czar
Our view: To boost health, city must improve supply and demand for fruits and vegetables
May 11, 2010
In explaining the unhealthy eating habits that have fostered widespread obesity and other health problems in the inner city, Baltimore faces a chicken-and-egg (or, perhaps more accurately, Chicken McNugget-and-Egg McMuffin) issue: Do people not choose healthy foods because they are unavailable, or are healthy foods unavailable because people choose unhealthy ones? It's probably some of both. Supermarkets followed affluent residents to the suburbs, and the corner markets and convenience stores that remain rarely stock fresh fruits and vegetables. But the problem isn't just one of supply; years of bad eating habits will take more than an airlift of locally grown carrots to overcome.
That's why the appointment of city's first "food czar," Holly Freishtat, is so important. The newly created position, one of the first of its kind in a major U.S. city, is funded by grants from nonprofits and is charged with implementing recommendations of the Baltimore City Food Policy Task Force. Among the ideas for getting more fresh produce in city residents' hands is the expansion of a "virtual supermarket" program that allows people to order groceries online at a local library, new zoning to allow more urban gardens, expanded access to farmers markets and a push for healthier food in corner stores and on street vendors' carts.
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