Duckathlon Recap II: New at Reason.tv
Duckathlon Recap: New at Reason Online
I have a piece up at Reason Online today on D’Artagnan’s great Duckathlon, and how it fits in with–and counteracts–the rise of the food nanny state in New York City. A snippet:
So while the city has hundreds of outstanding restaurants, each likely claiming thousands of devoted customers, it also has millions of residents who can’t afford (or be bothered) to eat in them. Those people instead frequent the inexpensive chain restaurants city regulators target.
New York City might be foodie heaven, but if you’re an eater rather than a gastronome, regulators are increasingly futzing with your food. The food really under fire in New York City right now is not that eaten by, for example, billionaire Michael Bloomberg—whose mayoral manse chefs competed at the Duckathlon—but by everyday diners.
Still, the vigilance of [D'Artagnan's Ariane] Daguin, her staff, and Duckathlon participants is as important as it is admirable.
“In a small little way,” Daguin says, “I hope it’s paving the way to more freedom.”
Crispy previously on the Duckathlon here. D’Artagnan’s Flickr photostream from the event here.
Easter Treat: Ferrero Rondnoir
In case you’ve reached the age where the Easter Bunny no longer leaves special little treats around your home this time of year — or the Purim Bunny just never seems to show up — I recommend you try the the newish Ferrero Rondnoir this weekend.
A Ferrero rep sent me some, which she’d described in an email as “new dark chocolates that feature a dark chocolate cream surrounding a crisp wafer and topped with crunchy dark chocolate morsels.”
Since I’m a firm believer in there being no such thing as too much dark chocolate, I was happy to give them a whirl. (I’m happy to try pretty much any food someone’s willing to send me, though maybe not anything with chreese in it.)
The Rondnoir has a lot going on, but not too much. It’s definitely crispy on the outside — crunchy, even, thanks to the coating of the outer chocolate bits — and when you bite into it the three levels of cocoa-rich dark chocolate, each with a different consistency, play nicely off one another.
Candyblog has more — including the sad revelation that the Rondnoir contains no trans fats.
Find the Rondnoir seller nearest you here. Or just pick up a bunch from Amazon.
Boston Set to Ban Trans Fats
Boston, a city known for (among other things) having a fat, know-it-all mayor who tells other people how to eat, is set to ban trans fats today.
Anne McHugh, project director for Boston Steps, a chronic disease prevention program at the Boston Public Health Commission, said banning trans fats will save lives.
“There’s very strong research showing that trans fat consumption is significantly related to increased heart disease risk,” McHugh said.
If approved today, businesses will have six months to eliminate oils and spreads that contain trans fats. Within a year, hospitals, schools and eateries will have to eliminate trans fats from baked goods and other products, McHugh said.
Anne McHugh knows what’s best for you. No, seriously. Here’s McHugh quoted earlier this year at Boston.com:
“There is no need to have artificial trans fat,” said Anne McHugh, project director of the health department’s Boston Steps program, which combats obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases. “It’s just bad.”
And here’s McHugh quoted in CSNews.com:
“We’re working on many fronts to try and influence children’s eating behaviors,” Anne McHugh, director of the Boston Public Health Commission’s Boston Steps program, told the paper. “Sugary drinks are just empty calories without any nutritional value, and it’s an area where we think we can have influence.”
McHugh also analogized adults to “toddlers” in a Jamaica Plain Gazette piece last year.
Finally, here’s an early internal document (PDF) that shows how the well-funded Boston Steps is suffering from a bad case of mission creep.
