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At the end of August, the Democratic Party will hold its Convention in Denver, where Barack Obama will be confirmed as the Democratic Presidential Nominee and many other (I'm sure) related and important things will be discussed. Among other activities, the conventioneers will have to eat. The host committee sent out a Request for Proposal to area caterers, and one Denver Councilman (amusingly named Charlie Brown) is less than amused by the provisions requested by the host committee. What provisions, you ask?
- Half of the meal or (50%) of the plate is made up of fruits and/or vegetables.
- No items are to be fried.
- A colorful meal – include at least three of the following five colors: red, green, yellow, blue/purple, and white. (Garnishes not included)
- 70% or more of ingredients be precooked weight are certified organic and/or grown/raised in Colorado.
- 70% or more of ingredients by pre-cooked weight are fresh and not pre-processed.
Many of my meals (not all, but most) meet the above "requirements." They seem for the most part reasonable, especially for a group of the country's leaders or wannabe leaders. Ok, banning fried food entirely is a little extreme, but shouldn't they be leading by example here for the sake of national health? In a country facing an epidemic of obesity and rampant diabetes, why aren't we making an effort on every level to eat more fresh food, including more vegetables and fruit?
Councilman Brown's reaction was, "You can't turn red states blue, especially Southern states, without fried chicken."
I know he's just one guy, but it's interesting how seriously he has responded to this little bit of news. And I HIGHLY doubt that every Southern voter a) is definitely voting Republican and b) eats fried food every day or c) will be affected by this news. My guess is this to-be-determined menu will have little-to-no impact on the Southern vote, but I don't know how you would keep track of that. With this tidbit coming on the heels of the Wall Street Journal article about the candidates' favorite home town restaurants and what that says about them, I am totally intrigued by the way foodie-ism is becoming more mainstream.
More (less rambling) info from ABC News here and Epicurious commentary (with a rather incendiary title) here.
Also, I'd love to see a side by side comparison of the DNC and RNC convention menus... What do YOU think?
I can guarantee that at least one Southern voter is not swayed to the Republican side because the DNC is eating healthfully as an example. I also don't eat fried food every day and will not be basing my vote on what the parties at at Convention. LOL! Charlie Brown. Ha.
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