Food, Glorious Food!

Published September 30, 2012 | By Karen Kataline

Where in our lives is food not present? From our most important life events, to feeding our families and the kudos we get when they ooh and ahh at our creations. From Julie and Julia, the Food Channel and My Big Fat Greek Wedding, food is a visceral and deeply personal part of our lives and experiences.

Somehow, FYOGs (For Your Own Gooders, pronounced Fahye-Ogs) have decided that this personal and private domain is now within their purview.

From Mayor Bloomberg’s ban of sodas more than 16 oz. (recently rubber stamped by the New York City Board of Health) to taxation and regulation of all manner of foodstuffs, the government has decided that we are not capable of managing our own appetites.

Who bestowed this jurisdiction upon them? Was it written in the Constitution? “Thou shalt have the right to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and control over what other people eat?” or was it when the hysteria over the “obesity epidemic” caused some to now tolerate intrusion into their stomachs which would have been laughable in the past?

Kids seem to understand the fundamental boundary that has been crossed when FYOGs mess with their munchees. Out of hunger and frustration in Wisconsin, students staged a strike, as seen in JS Online. Wallace County High School in Sharon Springs, Kansas, created a YouTube video, “We Are Hungry,” pointing out the absurdity of grossly applied calorie guidelines. In New Bedford, Massachusetts there’s a new appetite and a black market for chocolate syrup.

Food symbolizes so much. Today it may well symbolize the line in the sand between what is and is not other people’s business.

For more about Karen’s new book, FATLASH! Food Police & the Fear of Thin go to: www.FATLASH.com