- And the Food of the Decade (2000-2009) is… | Fooducate I’m gonna spoil it for you, it’s yogurt. I’m pretty sure the 2000s saw an 89% increase of commercials with women wearing gray hoodies and yoga pants eating from individual Yoplait yogurt containers.
- Sugar, Fat, and Calories: Q&A | The Atlantic Food Channel Does the caloric value of a food change when cooked? Are there any benefits to choosing natural sweeteners over regular sugar?
- Whole Foods Market Adopts “ANDI” Nutrition Rating System | Fooducate – Whole Foods is introducing a new nutrition rating system that promotes eating a plant based diet and less processed foods. Unfortunately, however, the scale could easily be confusing and misleading to naive shoppers.
- DIY Life: Urban Homesteaders at Kitchen Table Talks An event held in San Francisco for those interested in urban agriculture, along with tips and a list of resources.
- Not sure about soda taxes? Read this! | Food Politics – More on the soda tax argument, from Marion Nestle.
Related posts:
In reference to the link above to “Not sure about soda taxes? Read this! | Food Politics”
I am the son of a bodega owner. My daycare growing up was the cardboard box from paper towels when my mom attended customers at the counter. My father worked a day job for someone else and restocked the store shelves at night. As soon as I could hold a broom, I was on clean up detail everyday after school. My sister could work a register before she could write. Why did my family endure these hardship and work so hard?
It was the only way to economically survive in New York City. I know my story is not unique. It is the reason why I can say that the soda tax is wrong. No Ph.D. needed.
People, especially whose like my father and his customers, make their food choices on the economics of their lives. Their first thought is, “What can my family afford?” followed by, “Will this fill their empty stomachs?” The few cents, that some discount as trivial burden, is the thin line that defines their poverty. The pennies this tax proposes were my school lunch. The nickels were my sister’s dress for her Quinceañera. Both our college educations were paid for in dimes.
In New York State, there already is a tax on the soda. The 6% sales tax, more in the city, on all food purchases. Further more, there is the five cents bottle deposit which the state retains millions in as an unofficial levy. Now our elect officials are suggesting a further tax.
This tax is on the poor and the working middle class. These are the people who buy the majority of the soda sold. This is the majority who will pay the tax in bodegas and convenience stores across the state. If the governor and all our elected officials really care about our waistlines, they should look to help us with our bottom lines.
There are ways to both spur economic growth and promote physical wellbeing. Economic growth leads to collecting more tax revenue for the state and alleviating poverty of its inhabitants. This should be the goal of every elected official in these recessionary times.