I’m not crazy about the idea of New York having an official “snack.” Reports stated that a group of fourth graders came up with this legislation and yogurt received a whopping 52-8 vote in the state Senate.
If New Yorkers seriously had to vote on what to snack on, it would probably be something unhealthy and fattening that would give us a reason to blame our health problems on the state instead of ourselves. Love McDonald’s French fries? Pizza? Potato chips? Cookies? If one of those were the state snack, we’d make bad excuses for consuming the fattening treats any chance we got. Some who oppose yogurt being the state snack want to know why the lactose intolerant population wasn’t considered.
Let’s get real! This legislation isn’t going to make New Yorkers eat healthier, if that’s its intention. Do you even see what people are really eating? They’re ordering greasy chicken wings and choosing from menus that stick bacon in every sandwich. Although children came up with the state snack, I don’t see kids eating healthy either. It’s not often you see a student walking home from school munching on fruit – and yogurt isn’t really portable. Kids traveling on a bus to and from school can easily share a bag of Doritos among themselves. Yes, I see their cheesy and oily fingers gripping the bus poles after their hands have been God knows where all day long. Can you envision kids sharing a container of yogurt? They’re more likely to snack on the topping bits from the yogurts that have the candy container attached on the top!
The state snack should be something quick and simple – like nuts, trail mix – or maybe yogurt covered pretzels. Another New York favorite is hot dogs and big baked pretzels, sold out of carts and vendors on the city’s most busy streets. While not so healthy, the warm aroma of these salty treats scream NEW YORK! Second, I thought New York was already the “Big Apple” – so why isn’t an apple the official snack of our state?
Besides the fact that there are more important things to focus on than having a state food, how popular is yogurt among the diverse population of New Yorkers? Yes, it’s healthy. But I’m going to step outside of the box by asking – have you ever seen a yogurt commercial featuring, for example, a black, Spanish or Indian man whose digestive tract is better now that he ate Activia? Other than thin women with perfect hair and teeth, I haven’t seen this compact snack being consumed by people of different backgrounds. Are they stereotyping yogurt or are marketers inadvertently saying that an 80-year-old Chinese man has no reason to enjoy a container of Yoplait?
Politically and economically speaking, New York is the top yogurt-producing state in the country, according to the senate bill. However, no one surveyed its popularity before it went to the Assembly and Canarsie sure doesn’t have anyone in Albany speaking on our behalf about what we want! While Bloomberg tried to ban sugary drinks on a city level, he couldn’t get the support to make New Yorkers healthier. So now they’re going to throw something healthy at us and we didn’t even know it was happening!
I guess I was out of the loop when the official snack voting process took place. I was too busy worried about where our state tax dollars were going to impact change in our community. Next time, I want to learn about a bill is waaaaay before it’s sponsored or considered – this way I can decide whether to care or not.
http://www.canarsiecourier.com/news/2014-05-15/Telling_It_Like_It_Is/Telling_It_Like_It_Is.html
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