Balance of Food

I was going to write about Fat Tuesday. I had a nice column all set to point out the obvious. Indulging in Fat Tuesday makes sense if you are going into a period where you will cut back.

Ash Wednesday, in the Catholic tradition, requires a reduction in food. Not sure of the origins, but I know a lot of Catholics abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday. The Fridays in Lent are also set aside to abstain from meat. And of course, Lent usually requires some sacrifice. So indulge in Fat Tuesday only if you plan to observe Ash Wednesday. Don't use it as an excuse to eat a lot. I realized I had to shift my focus when I found out that Earl Butz had passed away. Earl Butz was remembered as being agriculture secretary under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Butz's career was cut short thanks to two off-color jokes that got him fired. However, Butz's legacy lies in high-fructose corn syrup. Butz didn't invent high-fructose corn syrup, and might not have been able to tell you much about it. But the farm policies Butz implemented has led to the disaster of our current domestic farm policy, where farmers are forced to grow more corn, even though the prices have sharply declined over the years.

To get a better idea of Butz's damage, you should watch "King Corn," a documentary focused on why corn is so dominant in our lives. The two young filmmakers want to ask Earl Butz about the changes in agriculture policy. Unlike Michael Moore in "Roger and Me," they get their "Roger Smith."

Butz talks about the cheapness of food, and how that is a good thing, how we spend less of our income on food than other countries. Unfortunately, the young filmmakers don't get too aggressive to ask whether that is a good thing.

For those who have read Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma, you have encountered similar themes on the food we eat. It's good to get cheap food, but not if it costs us down the road.

The meat we eat is cheap but not as healthy for us as the beef our parents and grandparents ate 40 years ago. Corn, antibiotics, and hormones are all things that shouldn't be in cows. And a policy that gives farmers less money to grow more corn, and forces them to accept it or go broke, and then uses the surplus corn on ethanol (who uses too much energy to produce) and food that makes us unhealthy.

So maybe it's "sweetly" ironic that Earl Butz died around the time of Fat Tuesday. We might have cheaper food, but we are a fatter nation, bringing more significance to Fat Tuesday. Because thanks to Earl Butz, we have a Fat Monday, Fat Tuesday, Fat Wednesday…