Legal Calories
Interesting news broke this week about five restaurants in Manhattan cited for not posting the calorie count of their dishes as required by a recent city law. The regulation, which is supposed to apply to all NYC restaurants with five national outlets and more, stipulates that such counts be provided and even though the Restaurant Association fought the rule, the courts finally said it was a go.
How good an idea is this posting anyhow and what would it accomplish? My first reaction to it was favorable, that it was a good idea because obesity is such a problem . But now I'm now I'm not so sure. Would someone avoid buying a Big Mac for instance when he saw that the sandwich would provide a day's worth of calories or more? Or would he simply not pay attention and order it anyway? (Maybe he'd even order a second Big Mac, who knows?)
Surely the information wouldn't come as a shock. Any literate person who is alive in 21st century
America knows that most fast food is not diet food. Will a label help reinforce the knowledge? We all have to take responsibility for our actions in the end. Another thing: How would we like a such a regulation here in Western New York?
