Monday, February 7, 2011

Don't Do as I Do, Do as I Say

Those words seem to be Michelle Obama's philosophy. She is on a campaign to make us eat more healthfully. Her latest "suggestion" is that restaurants should serve smaller portion and that children's menus should include more fruit and less fries or cookies. Sounds great, but, did you see the menu for yesterday's Super Bowl Party?

They served bratwurst, kielbasa, cheeseburgers, deep dish pizza, German potato salad, twice baked potatoes, Snyders potato chips and pretzels, salad and ice cream. They also served beer. Granted, this was a special occasion, a party, but they certainly could have done without some of the food.

I checked out the menus for a couple of state dinners held in the last two years. The fare wasn't much more healthful. For a dinner celebrating India, the menu included potato and eggplant salad, red lentil soup with fresh cheese, roasted potato dumplings with tomato chutney chickpea and okra or green curry prawns with caramelized salsify with smoked collard greens and coconut aged basmati. The dessert was pumpkin pie tart, pear tatin,whipped cream and caramel sauce. They also served petit fours and coffee, cashew brittle, pecan pralines, passion fruit and vanilla gelees and chocolate dipped fruit.

The dinner for China was even better. They had D'Anjou pear with farmstead goat cheese, fennel, black walnuts and white balsamic. The second course was poached Maine lobster, orange glazed carrots and black trumpet mushrooms. The main course consisted of dry aged rib eye with buttermilk crisp onions, double stuffed potatoes and creamed spinach. Dessert was old fashioned apple pie with vanilla ice cream. Oh, the cholesterol!

Contrast this dinner with one given for Nelson Mandela by the Kennedys. They served layered late summer vegetables with lemongrass and red curry. The entree was halibut with sesame crust and carrot juice broth. They also served bibb endive and watercress with New York wild ripened cheese. Dessert was grandilla sherbet, lychees and raspberries, apple sabayon and cookies.

Jacquelin Kennedy did not go about "suggesting" that restaurants limit the amount and types of foods they serve. She did, however, plan a menu around healthful foods in reasonable quantities.

Until the White House cuts back on some of the non-healthful foods they serve, Michelle Obama should stop trying to change our eating habits.

3 comments:

BetteJo said...

There aren't too many recommendations I would take from Michelle.

Pamela said...

whoooa! I had no idea the Kennedys were health conscious before their time.

What an eye opener about the food that was served!

Mary P ms/sss said...

It takes very little to entice me...Now I have to go out to the kitchen and get myself something to eat!