First the mayor now the first lady are down on doughnuts and all things deep-fried, super-sized or salted.
Yesterday, Michelle Obama targeted kids’ meals at restaurants as obesity rates expand nationwide.
Speaking to the National Restaurant Association in Washington, Obama called on eateries to tap their creativity to create healthier, palatable kids’ menus.
“You could make healthy sides like apple slices or carrots the default choice in a menu and make fries something customers have to request – which would hurt me deeply,” Obama said. “I’m a fry lover.”
Ming Tsai, TV chef and owner of Blue Ginger in Wellesley, called Obama’s efforts “awesome.”
“The only person with more pull in the White House is President Obama, and he’s busy,” he said.
But taste remains paramount to chefs, according to Tsai. “I guarantee that my kids eat vegetables like (they would) french fries because I start with oil and garlic,” he said. “You can get people to eat good things for them if it tastes good.”
Obama launched her “Let’s Move!” campaign this year to combat childhood obesity in a country where one in three children is overweight or obese.
But, she said, “Even if we give parents all the information they need and we improve school meals and build brand-new supermarkets on every corner, none of that matters if when families step into a restaurant, they can’t make a healthy choice.”
Restaurants are responsible for one-third of the calories that kids consume on a daily basis, Obama told the trade group.
Billy Nichols, owner of Somerville’s Rosebud Diner, believes Obama’s efforts are well-placed, but said kids don’t seem to be conscious of what they’re eating, particularly when low prices lure them to fast-food restaurants such as McDonald’s.
“I was personally an eater of fried foods, and I put on an awful lot of weight,” he said. “Over the years, I’ve been watching my diet, and now I’m a lot healthier for it.”
If Obama wants to spearhead a drive to get kids to eat healthier, that’s OK with Jay Hajj, owner of Mike’s City Diner in Boston.
“Somebody has to start it and push it,” he said.
Hajj answered Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s 2006 call for Hub eateries to add at least one healthy menu item, but the campaign lost steam, he said.
“You don’t hear anybody talking about it anymore,” Hajj said. “They were very firm in the beginning, and it just died out.”
