Frozen and Canned

Officially, this was the best Tour de Donut yet. If you missed it, you missed out. What made it so amazing? Well, never before have we gotten so many hot donuts. Four of the five places were selling these seasonal treats just as fast as they were coming off the robot. It was like a dream come true.

Of course, that made the judging even that much harder. The full results will be in by Wednesday at the latest. There’s a lot going on this week.

But instead of focusing on the future, let’s turn our attention to the recent past. Sometimes with my once-daily posting schedule, I miss out on commenting about some issues near and dear to my heart.

School lunches are right up there. So is teaching food insecure communities about healthier eating. There has been a big push to focus on eating fresh and eating local. But now there’s the inevitable backlash from the canned and frozen food lobby. Maybe this Yelp job is having an effect on my brain, because instead of doubling down on one side or the other, I’m finding a nice comfortable niche in the middle that makes a ton of sense. However, it would never work.

This recent Consumerist story was forwarded to me by the one and only Stanford Steph.

It tells the story of the federally funded program to feed poor students fresh fruits and vegetables at school. And the logic is kind of interesting. It’s one of exposure. Because these foods are harder to find, more expensive, and prone to spoilage, they are oddities to this population of kids. And regardless of nutrition, that’s a problem on its face.

America’s school system is so big, and its buying power so vast, that when a small change like this is put into place, it can have massive repercussions. You know, like diminished sales of canned and frozen food.

The manufacturer’s lobby has a valid case. It feels that these products are being vilified.

Now, sure, canned fruit cocktail is inferior to fresh fruit. It’s loaded with sugar. Skins have been removed. And it’s just sticky, sweet, processed stuff. Most canned vegetables are terrible too. I think about those mushy spears masquerading as asparagus, but bearing no physical similarities other than its shape.

Canned vegetables are one of the big reasons why vegetables have a bad name. And they’re super salty to boot.

But you know what canned vegetable is amazing? Low sodium canned chickpeas. Those would make a great item for school lunches. These, large, firm beans are popular with kids who pick at them with fingers and pop ‘em into hungry mouths. Chickpeas are high in fiber, and protein. And it’s something with which low income families might not be entirely familiar.

And fruit? Frozen mango and frozen berries are a staple in the Fussy household. They defrost relatively quickly, but can also be enjoyed while still either entirely or partially frozen. Sure, they aren’t particularly inexpensive, but provided the power stays on and the freezer doesn’t fail these will stay good for a long time.

There may be a good canned fruit that isn’t full of added sugar, but if there is, it’s escaping me right now.

All the same, I can understand those policymakers who want to hold the line. Sometimes all it takes is a crack in the dam and the wall comes tumbling down. And when you are working with such a large system, it’s easy for instructions to be executed incorrectly. That’s the nice way of saying it.

One could also say that every change allows school districts the chance to recalibrate what they do. Maybe that turns ketchup into a vegetable.

In an ideal world, we could come up with a sensible middle ground. It makes sense for schools to prioritize fresh vegetables. But the better varieties of canned foods should be celebrated. As should their frozen counterparts. Sure, there are bad versions of food in each. But trustworthy actors wouldn’t take advantage of the system for personal profit. Right?