Be careful what you wish for. In an area possessing a so called “Food Action Plan” (see my posts on it here, here, here, and here) which has as one of its goals outlawing ‘unhealthy food’ (whatever that means) in Multnomah County, a local businessman and commentator has publicly called for the outlaw of fast food.

Brian Bushlach ruminated over the possibility of a tobacco lawsuit type attack on fast food, and had this gobsmacking exchange with the New Seasons CEO, Lisa Sedlar causing me to nearly run off the road two Sundays ago, 

Bushlach: “I believe our food supply across America has been poisoned and I believe it happened at the turn of the century, early 1900’s, when so many of these genetically modified chemicals came into being and you could produce more food, more efficiently in a quote unquote ‘better way’ and I think people are now finding that it’s not a better way, that it’s contributing to many diseases. It is actually killing America right now. What’s your thought?” 

Sedlar: “We have a weight [sic] epidemic and alot of that goes back to processed foods, sugar and fat in our diets and I think one of the things that’s happening as a result of the natural foods movement is that even the big guys are now starting to think, hm, ‘I need to consider how I’m producing this food, how many calories are in it how much sugar is in it, how much fat is in  it’ AND  McDonalds recently announced that they are looking toward creating a sustainable beef program. And that’s huge.”

Buschlach: “That’s good to hear. when you look at what happened to the tobacco industry in the 80’s could and maybe should happen to the fast food industry in the 21st century because you know, it should be illegal to put out food like that is obviously not healthy and extremely loaded in bad stuff and people just gobble this up and don’t even realize how bad it is because they’re either uneducated about it or what not, so I’m passionate about this and I’m glad you’re doing what you’re doing.”

Emphasis mine. (I’m not in the habit or promoting the competition so I’m not posting links)

Bushlach obviously has bought into the whole junk science aspect of food production, but you’d think a guy with a business background could spot why McDonalds is so popular. You’d think a guy like that could spot why it’s a good thing we have so much food production on smaller and smaller parcels of land. You’d think a guy like this would know not everyone eats at McDonald’s all the time. You’d think a guy like that could understand why, for some people, Brian, McDonald’s is a cheap, safe place to secure a meal for a small amount of money.

Bushlach said on the program that he “eats clean” at his house. I didn’t really know what that meant so I looked it up,

In a nutshell, eating clean is the practice of eating whole, natural foods such as fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and complex carbohydrates. It also means staying away from the junk that typically makes up the Standard American Diet (S.A.D) These types of food include man-made sugar, bad fats (hydrogenated, trans-fat), preservatives, white bread, and any other ingredients that are unnecessary. An easy way to remember if a food is clean is: “if man made it, don’t eat it.”

Emphasis mine.

I’m sure Brian thinks he’s doing the best thing for him and his family. Good for him. He can afford it and more power to him. But he makes the assumption that because he eats that way and he thinks it’s right that everyone should eat that way. Even worse than that; he thinks his ideas should be codified into law.  He’s smarter than the “uneducated” masses and so the smart people should make the decisions.

I like choice. He doesn’t.

Someone with those rash instincts makes me question any business observation he puts forward.

I waited a week to post this but had to say it.