What a Serve!

House of Representatives’ food service goes sustainable 4

Cafeterias in the House of Representatives are getting a makeover today: out with the high-fructose corn syrup, in with the free-roaming hens. (Well, there won't actually be hens roaming in the cafeterias -- you get what we mean.) Under Speaker Nancy Pelosi's ambitious Greening the Capitol initiative, the privately owned House food service -- which provides more than 2.5 million meals a year -- will start dishing out local, organic, seasonal chow, which can be taken out in compostable containers and eaten with biodegradeable utensils. Unfortunately for hungry senators, the Senate-owned food service will continue to provide iceberg lettuce, processed chicken tenders, and is-it-OK-to-call-them-French-now? fries.

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  1. Peter Viola Posted 7:24 am
    17 Dec 2007

    Great, but as usual they could still catch up...My work happens to take me to Capitol Hill most days, and when I go to the Longworth cafeteria I'm constantly shocked that EVERYTHING is disposable paper or plastic - it's a genial cafeteria that I doubt people would take things from, so it baffles me that they wouldn't provide some real plates and cups. Very ridiculous, but I know my friend working for Greening the Capitol is on it...
  2. rrecroc Posted 3:19 am
    18 Dec 2007

    Disposable Plates and UtensilsApparently they think the environment is disposable too.
  3. Wolverine Posted 8:57 am
    18 Dec 2007

    Minor DetailsThe first paragraph in the SF Chronicle story says it all:  "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may have left her progressive instincts at the barn door when she drove a starch-, sugar- and fat-bloated bill that all but left out organic farmers through the House last summer ..."
    Consuming locally grown organic food is obviously far better for the environment than consuming non-organic and/or non-locally grown food, but this is small potatoes compared to the corrupt farm bill that Pelosi just championed, which will cause the continued use of massive amounts of planet-destroying pesticides and will do nothing to encourage buying of local foods.
    Let's keep our eyes on the ball and not get distracted by this type of political grandstanding or self-serving action.  Legislation that can result in big changes, like the farm bill, is far more important than taking a small, individual action.  Pelosi should be held accountable for the passage of yet another horrible farm bill, not lauded for providing good food for herself and her friends and colleagues.
  4. cmello Posted 3:30 am
    22 Jan 2008

    1/22 quote of the week, cafeteria & real foodOn a less serious note: the weekly grist today had a quote (criticism) from House Minority Leader John Boehner on the changes to the food in the House cafeteria made by Pelosi. He feels the new stuff is not "real food"...
    I just found out from my mother that when she married in 1951 and moved from her family's home (where they grew almost all their own food) to an apartment in the city of Lynn, MA, she could not find fresh parsley in the stores. Store employees told her that it was a fancy

    "foreign food" that was not carried (she found it dried & used that instead though the taste is not the same). Sort of like Boehner's comment...in 1951 fresh parsley was not "real food" in Massachusetts.

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