Michelle Obama seems like a very cool lady –– way too cool for that thankless p.r. position known as First Lady. No human being should be expected to walk around with a 24/7 mommy smile while promoting some non-controversial cause that, frankly, amounts to busy work. Case in point –– you may have heard that Ms. Obama is coming to Fort Worth Feb 9 to hold a roundtable discussion about healthy eating habits among children. At Olive Garden. Yep, Olive Garden, home of the Tour of Italy –– a dish that includes beef lasagna, chicken parmesana, and fettucine alfredo on one plate. (And no, I didn’t have to look that up. I have taken this particular Italian tour a few times in my life).
Even if Olive Garden has pledged to add healthier items to its children’s menu, this event is ridiculous. I’d wager that anyone who can afford to eat there also knows what it takes for grownups and kids to lose weight –– exercise more, consume fewer calories. But for many of us this is a very difficult balance to maintain long-term, for a variety of psychological and biological reasons. Ms. Obama certainly knows this, but as First Lady, she’s got to pick a non-threatening cause and, ya know, look busy. And pretend she isn’t dying to try the Five Cheese Ziti Al Forno. It rocks.
Actually, pushing for healthier foods and eating habits is not as non-threatening a task as you make it out to be. There is a massive multi-trillion-dollar industry involving restaurants, grocers, millers, distributors, farmers, packagers, advertisers, and politicians behind the billions of tons of bad foods and non-foods consumed in America. The bill for this incredible malfeasance is now coming due in the form of unprecedented epidemics of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, hypertension, and childhood disorders.
She is taking the fight to the heart of the beast at Olive Garden. When she takes on soft drinks, beer, Macdonalds, and General Mills, she is being actually very brave.
She’s gotta hit the all-u-can-eat Chinese Buffet to get my vote
despite your headline’s claim, i doubt mrs. obama was the first lady to eat at the restaurant. i’ve eaten there before and seen numerous women at tables eating food.
Which Olive Garden? I’d like to go sit at another table and eavesdrop.