Survey: Can a Potato Chip be Low-Guilt?
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 11.19.07
OK, we admit that Frito-Lay has built a pretty a pretty amazing factory, but noted in our post "They call it an environmentally benign potato chip. When green also means healthy, can a potato chip be "low guilt" because of its carbon footprint?" After all there is more to food than how it is made; ONE OUNCE of Lay's classic potato chips has ten grams of fat, 150 calories and 180 mg of salt. Readers were not amused; one commenter noted "This illustrates perfectly what is wrong with environmentalists. Instead of congratulating the company for positive action, they criticize it for existing."
Glad to see the voice of moderation is expressing itself in this poll.
Whereas it's true that taking good, honest food like potatoes, stripping it nutrients and turning it into junk food, isn't necessarily a wise use of scarce resources like arable land; and,
Whereas I generally watch my diet and stay away from such things...
I still enjoy a bag of chips from time to time. So should you. Stop worrying all the time and enjoy some tasty overindulgence. In moderation, of course.
Thanks to Frito-Lay for making my occasional overindulgence that much less indulgent.
I think that *some* of this is semantics, right? If we talked about fingerling potatoes in a pan with fruity olive oil, we wouldn't be worried about the health impacts as much.
in addition. Lots of people eat potato chips. that won't change tomorrow, so let's at least mitigate as many of the negative impacts while we can.