No, instead of french fires I'll have a side of Pizza

I thought I would channel the environmental anthropologist in me for a brief post on the Pizza is a Vegetable Controversy. This issue is, of course, getting a lot of exposure on both the right and the left, and both sides are misrepresenting fundamental aspects of what is going on. Congress did not declare pizza as a vegetable. Rather, the issue surrounds how much schools can "check off" their vegetable counter for serving tomato puree or tomato paste, which happen to be elements of pizza (but also of other meals that cafeterias serve). Essentially, the Obama administration wants tomato paste to count less than it does now. Congress rejected this proposal, and tomato paste's nutritional status will remain unchanged. But this is a bad thing nonetheless. Even if, as a recent Washington Post article claims, tomato paste has a similar vitamin content as other vegetables (which is probably crap), what else is in tomato paste? I imagine most school district's don't dine on organic products. How many preservatives?  Even better, how much corn syrup??? So, before outraged folks begin boycotting Papa Johns Pizza, we should perhaps look at more insidious interests at play. Ever hear of ConAgra? This exposes another misrepresentation: that Congressional rejection of this proposal protects consumers' right to choose. If anything, encouraging schools to cut corners on their nutritional responsibility to students reduces parents' abilities to make informed decisions, ostensibly a cornerstone of the seemingly free market......