5 ms·
I can't imagine the politics of figuring out what kind of food to serve. In the U.S., Democrats would add quinoa vegetable stew when they came into power, and
by dkarl 8y ago
I can't imagine the politics of figuring out what kind of food to serve. In the U.S., Democrats would add quinoa vegetable stew when they came into power, and the Republicans would proudly ban it and replace it with cheesy beef and mac. The Republicans would ban imported food, the Democrats would ban GMOs. The Democrats would mandate a complete vegetarian option, the Republicans would counter by mandating a minimum of 50g of protein per meal, including breakfast and lunch. Republicans would race-bait over ethnic food, and some tone-deaf centrist Democrat would propose "American" names for "foreign" food, like "chips and cheese" instead of "nachos," to make things less "confusing" for those salt-of-the-earth flyover morons, thus offending both sides, which is the closest thing to unity we ever experience.
Maybe having this to fight about would distract some of our stupidity from real policy questions. That could be a win.
> Unlike in Homer’s Odyssey, there will be no massacre if people stay longer than they should or have more free refills than is calculated to be ideal.
This is funny but also grossly unfair to Odysseus and Telemachus.
- panzagl 8y agoThere is a lot of politics involved in school cafeteria lunches- nutrition, allergies, religious restrictions, quality, cost, big food conspirists and lobbyists and whatever nutrition fad is current all have proponents who are perfectly willing to tie up school board meetings and otherwise push their agenda to the best of their ability. I'd have to think any gov't based approach would attract similar.
- noxToken 8y agoMaybe I missed this, but where do politics play a role in this idea? I could see if these were gov't run/funded places, but these could thrive alone via private business just as many restaurants do. Both parties could exist alongside each other.
- dkarl 8y agothere are no public canteens in the city (what council could now afford to hang on to such a quantity of land after cuts?) After the war Conservatives dismissed them in parliament because they weren’t making profit. The canteens were allowed to decline, then disappear. Where I live, and apparently where the author lives, there's no way they could survive without government support, because they don't extract as much money from the space as other styles of restaurant do. The restaurant business is very tough, even without serving affordable food to all classes and providing ample space for lingering.