Washington
IT should be no surprise that in a city where everything is political, the grumblings about the new selections in the cafeterias serving the House of Representatives have nothing to do with how the food tastes.
Last spring the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, mandated a plan to create an “environmentally responsible and healthy working environment” throughout the House. It was to include energy efficiency, recycling and composting in the four House office buildings as well as the House side of the Capitol.
When it came to the cafeterias and the other food concessions, it meant a revamping of the menus, to make them more local, organic and healthful.
The changes, instituted last month, would barely rate a mention in, say, Berkeley, Calif. But to some people here they represent an elitist misuse of public funds, and possibly a bit of anti-industry propaganda.
In newspaper articles and on blogs, the menu has been mocked for including sushi and brie, foods critics seem to regard as pretentious esoterica. Questions have been raised over whether the decision to stock a particular brand of organic yogurt was motivated by political donations. Writers have griped about allowing Ms. Pelosi to decide what they should eat. And some have expressed outrage at the notion that tax money is paying for all this frippery.
Whether or not sushi is too elitist for workers on the Hill, the cafeterias are not subsidized, said Perry Plumart, the deputy director of the House’s environmental effort, which is called Green the Capitol.
“In fact, we make money and Restaurant Associates makes money,” he added, referring to the company that runs the cafeterias. (It also has a cafeteria contract with The New York Times.)
Restaurant Associates has received some complaints from lobbyists here about how their particular commodity is presented to potential diners, and a trade magazine and several lobbying groups have had something to say about a sustainability Web site set up by the company and linked to from the House dining services Web site.
Agriculture committee staffers, reflecting concerns of the egg industry, challenged a statement about the cage-free eggs used in some cafeteria meals.
It had said: “In the United States more than 95 percent of the nearly 300 million laying hens are confined to barren battery cages, unable even to spread their wings or engage in many other natural behaviors, such as nesting, foraging, perching and dust bathing. Cage-free eggs means the hens have not been confined to a battery cage.”
An editorial in the Dec. 31 issue of Feedstuffs, a weekly newspaper for agribusiness, explained why the industry wanted the statement removed: “A check of facts demonstrates that hens housed in cages are less stressed and healthier and safer.”
Bowing to pressure, Restaurant Associates edited the statement so that only the last sentence remained.
Milk lobbyists called the Green the Capitol complaint line about a characterization of the hormone rBGH, which is not permitted in milk used in the food service.
The Web site had read: “Recombinant bovine growth hormone, or rBGH, is injected into dairy cows to artificially increase their milk production. The hormone has not been properly tested for safety. Milk labeled rBGH-free is produced by dairy cows that never received injections of this hormone.”
Milk lobbyists pointed out that the Food and Drug Administration considers the artificial hormone to be safe (although many scientists believe it may cause cancer).
The Feedstuffs editorial says rBGH milk is “as healthful and safe as milk from nontreated cows.” The Web site now reads: “Milk produced without synthetic rBGH is produced by dairy cows that never received injections of synthetic bovine growth hormone.”
The editorial says Restaurant Associates and its parent company, Compass Group, are “hooked by propaganda of animal rights groups” and are “advocates of vegetarianism.”
It is hard to tell that from the line at the barbecue station in the Longworth House Office Building or from the freshly grilled steak, salmon and chicken available in the Rayburn building.
There are veggie burgers too, but if they continue to be served at room temperature, the way I got mine, they may be a hard sell. If they were hot, they would have been quite tasty.
Hot dogs, French fries and onion rings have not been banished, though trans fats have left the premises.
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