Pizza - America's Favourite Vegetable!

[Svartalf]

Tomorrow may be veg day... I haven't had decent veg since like september.

[hadespussercats]

Pizza with mushrooms and peppers and corn and onions....

CORN?!

[Svartalf]

Well, if it's okay to put pineapple on it, why not corn? and corned beef and kielbasa and beetroot too?

[hadespussercats]

Pizza now classified as a vegetable in the US - because of the tomato sauce apparently it counts as a vegetable in America's schools.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree ... ss-says-so

Just seen this. Jamie Oliver will not be happy.

Yeah, well, ketchup was already a vegetable (thanks, Reagan!) Pizza at least has some nutritional value.

My understanding is it's all because decent veggies are considered too expensive to store and prepare for school lunches, but there are legal nutritional standards that require a certain proportion of veggies in those meals, so the workaround is to declare ridiculous items vegetables.

[Schneibster]

They're farm subsidy standards, not nutritional standards. Nutritional standards are more librul Marksisum.

[hadespussercats]

Well, if it's okay to put pineapple on it, why not corn? and corned beef and kielbasa and beetroot too?

It's not okay to put pineapple on it.

[hadespussercats]

They're farm subsidy standards, not nutritional standards. Nutritional standards are more librul Marksisum.

I think you're mistaken.

[Schneibster]

School lunch programs come from surplus, which is determined by what's subsidized since that's what the farmers grow. ETA: that is, grow too much of.

[Callan]

Well, if it's okay to put pineapple on it, why not corn? and corned beef and kielbasa and beetroot too?

It's not okay to put pineapple on it.

Cal's Special: tuna, pineapple and jalpenos.
NOM.

[hadespussercats]

Well, if it's okay to put pineapple on it, why not corn? and corned beef and kielbasa and beetroot too?

It's not okay to put pineapple on it.

Cal's Special: tuna, pineapple and jalpenos.
NOM.

You forgot to mention the crack. There's crack involved somehow.

[Callan]

Well, if it's okay to put pineapple on it, why not corn? and corned beef and kielbasa and beetroot too?

It's not okay to put pineapple on it.

Cal's Special: tuna, pineapple and jalpenos.
NOM.

You forgot to mention the crack. There's crack involved somehow.

Nope.
Only nomminess.

[hadespussercats]

School lunch programs come from surplus, which is determined by what's subsidized since that's what the farmers grow.

Says wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchup_as_a_vegetable

The ketchup as a vegetable controversy refers to a proposed United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food and Drug Administration directive, early in the presidency of Ronald Reagan, that would have reclassified ketchup and pickle relish from condiments to vegetables, allowing public schools to cut out a serving of cooked or fresh vegetable from hot lunch program child-nutrition requirements.

Also references to child nutrition standards here:
http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive ... in/248538/

An additional proposed change in crediting policy would allow vegetable and fruit concentrates to be credited on a single-strength reconstituted basis rather than on the basis of the actual volume as served.

For example, one tablespoon of tomato paste could be credited as 1/4 cup single-strength tomato juice. Previously, it was only credited as 1 tablespoon, the volume as served (Federal Register 9-4-81)

.

and here: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2011/1 ... -the-sauce

The hard part? Determining what counts as a vegetable. Take, for instance, the tomato sauce on pizza. As part of new nutrition standards proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, schools would need to use about one-half cup of tomato paste on pizza in order for the sauce to count as a vegetable serving.

[Schneibster]

Cal's Special: tuna, pineapple and jalpenos.
NOM.

You know, if it was seared fresh tuna that could be pretty good.

"Sushi pizza."

[Callan]

Cal's Special: tuna, pineapple and jalpenos.
NOM.

You know, if it was seared fresh tuna that could be pretty good.

"Sushi pizza."

And fresh pineapple, hand-sculpted by the most skilled Japanese radish-carving masters.

[Schneibster]

Also references to child nutrition standards here:

I didn't say there weren't any.

Since its founding in 1946, the National School Lunch Program has been the target of critics from the right as well as from the left. It is clear that even after more than half a century of operation, the National School Lunch Program is deeply flawed. School meals are often unattractive, unappetizing, and not entirely nutritious. The menu has always depended more heavily on surplus commodities than on children’s nutrition needs.

Source.