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Massachusetts Senator wants to ban... Fluffernutters.

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Nekusagi

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Apparently, when politicians in Massachusetts aren't concerned with important issues like marriage and the like, they focus on the REALLY important issues... PB and mallow fluff sandwiches.
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060622/NEWS06/606220476&SearchID=73248563930457
Mass. lawmakers fight over sticky sandwich

By Steve Leblanc
Associated Press
BOSTON -- It's creamy, it's sweet and it's become a staple of lunch boxes for generations of New England schoolchildren.




Sweet delight: A Fluffernutter sandwich is made with Marshmallow Fluff and peanut butter. Banana slices are optional. - Bill Sikes / Associated Press

Now, the beloved Fluffernutter sandwich -- the irresistible combination of Marshmallow Fluff and peanut butter, preferably on white bread with a glass of milk handy -- finds itself at the center of a sticky political debate.
State Sen. Jarrett Barrios was outraged that his son Nathaniel, a third-grader, was given a Fluffernutter sandwich at the King Open School in Cambridge. He said he plans to file legislation that would ban schools from offering the Northeastern delicacy more than once a week as the main meal of the day.
The Democrat said his amendment to a bill on junk food in schools may seem "a little silly" -- but that school nutrition is serious.
His proposal seemed anything but silly to Rep. Kathi-Anne Reinstein, a Democrat whose district in Revere is near the headquarters of Durkee-Mower Inc., the company that has produced the marshmallow concoction for more than 80 years.
She responded with a proposal to designate the Fluffernutter the "official sandwich of the commonwealth of Massachusetts."
"I'm going to fight to the death for Fluff," Reinstein said.
An aide to Barrios insisted the senator is not anti-Fluff and even plans to co-sponsor Reinstein's bill, although he still thinks schools should cut back on Fluffernutters.
"He loves Fluff as much as the next legislator," aide Colin Durrant said.
Fluff has a long history in Massachusetts. The treat was popularized by H. Allen Durkee and Fred L. Mower, who cooked up the concoction in their kitchen at night and sold it door to door.
Durkee and Mower purchased the recipe for Fluff for $500 from another Massachusetts man, Archibald Query, who also sold it door to door before wartime shortages shut down his operations. Query lived in Somerville, which is part of Barrios' district.
The company didn't immediately return a call for comment.
Legions of New England kids have grown up on Fluffernutters. Parents have used the sandwich as a food of last resort for finicky eaters, sometimes adding banana slices.
Click to expand...

I can understand why people are bothered, but FNs...in SCHOOL LUNCHES? I mean, the Pork Tenderloin is practically an institution in Indiana, but it's not in the lunch line every day... Yummy sandwiches, though. I'm reminded of H*R for some reason.
 
Well, peanutbutter is on this sandwich, right? I am also sure that this wasn't the only part of this child's lunch. Well, the peanut butter (very nutritional) combined with whatever else came with the lunch does not make for inadequate nutrition. How lame to worry about an issue such as marshmallow fluff when there are real issues in the world.
 
Oh yeah, I heard about that. It's like people that try to make Oreos illegal. So ridiculous.
 
Having fluffernutters be the main part of a meal given by the school is ridiculous.
 
So, would you say peanutbutter and jelly is a ridiculous choice? Not with a fruit or chips, or whatever is given with sandwiches with school lunches now. So, a peanut butter and fluffernutter sandwich instantly becomes non-nutririous just because it's fluffernutter?

Also, I don't know about your schools, but the public schools that I went to gave at least 2 lunch choices, as well as a salad choice (but i have no clue about public elementary, i was in private schools from 1-6 grades).
 
So, would you say peanutbutter and jelly is a ridiculous choice? Not with a fruit or chips, or whatever is given with sandwiches with school lunches now. So, a peanut butter and fluffernutter sandwich instantly becomes non-nutririous just because it's fluffernutter?

- PB&J isn't as ridiculous. FYI:

http://www.kraftfoods.com/jetpuffed/jp_nutr_marshcreme.html

marshmallow_creme.gif


INGREDIENTS: Corn syrup, sugar, water, egg whites, cream of tartar, artificial flavor, natural flavor, xanthan gum, blue 1.

Oh boy, corn syrup AND sugar?! Sign me up!

Also, I don't know about your schools, but the public schools that I went to gave at least 2 lunch choices, as well as a salad choice (but i have no clue about public elementary, i was in private schools from 1-6 grades).

- Every place is different, of course. But at least for elementary schools, it seems that if there are options, both should be reasonably healthy (i.e., a 6th grader shouldn't have the choice between grilled chicken and fluffernutter)
 
But..... you have forgotten to include the nutritional contents of the peanut butter. For vegetarians and vegans, peanut butter is next to godliness. Many essential nutrients and proteins.
 
Ookinkyokon said:
Having fluffernutters be the main part of a meal given by the school is ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Mozz said something that made sense o_O

I think peanut butter and jelly IS equally ridiculous though, I highly doubt jelly is much more nutritious than marshmallows. Everyone in this country is already fat, we don't need the schools teaching it to them early.
 
Speaking as a proud Msschusetts resident, who's been following the debate in the local paper... This is stupid.

(Though it's not like our legislature doesn't do anything -- there was the whole healthcare thing, after all. And the people basically chose Romney to CREATE deadlock... Here's hoping something can actually get done after next election.)
 
Okay, your entire title and introduction is absolutely sensational and without base, with respect to the article at hand. Present your facts right.

With that said, I have no objection whatosever to this kind of ban. They shouldn't make pizza or fries a diet staple either. They pick what's cheap and easy instead of practicing what they preach and making healthy food the norm.
 
I hate to say this, but as a Mass. Resident, I am ashamed. It's one thing if you bring a fluffernutter sandwhich in your lunch, but serving them AT SCHOOL?!? For a price? Ridiculous. Kids shouldn't have Fluff everyday...
 
That's moronic. I'm sick of school lunches only offering crap like pizza or mac and cheese simply because it's easy for the food companies who have school contracts to produce them, freeze them, and ship them out quickly.
 
I thought I would never see the day where Chaos, Mozz and I (and Evan) all agreed on something.

Obviously, I was wrong.

Offering this sort of food in school is beyond ridiculous ; it's criminally irresponsible.
 
A Figment said:
I thought I would never see the day where Chaos, Mozz and I (and Evan) all agreed on something.
Click to expand...

It should be declared an international holiday.
 
Update time: the guy's given up.

Associated Press said:
BOSTON -- A Massachusetts lawmaker is trying to get himself out of a sticky situation by dropping his opposition to Marshmallow Fluff.

The Fluff dust-up stops here

Sen. Jarrett Barrios' proposal to limit Fluff in schools sparked a widespread and impassioned defense of the marshmallow spread, a lunch box staple for generations of New England children.
The ban was panned on talk radio. One Massachusetts lawmaker even suggested making the Fluffernutter -- a Fluff and peanut butter sandwich -- the official state sandwich.
Barrios, a Democrat from Cambridge, thought he had a legitimate gripe after learning his third-grade son had been given a Fluffernutter sandwich as his school lunch. But his spokesman, Colin Durrant, said Tuesday that Barrios had decided to abandon the proposed amendment to a school nutrition bill.
"It got to the point where the larger story overshadowed or obscured his original goal, which was to have a discussion about what is a healthy and nutritious meal for kids in school," Durrant said.
Click to expand...

I still think it's weird they give them out IN SCHOOL LUNCHES.
 
I do think they shouldn't be given out in school lunches. I mean, given all this fuss over peanut butter allergies.
 
And yet another victory for criminal irresponsibility and the "Don't ask, don't tell" attitude.
 
Hrm, I hate the way the schools across the country are "cracking down on junk food." My state banned my high school's candy machines, soda machines, and also our weekly pizza lunch, however the lunch that was surved in the cafeteria was not much better, Chilli Cheese fries, Pizza (with enough grease for John Stamos to put in his hair for a year per slice), and Nachos. Not to mention the stuff tasted like shit. I think junk food should be taken out of schools in moderation, but honestly the officials wanting to ban the stuff should taste some of the food that school cafeterias serve before they ban the alternatives.
 
Let's not forget the Reagan administration tried to get catsup (ketchup) declared to be a vegetable in school lunches.

In the end, school lunches are an expense, an expense taxpayers have to bear for public schools. People don't like paying taxes. So as other school expenses rise, something has to be cut. Unfortunately, libraries and school lunches pay the price along with classes like music, art and others.
 
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Alablaster said:
Hrm, I hate the way the schools across the country are "cracking down on junk food." My state banned my high school's candy machines, soda machines, and also our weekly pizza lunch, however the lunch that was surved in the cafeteria was not much better, Chilli Cheese fries, Pizza (with enough grease for John Stamos to put in his hair for a year per slice), and Nachos. Not to mention the stuff tasted like shit. I think junk food should be taken out of schools in moderation, but honestly the officials wanting to ban the stuff should taste some of the food that school cafeterias serve before they ban the alternatives.
Click to expand...
Heh, where I go to school, we have a taco bar Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's good stuff.
Ah, Catholic schools. God bless their non taxpayer supported souls.
 
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