Pizza is a vegetable (well in the US it is) - Page 13

On November 20 2011 14:35 metbull wrote:
Admins. Please consider changing this thread to:
"Tomato Sauce is a Vegetable (well in the US it is)"
The topic is misleading and wrong. Even the reporting done on this states that pizza is not a vegetable.

On November 20 2011 14:35 metbull wrote:
Admins. Please consider changing this thread to:
"Tomato Sauce is a Vegetable (well in the US it is)"
The topic is misleading and wrong. Even the reporting done on this states that pizza is not a vegetable.

"Hey, America! The GOP is, yet again, looking out for you. This week, Congress took a break from voting to make sure none of your tax dollars will go to all those abortion clinics NPR wants to open in our national parks, to pass a federal law that only the nation that invented Febreze would tolerate."

"They have affirmed that pizza is a vegetable. Yes, the tomato sauce on pizza is enough for American politicians to define it and allow it to be served as a vegetable in school lunch programs across the US.”

On November 20 2011 16:49 Therightside wrote:
(This is my first post! Yay!)

I was bored tonight, and after reading the OP I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I decided to do a little research into the bill itself, the vote, and whether or not this was a big deal! (The OP seemed to think it was)

First of all, let's look at what exactly this is about. The House Resolution all of the articles you are reading are talking about is H.R. 2112, also known as the "Minibus Appropriations bill." This contains the budget for a bill that was passed and signed into law known as the, "Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act,(1)" or S.3307.ENR. Essentially, H.R 2112 is the budget for the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.

Now let's look at the first paragraph


(2) On November 17, 2011, C-Span reported, " Here's how House members voted: 133 Republicans and 165 Democrats voted “aye,” 101 Republicans and 20 Democrats voted “nay.” 14 members did not vote. The Senate passed it 70 - 30, with all 30 votes of opposition ," So the sensationalized opening line is false, it was actually a bi-partisan vote that passed the bill.



Now let's look at the bill itself. It is a budget for the Agriculture, Commerce/Justice/Science, and Transportation/Housing and Urban Development, that totals 182billion dollars.

The topic that the OP talks about, that of Tomato Paste being a vegetable, is under Sec. 735, of a bill that is 158 pages long, and has 150 amendments.(3a)(3b)(3c) It is important to point out that it talks about the subject under one section. I can state with confidence that the topic of Tomato paste being a vegetable was in NO WAY the focus of the bill.

It would probably be prudent to mention what exactly this bill changed in regards to Pizza! Congress supposedly changed the amount of mandated tomato paste that is put into each pizza. The funny thing is the USFG isn't decreasing or increasing the amount. All they did was kept it the same... 2 tablespoons of tomato sauce on pizza will still be considered a serving of vegetables, as it has been for years. What they actually did was vote down a proposal that had asked for the amount to be increased to 1/2 a cup.

Is this a big deal? No. People are drawing attention to a tiny section of a much larger and much more important bill. They are saying that congress has defined pizza as a vegetable; in reality it has been that way for years. People are acting as if the intent of congress passing H.R. 2112, was to deal with nutrition in the schools. In reality it was about 182 billion dollars, going to many agencies for many reasons. It was NOT the sole purpose of this bill.


+ Show Spoiler +

On November 20 2011 18:39 Newbistic wrote:
2 Tablespoons of tomato sauce increased to half a cup... which is 8 tablespoons. That's the same slice of pizza with suddenly four times the normal amount of tomato sauce. I wonder how that would be implemented in practice had the bill actually passed.

On November 20 2011 19:03 Suisen wrote:

It means that now eating pizza is as if the children are eating healthy food with lots of vegetables while if that regulation passed it would have meant pizza could no longer be served because the food they are supposed to eat has to contain ample vegetables.
You can't add that much tomato paste to a pizza without turning it into a soup contained in a bowl of dough.
So then maybe they would be eating dough wraps filled with vegetables instead.

That's why everyone that feels like they need to nit pit to correct the title are dead wrong.

But in reality what they need to do in the US is ban all processed food. Maybe they can then pass off tomato soup with tons of cheese as a vegetable dish. But they will still add crazy amounts if salt and fructose to the soup.

On November 20 2011 19:26 Therightside wrote:


Yes completely abolishing pretty much the entire infrastructure that produces food in the US is clearly the answer. No more ground beef! No more Pasturized eggs/milk! No more Beer! No more pizza!'

No. That is not what the US needs to do. People have the choice to eat non-processed foods, if they feel like paying the premium for them. Seeing as the entire world eats processed foods i'm not sure banning them in one country would matter much anyway.

On November 20 2011 19:26 Therightside wrote:
Yes completely abolishing pretty much the entire infrastructure that produces food in the US is clearly the answer. No more ground beef! No more Pasturized eggs/milk! No more Beer! No more pizza!'

No. That is not what the US needs to do. People have the choice to eat non-processed foods, if they feel like paying the premium for them. Seeing as the entire world eats processed foods i'm not sure banning them in one country would matter much anyway.