(CA) Food truck bill seeks to combat childhood obesity

[alp227]

In this city of food fanatics, a proposed state law designed to promote children's health would ban food trucks from just about every neighborhood in San Francisco except the Financial District, South of Market and Dogpatch.

That bill is moving through the California Legislature, and a San Francisco supervisor introduced a proposal of his own Tuesday that would ease local restrictions on food truck operations near schools.

Assemblyman William Monning, D-Santa Cruz, wants to bar food trucks from operating within 1,500 feet of an elementary, middle or high school - public or private - between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on school days.

"The goal here is not being food Nazis," said Monning, chairman of the Assembly Health Committee. The goal is to combat the epidemic of childhood obesity. "We've made great advances in providing healthful nutrition in the schools, and the mobile vendors are the singular most undermining element to those advances."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/28/MNLF1NDH3E.DTL

Whenever I hear these kind of initiatives to "combat obesity", I see this as bigoted as efforts to "combat immigration" or "combat black neighbors moving in" or "combat ugliness". Frame this around health instead of weight PLEASE. Otherwise, if a public school won't serve junk food, it shouldn't enable sale of junk food by others close by.

[hifiguy]

1. I doubt that food trucks are the cause of

childhood obesity. Mickey D's and hours playing video games while stuffing one's face with Cheetos, maybe, but not food trucks.

This is profoundly silly.

[haele]

2. Really? Some food trucks have very healthy food. And even the most roach-coach of food trucks is

better than the conglomeration of 7-11s, gas station convenience markets and/or fast food joints around schools.

The trucks aren't on the school grounds, so I'm thinking this is an open campus issue - the kids are able to go off campus to get food if they didn't bring it.

So they're telling the construction site workers and other businesses that solicit the food trucks so that their employees can have lunch and snacks there that they can't have the trucks come to the worksite and feed their workers? Just because kids might leave the campus and go across the street or down the block to get something hot and reasonably tasty?

Fleet Food trucks (the typical blue and white roach coaches mass owned by a "catering" corporation) aren't the cheapest junky carb-filled meals around. It's actually pretty expensive to eat off of one - it costs around $7.00 for the average a "lunch" combo of sandwich or burrito/taco, fries or chips, and a can soda. The kids can get their junk food, sodas, hot sandwiches and taco rolls cheaper at the 7-11, taco or noodle shop, or Subway down the block than at a lower cost.

Haele

[haele]

3. This post made me go visit the regular roach coach just now - they were selling fresh spring rolls

to order, green and pasta salads, a hot soup de jour, along with the typical grill sandwiches, "mexican" street food (tacos, burritos, tostadas, quesadillas) and deep-fried quick food. I peeked in and saw there was lots of mizenplas - fresh greens, herbs, and veggies - to go on the sandwiches. There was fairly fresh fruit, fresh rolls and pasteries from the doughnut shop down the street from where the trucks go overnight to get cleaned and prepped for the next day (I live in the neighborhood, so I know the shop they go to), mexican sodas, juice, canned teas(Arizona) and energy drinks.
The franchise owner/driver/souschef just took that truck and route over from the other owner I've seen off and on over the last seven years I've worked here; he is vietnamese and is planning to expand the menu to include some southeast Asian street food. We discussed the merits of Pho, but he thinks that Binh will sell better, and will be trying it out. The cook worked for the former truck owner (so I know him somewhat), and he says he likes the challenge of new cuisine.
So - it cost me seven-fifty for three freshly made to order spring-rolls, "home made" dipping sauce and a small green salad. Oh, and one of Niem's wonderful filled apple croissants that they carried for two dollars instead of the $1.39 it costs down at her shop.

This is just a common corporate/franchised ticky-taco truck (Moody's, the San Diego franchise with about 60 trucks carrying their name). But I'd rather go to one of those than any fast food joint.

Haele

[hifiguy]

4. Mmmmm... Pho

and banh mi.

[Quantess]

5. All the food trucks I have seen serve real food, like tacos and gyros,

hot dogs. Stuff like that.

Stupid idea, IMHO.