Fox News reported late last week that kids in Elyria, Ohio will no longer be taking part of a 40-year tradition—getting homemade pink cookies at lunch.
The fabled cookie, long served in local school cafeterias, was done in by a pound of butter, six cups of powdered sugar and the Obama administration’s food police.
“It no longer meets the national school lunch program guidelines for snacks,” said Amy Higgins, the spokesperson for Elyria City Schools. “It has too many calories.”
The USDA “Smart Snacks in School” standards mandate that all snacks must contain less than 200 calories. It’s not exactly clear how many calories are in the pink cookie but the recipe for the frosting calls for a pound of butter.
These cookies do indeed seem decadent but it’s truly sad to see these sorts of traditions phased out. It’s particularly sad given the fact that kids have greater access to processed food and so, seeking a sweet snack, many kids will simply head to the nearest gas station to buy a pack of cookies that have been on a store shelf for months.
While these school lunch reforms have clearly failed in their mission to get kids to eat healthier, they’ve succeeded in one area—homogenizing the diets of young Americans and killing feel good traditions like selling homemade cookies in the cafeteria.