The power of buttered popcorn

People don’t go to the movie theatre to eat carrots and celery sticks. Part of the ‘experience’ is sinfully consuming lusciously-buttered popcorn and Goobers while melting into an adventure flick. I am not saying this is a consistent behavior we should encourage, but this is just a fact.

The question is:
Would you stray from sugary Cokes and chocolates at the theater or elsewhere if the nutritional nitty-gritty was apparent on the menu? Or would you sidestep the information and search for the size and price?

There’s a growing movement to strongly encourage (read: coerce) retailers, movie theaters and restaurants to disclose not only calories, but also total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, trans fat, sodium.

Let’s poll 100 people on the street and ask them how much sodium they should be consuming on a typical day. You would probably get amusing blank stares.

Yes, an educated consumer might make smarter nutritional choices with more information, yet at what cost to the retailers, supermarkets, movie theaters and restaurants that stay in business because of our sometimes gluttonous ways?

I want a nutritionally-informed nation of consumers, yet let’s be careful not to damage abundance, choice, freedom in the process.

So I ask you, Naden’s Corner readers: would full ingredient disclosure on that jumbo bucket of popcorn cause you to reconsider your purchase? Or would you start eating without pause?

Until next time,

Dan Naden