Susan Jebb, the head of the UK’s Food Standards Agency, has spoken out against that gravest of office dangers: colleagues who bring cake in to share. ‘If nobody brought cakes into the office, I would not eat cakes in the day,’ Jebb said, ‘but because people do bring cakes in, I eat them.’
I am sorry to declare, in the light of Jebb’s comments, that the New Zealand Initiative is an unsafe work environment. On several occasions, I have been offered croissants, muffins, and even pains au chocolat. A few times I was even openly offered slices of cake – and by colleagues who must have been aware of my inability to say no to a gateau.
As Jebb has pointed out, this is comparable to being forced to go into a smoke-filled pub. As she told The Times, passive smoking inflicts harm on others, ‘and exactly the same is true of food.’
Luckily, Jebb’s comments didn’t stop there. Because cake-filled environments like the New Zealand Initiative’s offices are implicated in wider systems of oppression.
As Jebb said, ‘at the moment we allow advertising for commercial gain, with no health controls on it whatsoever.’ Because of this ‘we’ve ended up with a complete market failure because what you get advertised is chocolate and not cauliflower.’
She’s right. I can’t remember a single advert for cauliflower. Nor, in our society, do we give boxes of individually-wrapped cauliflower to our Valentines. But why not?
It can’t, obviously, be that people get more enjoyment about some things than others, and that making your own mind up about what you’re going to enjoy, and in what measure, is part of the joy of being part of a free society.
The last thing we would want to do, of course, is to organize a whole economic system around that idea.
The advertising of junk food is, to quote Jebb one final time, ‘undermining people’s free will.’ What we need to do, and fast, is to crack down on the office profiterole-profferers and Schwarzwaldkuchen-suppliers and put an immediate ban on all advertising of nice, tempting things.
Only then will be truly free of the scourge of office cake.
James Kierstead is Senior Lecturer in Classics at Victoria University of Wellington.This article was first published HERE
As Jebb has pointed out, this is comparable to being forced to go into a smoke-filled pub. As she told The Times, passive smoking inflicts harm on others, ‘and exactly the same is true of food.’
Luckily, Jebb’s comments didn’t stop there. Because cake-filled environments like the New Zealand Initiative’s offices are implicated in wider systems of oppression.
As Jebb said, ‘at the moment we allow advertising for commercial gain, with no health controls on it whatsoever.’ Because of this ‘we’ve ended up with a complete market failure because what you get advertised is chocolate and not cauliflower.’
She’s right. I can’t remember a single advert for cauliflower. Nor, in our society, do we give boxes of individually-wrapped cauliflower to our Valentines. But why not?
It can’t, obviously, be that people get more enjoyment about some things than others, and that making your own mind up about what you’re going to enjoy, and in what measure, is part of the joy of being part of a free society.
The last thing we would want to do, of course, is to organize a whole economic system around that idea.
The advertising of junk food is, to quote Jebb one final time, ‘undermining people’s free will.’ What we need to do, and fast, is to crack down on the office profiterole-profferers and Schwarzwaldkuchen-suppliers and put an immediate ban on all advertising of nice, tempting things.
Only then will be truly free of the scourge of office cake.
James Kierstead is Senior Lecturer in Classics at Victoria University of Wellington.This article was first published HERE
4 comments:
Hmmm 🤔 someone has a problem with self restraint. You eat it you wear it. One of life’s great levelling devices is food. In a world where food is everywhere, over consumption leads to an early grave. We all know this but willingly partake in the gateau as a matter of choice
Yet another woke control freak who assumes everyone's ability to manage their cravings is on a par with her own, which in Jebb's case seems to be non-existent.
Comparing the sight of food to passive smoking shows her brain has atrophied, no doubt due to years of woke ideology.
Sensible people who are able to think for themselves could argue that exposure to woke muppets like Jebb puts them at risk to also becoming a complete dickhead and that people like her should be removed from all public places and forums.
But that would be infringing on her right to freedom of opinion....and would deny most of us a good laugh at her expense.
Just like NZ , personal responsibility has gone out of the window and everyone else is to blame or it is the government's fault. Consequence of action is a long-forgotten thing. Kiwialan.
Another shocking consequence of colonisation and one of the reasons why we now have a separate health authority, for a certain cohort who can't say 'no' to the sweets, the Maccas, the KFC and the alcohol. Now, where are Worksafe - surely there should be signage in work cafeterias and appropriate hazard identification plans?
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