Offsetting effects: food police

According to foodservice consultancy Technomic, consumers are also being driven to excess by cultural moralizing over nutrition. That is, as expanding waistlines make more headlines (in Canada, 62 per cent of people are considered overweight, with a quarter qualifying as obese), proselytizing over healthy eating has led many folks to do the opposite.

"Most consumers, when polled, say they follow their 'own diet.' That could mean that they're good Monday through Friday, and then on Saturday and Sunday say, 'To hell with it!'" says Ron Paul, president of Technomic. "They're rejecting the food police, in effect."

Some of the more punk-rock offerings this summer include the aforementioned doughnut burger; pancake breakfast ice cream, featuring maple syrup, chunks of buttermilk pancake and bacon; deep-fried Pop Tarts; mac-and-cheese pizza; and a Monster Burger -- one kilogram of beef, half a pound (0.2 kilogram) of bacon, spiced cheddar cheese and all the fixings -- big enough to feed a family of eight.

From the Winnipeg Free Press, HT: Mom.

Sorting out causality on this one would be tough; I don't know how you'd instrument around that places with more nanny messages are likely the places with worse eating habits ex ante. But fun nevertheless.

And the deep-fried butter discussed in the article does sound tempting....