Because I have a food blog, I feel it necessary to write about the Paula Deen diabetes controversy. My feeling is this: Paula Deen never claimed to be making health food. And there are a lot of people who like the food she makes and have been making variations of those same dishes for generations. Her food primarily represents the tastes and foodways of the Southern U.S., but a lot of her dishes cross geographical boundaries and are American favorites. There are a lot of people who have been eating those dishes long before Paula Deen became famous.
This brings me to another topic along a similar vein: I do not believe in legislating what people can and cannot eat, and I don’t like the media or government propagandizing any type of lifestyle. I saw Paula Deen on the Dr. Oz show, and indeed, I think with his shows always being about diet, Dr. Oz is fat phobic. I understand that the medical cost of obesity is the underlying trigger for all of this, but I’m also a proponent of the freedoms we have in America to eat what we would like to eat and live as we would choose. Isn’t that part of the pursuit of happiness?
Now, if Dr. Oz or someone else who promotes healthy eating got diabetes, that would be news.
