Editor's note: No podcast this week, so we may bring you the extra special analysis below. Hope you aren't getting too much snow where you live.
Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert were active this week on the food front. Colbert weighed in on DiGiorno's fake wings, known legally as Wyngz, Nestle's attempt to make food that tells you when you should be full, and Michelle Obama lending her reform identity to Wal-Mart.
The Daily Show used Lewis Black and his "Back in Black" segment to take on the Taco Bell lawsuit.
Jon and Stephen usually have funnier, sharper shots at the world of food. Their shots came up a little light, almost as if they didn't have enough meat to them.
Lewis Black portrayed Taco Bell eaters as drunk at 3 am, then tried to tie-in minor stories about an extravagant burger at a minor league baseball park in Akron, Ohio, and the idea of artificially growing meat.
Black's rant might have been more useful if a) he had spent all the time on the Taco Bell lawsuit and b) if Colbert hadn't already done a better job first.
Colbert spent time on Nestle working on food to tell us when we should be full. Colbert did a nice job in mocking this idea. Yes, there are two major issues in overeating: what we eat and how much. The amount we eat is the easier of the two issues.
The "wyngz" bit was cute, but maybe a stretch.
The usual cynicism seemed missing from the Wal-Mart segment, which Colbert stretched out into the next segment with an interview with Wal-Mart VP Leslie Dach. The assumption was that Wal-Mart would do what it promised — Colbert played up the "let the market decide" angle.
(One of the amusing notes in getting the links to these videos is sitting through more than one ad for the McDonald's Chipotle BBQ Bacon Angus burger. Very ironic.)
The Daily Show and Colbert Report are excellent purveyors of commentary on food marketing and politics news. They aren't always going to be perfect. One suggestion for the shows is to be more topical right away (don't wait too long), and see the bigger picture.
Even if the shows don't take my advice, their current efforts are still better than most of what is out there, especially on television.
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