Editorial: Occasionally fast food a tasty treat

There's been a lot of talk lately about the fast food menace. How it encroaches wickedly on the tastebuds, and overall health, of many lives, and many young lives.

There seem to be as many outlets today as there are derivatives of a standard hamburger, and there is concern many of them are within aroma-distance of schools. But that's not new.

On my pathway to school, primary, intermediate and then high, there were stores along the way which sold inviting delights.

Pies, sausage rolls, doughnuts, cream buns and yep, there was even a fish and chip shop on two of those routes ... so fried-up potato fritters and a few chips for about a shilling (kids ask your grandparents) were occasionally on the cards.

But that was essentially it as far as variety went in the 60s. We'd never encountered hamburgers or fried chicken and things - they were simply some of the mysterious ingredients of American comic strips. And so we ate sandwiches of Marmite and cheese and salmon and shrimp paste (not as exotic as it sounds) for lunch along with some crackers and an apple.

Because basically, with five kids under the roof the household budget at the end of the day was, shall we say, a tad modest. Yet somehow we never went hungry, and every now and then we were "rewarded" with "fish and chip night".

But these fried outings were not a regular occurrence, and I think we ate well because we had no money. And what money we did have went toward the cheap veges the "vege man" would arrive with on a Saturday morning in his truck.

It had sloped sides which were stacked with cases of fruit and vegetables, and he'd park up and the mums and dads would emerge to buy the things we often recoiled at.

The cabbage, the spinach, the parsnips and the pumpkins - but hey, we had to eat and we ate them - albeit with tomato sauce generously attached and some grated cheese over the top.

it.

There have been suggestions that some form of resource consent restrictions could stop fast food outlets being opened near schools, but that is pointless, because if a kid is seeking some grease and fat-fuelled snack he or she will hunt it down.

This is an education issue and at the healthy heart of it are the parents.

Wanna set your kids up for a healthy adulthood? Target the diet and embrace the term "occasionally" when it comes to a fast "treat".