Fans of the beloved 90’s sitcom Seinfeld will no doubt remember the words of the Soup Nazi which were quickly directed at any customer who did not strictly follow his no nonsense rules for standing in line, ordering, and payment at his popular New York deli.
“No soup for you! Â NEXT!” the Soup Nazi would shout at the red faced customers who would silently slink away in shame after being lambasted for not adhering to his standards.
New York Mayor Bloomberg has taken Soup Nazi’s tactics to a whole new level with his Administration’s banning of food donations to all government-run facilities that serve New York City’s large homeless population.
The nanny-esque ban, put in place in March 2012, still stands despite city resources stretched to the breaking point by the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy on the City’s five Boroughs in October 2012.
Perplexingly, the reason for the ban is not the result of homeless getting ill from food contamination!
Rather, Mayor Bloomberg has become New York’s new Soup Nazi by insisting that because the nutritional content of donated food cannot be adequately assessed by the Department of Homeless Services (DHS), homeless shelters are thereby required to turn away all Good Samaritans wishing to donate even such innocuous items as soup and bagels.
Seth Diamond, Commissioner of the DHS, defends the decision saying that the ban is in line with Bloomberg’s passion for improving the nutrition of all residents of New York City. Â The measure tightly controls what can and cannot be served at city run facilities for New York’s down and out including portion sizes and the amount of sodium, fat, fiber and calories per serving.
No exceptions to the strict ban are given even for established donation centers with a healthy track record such as Ohab Zedek, an Upper West Side Orthodox congregation which has donated freshly cooked and nutrient rich foods left over from synagogue events for over ten years.
Mayor Bloomberg’s relentless pursuit of a New York food utopia through implementation of his social justice agenda, while well meaning, is certain to fail (note the ban on all sugary sodas larger than 16 oz in September 2012 which head scratchingly exempted diet sodas which are arguably just as bad if not worse as diet drinks have been shown to trigger overeating).
The reason is that is removes all personal choice and responsible actions from the individual – be it positive or negative.  If people want to drink a Big Gulp, they should be free to do so.  And, if citizens like Glenn and Lenore Richter, who lead a team of food-delivery volunteers from their local congregation, want to donate fresh foods to homeless shelters in their neighborhood, they should have the freedom to perform such charitable activities as well.
Attempting to control consumer behavior with a socially “just” agenda cannot and never will accomplish health. Â It just creates a populace that becomes highly adept at circumventing the “rules” such as what happened in America during Prohibition.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Source: Nanny Bloomberg Bans Food Donations to Homeless Shelters
control the food, control the people…..
Pssst…..soylent green is made from people
@chrystina, nobody is taking away the freedom of drinking a tub of Pepsi. Please explain how limiting the size of a cup that can be sold in a movie theater or convenience store is taking away that freedom
Slippery slope….
@nicole, did you think it was a bad idea when the gov’t put an age minimum on alcohol and tobacco? Did they eventually make it illegal? no.
You can say “what if” about tons of things. It doesn’t make the scenario any more likely. As @roseann said, diabetes and obesity are taking a toll on our society, causing healthcare costs to rise for ALL OF US, not just those who need to drink a tub of pepsi every day.
Healthcare cost will continue to rise if we follow the government guidelines on proper nutrition. Not to worry, they will take care of us with Obamacare.
What needs to happen is public education on the reality of how sugar effects our health, not the government telling us what we can and cannot consume.
“If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as the souls who live under tyranny.”
Thomas Jefferson (1778)
Amen, Sarah!!!
Thats funny you called him a nazi when he is jewish.
This is what happens when government gets involved in things they have no business interfering in. If these organizations were not affiliated with the city (DHS), then the city would not be able to dictate what can or cannot be served. As much as I hate commercially prepared and canned soups and foods, it’s better than allowing these people to starve to death. When you looks at how he has handled everything surrounding Hurricane Sandy, it seems as if Mayor Bloomberg has some sort of genocidal agenda for the people of New York. In the words of my late great-grandparents: ACH DU LIEBE!
Chrystina..while I agree with food freedom, I also believe that when these people get sick and need medical care, who will provide it? They will go to the ER for treatment they can’t pay for and who pays?? WE DO with higher health care costs. To me it’s pitiful that junk food has become the norm and to even suggest healthy food is an attack on freedom. Freedom for what? To get cancer? heart disease? diabetes?
Who decides what “healthy food” is though, Roseann? We all know what the mainstream medical community and media promote as “healthy”. Canola oil; low fat and fat free, pasteurized, homogenized dairy; egg whites; margarine and other genetically modified, rancid vegetable oils; highly processed, extruded breakfast cereals and granola bars; yogurt full of petroleum dyes and artifical sweeteners, and on, and on, and on. So what happens if the good stuff, like coconut oil, raw and full fat dairy, butter, etc. are deemed “unhealthy” and bans begin to pass on those items? It’s a slippery slope!
Ridiculous
Kenny- although I agree no one needs that much soda- the issue isn’t the soda. It’s wether or not it’s the governments job to control our food choices. Today we agree with what is being limited – but what if tomorrow it’s butter, or meat? Controlling the size is just the first step towards controlling the availability if the product itself.
Land of the free?
I DON’T THINK SO!!!
Talk about a lack of simple love!