Omnivore - News of the culinary weird: Obama Foodorama, Sriracha safe for now

The Muppets joined Michelle Obama in her campaign to slim down America’s kids and promote healthy eating. The video above (from the White House’s Obama Foodorama website) includes the first lady’s conversation with Elmo and Rosita, five minutes in.

The lengthy Foodorama announcement includes this statement:

By a yet-to-be determined date in mid-2014, kids might be wooed with stickers of Elmo on eggplant.

Mrs. Obama said that consumers will be able to keep their original eggplant stickers. However, the DC rumor mill is reporting that eggplants with conventional stickers might be priced higher, if they continue to be available at all. There is also reliable talk of requiring every American to purchase an eggplant.

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“We’re giving ourselves six months to put ElmoEggplant into effect” a White House advisor, who requested anonymity, said. “We’re going to make it as easy as pie for the American people to buy an eggplant. “We’re creating a website, elmoeggplant.gov, that will provide a list of vendors and issue discount coupons to those who qualify because of low income - unless their income is really low, in which case, people in Georgia, for example, are fucked, because their Republican gubernator won’t expand their food stamp program to include eggplants, even though there would be no cost to the state.”

Nevertheless, Mrs. Obama said, “This will be as easy as buying a kumquat on Amazon.”

• courtesy, www.huyfong.com

PASS THE TEXAS PETE: In case you missed it, the city of Irwindale, Calif., attempted to shut down the factory that makes Sriracha sauce last week.

The Huffington Post writes:

It’s peak Sriracha production time at the Irwindale, California factory and locals are upset about the smell, which is so pungent it is causing burning eyes, throats and headaches, according to a complaint filed in a Los Angeles court last Monday. Irwindale, which is close to downtown L.A., wants the factory to halt production and come up with a less-odorous production plan.

CEO David Tran told the Post, “If the city shuts us down, the price of Sriracha will jump up a lot.” There is already a near-shortage of the stuff as it is, according to HuffPo.

UPDATE: Los Angeles County Supreme Court Judge Robert H. O’Brien denied the city of Irwindale’s request to shut down the Sriracha factory, at least for now. O’Brien set a hearing for Nov. 22. According to the L.A. Times, “the judge’s ruling means that Sriracha will finish processing the peppers they need for next year’s hot-sauce supply.”