The New Fronts of the American Food Culture War

Right: Michelle Obama. [Photo: AP]

The newest front on the American culture wars? What you're eating and where it's coming from, whether it's in school lunches or Brooklyn backyards, FDA regulations or the diet of White House staffers.

Seems our options are to either a. live in a extremely regulated, Happy Meal-free, socialist nanny state; or b. get big government out of the way and let everyone fend for themselves, no matter how obese the population is or how many dangerous pathogens end up in the food supply. Below, it's mostly Sarah Palin versus Michelle Obama in a collection of articles that share the (often contradictory) sides of the argument.

· Michelle Obama Is Having a Rough Time Convincing People to Eat Better [NYTM]
· Maybe Because People Think Healthy Food Is "An Elitist Plot" [WaPo]
· Sarah Palin Thinks Michelle Obama Doesn't Trust Parents to Feed Their Kids [ObFo]
· But Michelle Obama Thinks the Issue Transcends Politics [ObFo]
· Young Republicans Fear Barack Obama Is Going to Force Us All to Eat Salads [NYP]
· Meanwhile, Some People Spend Lots of Money on Food While Other People Cannot [Newsweek]
· And Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser Think More FDA Regulatory Power Is Expensive But Necessary [NYT]