The Arugula Wars: Food as partisan politics
Series: Northwest Food News & Edible Idaho
From: Guy Hand
Length: 00:05:54
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
[HOST INTRO] Food has the power to draw people together like no other human activity — think Thanksgiving. But food can also divide. In the past presidential campaign opponents frequently used food to divide voters down party lines — think “those arugula eating liberals.”
In this installment of Edible Idaho, correspondent Guy Hand looks at eating as partisan politics. (6:06 to soc out; ambient sound to 6:30; fade at will)
Broadcast History
KBSX 91.5 Boise, Idaho 11/2/09
Transcript
Food Fight: Eating as partisan politics
[HOST INTRO] Food has the power to draw people together like no other human activity — think Thanksgiving. But food can also divide. In the past presidential campaign opponents frequently used food to divide voters down party lines — think “those arugula eating liberals.”
In this installment of Edible Idaho, correspondent Guy Hand looks at eating as partisan politics. (5:27 to soc out; music to 5:52; fade at will)
(HOST OUTRO) For more on this story or to listen to past Edible Idaho programs, go to northwest food news dot com.
[SCRIPT]
(NPR Commentator) So Jim, let’s start off with the number one hottest political question: What kind of lettuce do you like? (Jim) Ah, me, I like good ol’ crips iceberg lettuce. (Commentator) Yes! You’re a real American. (Jim) Unlike that fancy arugula.
(Hand) Ah-ruh-GAH-la or ah-ruh-GYOU-la — that pe...
Read the full transcript
Intro and Outro
INTRO:[HOST INTRO] Food has the power to draw people together like no other human activity — think Thanksgiving. But food can also divide. In the past presidential campaign opponents frequently used food to divide voters down party lines — think “those arugula eating liberals.”
In this installment of Edible Idaho, correspondent Guy Hand looks at eating as partisan politics.
OUTRO:[Host Outro] For more on this story or to listen to past Edible Idaho programs, go to northwest food news dot com.
Musical Works
| Title | Artist | Album | Label | Year | Length | Find on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| My City Was Gone | The Pretenders | Learning to Crawl. | 05:25 | find now |
Additional Credits
Funded by the Boise Coop, Boise, Idaho
James Reiss
Posted on November 08, 2009 at 12:21 PM | Permalink
Food Wars
What could be better for November 26th than Guy Hand’s six-minute discourse on what we love most about Thanksgiving, food?
Idaho good-old-boy Guy Hand doesn’t say much about Idaho mashed potatoes and turkey. He has a mouthful of things to say about the pungent Mediterranean lettuce known as arugula. Even if his tongue twists around the word so that he continually mispronounces it while some of his interviewees pronounce it correctly, he knows what he’s talking about. No red-meat-eating, pickup-truck-driving, barn-owl-loving Gem Stater would trade his store-bought plastic-wrapped iceberg lettuce for a fancy-schmancy bitter Italian plant whose name he can’t pronounce. For that matter, Hand mispronounces the word “restaurateur”!
In the Pacific Northwest you can get away with pronouncing Rush Limbaugh as “God.” Which makes Hand’s piece funnier than a barrel of Sarah Palins scarfing brie and chablis at the Poetry Society of Boise. Hand handily edits his ruminations — chewing his cud — into a tasty concoction that may be closer to a blue-plate special than a foodies’ feast. But there’s enough here to please both Volvo-driving, Trader-Joe’s-going, garbanzo-bean-munching vegans and Wal-Mart-loving, Jim-Beam-swilling, Glock-pistol-packing carnivores.
Bon appetit!