Stand up for chocolate

I've talked before on this blog about how the federal government is screwing up our lives. Now, they've went too far: They are messing with our chocolate. Chocoholics unite! We need to stop this!

What am I talking about? In Friday's Washington Post, there's an article called, "Chocolate Purists Alarmed by Proposal To Fudge Standards." Food standards are made by the Food and Drug Administration, and in "Appendix C," they stated the following, "use a vegetable fat in place of another vegetable fat named in the standard (e.g., cacao fat)."

Chocolate lovers read that as a direct assault on their palates. That's because the current FDA standard for chocolate says it must contain cacao fat -- a.k.a. cocoa butter -- and this proposal would make it possible to call something chocolate even if it had vegetable oil instead of that defining ingredient. Whoppers malted milk balls, for instance, do not have cocoa butter.

You mean to say that something can be called chocolate but actually not have any chocolate in it? That's ridiculuous. I'm shocked! I'm outraged! Not to worry, according to the Post article, there's already a grassroots campaign out there to stop this.

Chocolate purists, of which there are apparently many, have undertaken a grassroots letter-writing campaign to the FDA to inform the agency that such a change to the standards is just not okay with them. More than 225 comments to the petition have been processed so far by the agency, and chocolate bloggers are pressing for more. In the annals of bureaucratic Washington battles, this is a sweet one.

"If this puts a smile on people's faces even though it's a serious matter, that's what chocolate is meant to do," said California chocolate maker and traditionalist Gary Guittard, whose Web site, DontMessWithOurChocolate.com, has led the counterassault.

Jump on the bandwagon today! Forget global warming! THIS is the most important issue for our generation. HA! If chocolate is not sacred, then nothing is. Write the FDA; Write your congress member; Heck, tell Hillary, Barack, and Rudy. Stand up for chocolate - You'll be glad you did....