Tastes Like Buffalo, but Healthier
The "Taste of Buffalo" food festival gets a healthy makeover. Will locals bite?
July 7, 2007 — -- Each year, the streets of Buffalo, N.Y., swell with pedestrians. The city of just under 300,000 briefly gains 50 percent more people for the Taste of Buffalo, believed to be the nation's second-largest food festival.
But this year, attendees to this event in a city that prides itself on its beef-on-weck and its eponymous Buffalo wings will be greeted with a new set of food options: healthy ones.
In partnership with local HMO, the Independent Health Foundation, the Taste of Buffalo, a 24-year tradition in the city, will require all vendors to sell one "healthy option" in an attempt to improve locals' eating habits and change their perceptions about healthy food.
"Many people think eating healthy means biting into a piece of cardboard," said Dr. Michael Cropp, CEO of Independent Health. "Eating healthy can be mighty tasty, if not delicious."
Independent Health set the guidelines for Healthy Options at the festival based on a program it uses in partnership with local restaurants to let diners know that certain menu items are healthier. Using a computer program, diet experts with the HMO analyze the ingredients in menu items to make its recommendations.
To qualify for healthy options, a food item must have 30 percent or less of its total calories from fat, 10 percent or less of its calories from saturated and trans fats, and reduced sodium and cholesterol.
While two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, three-quarters of the people in Buffalo and the surrounding area fit that definition, according to Cropp.
While there may be several factors that contribute to the problem, Cropps says the ethnic eating patterns of people in the city could be partially to blame, along with the fact that Buffalo has an older population, and scant city investment in infrastructure like bike paths to promote a healthier lifestyle.
"We haven't had the right leadership that puts this as a priority," he said.
For that reason, he said, the involvement of the mayor's office in the Healthy Options initiative is a welcome step.
