Tastes Like Buffalo, but Healthier

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.

Whipping a City Into Shape

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.

"For more than two decades, the Taste of Buffalo has done a wonderful job of promoting downtown Buffalo," said Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown, who will serve as a celebrity judge for the Healthy Options food. "We already had a great-tasting food festival, and now we have a nutritious one, too."

A Healthy Trend Begins?

With national trends promoting healthier lifestyles -- New York became the first city to ban trans fats -- Cropp believes that restaurants doing their part to promote healthy eating may be in their self-interest.

"People in the restaurant business recognize there is something going on here, and it might make sense to be a piece of it now," he said.

Janice Okun, a food critic for The Buffalo News, believes the new rules will be a good way to determine whether promoting healthy foods will change eating patterns.

"They're going to get a crowd, and it's going to give it a really rigorous test," she said.

Okun predicted that with the positive weather forecast for the weekend would lead to record attendance at the festival.

At the same time, she rejected the notion that there is a lack of healthy eating options in Buffalo or that the city's most famous restaurants are characteristic of the whole city.

"Those restaurants are not representative of Buffalo as a whole," she said.

"If you want to eat healthily, you wouldn't have any trouble. Why would you go to the Anchor Bar?" she said, referring to the birthplace of the buffalo wing.

Okun believes change could come from the food festival if it promoted a new signature food for the city that was healthy and tasty -- promoted by word of mouth and copied by other area restaurants.

"It may be kind of a groundswell," she said.

Thomas Wiepert, co-owner of Cameos Restaurant, hopes for that kind of result from his own healthy option.

His restaurant, which has participated in the Taste of Buffalo for 17 years, cut some salt and pepper to reduce the sodium in their gazpacho, a cold vegetable soup, several years ago. Wiepert said no one noticed.

"A lot of people can't believe there's no fat, and that it's really actually good for you," he said.

Wiepert said he expects to sell 3,000 to 4,000 cups of gazpacho this weekend, and that based on his past experience, he expects increased orders for the healthy dish in the weeks and months after the festival.

"It's great PR. The press is great," he said.

When Options Become Habits

Connie Diekman, president of the American Dietetic Association, thinks that the Taste of Buffalo's decision to add healthy items is "a great first step."

She cautions that attendees eating the healthy options could consume too much sugar or calories, which are not addressed by the program, but said that "if the goal is to provide heart-healthier options, these are good guidelines.

"The No. 1 way we change eating patterns is having the option available," Diekman said. "Consumers need the option. Then they need the education to know what option to choose.

"I think it's great that a community would think about 'we have a responsibility to provide options.'"