death by tortilla

Last week, I had run out of some sort of food item.

I don't remember exactly what it was. Italian pasta. Pickled ginger. Kalamata olives. American butter. I only remember that it was something imported.

When I need imported food, I have one reliable source: Hawaii. If it is in town, it will be there. But, whatever it was was not on the shelf.

I asked Alex, the owner, if it had been discontinued. It turns out his source was Costco, and Costco had not stocked the item for months because it was caught in a constipated supply chain. And that constriction was due primarily to a new Mexican government regulation.

If you purchase food in Mexico you have probably already noticed a large label that announces its theoretical healthfulness. Three categories are graded: calories, saturated fat, and sodium. If any of those categories exceed the limit set by the Secretary of Health, that category turns a deadly black.

All of this probably sounds vaguely familiar to you. It is the same philosophy that drove governments to put all sorts of warnings on cigarette packages about the risk to health (including the ultimate risk: death) could arise from smoking cigarettes. It was a strange combination of enlightenment marketing combined with the same threats of the local Mafia enforcer. "You gotta a nice store here. Pity if it should burn down."

It is a bit odd to see Mexico taking this route. Recent studies have shown that the cigarette warnings were not very effective. After awhile, photographs of tumorous lungs become part of the marketing background.

The most effective anti-smoking measures have turned out to be the same two things that drive most social behavior. The second most effective method for reducing the rate of smoking was economic. By adding taxes onto each pack of smokes until they were affordable only by the elite who had decided to quit the habit, smokers were left with the choice of giving up the habit or buying their cigarettes from their local drug dealer.

And why had the elite abandoned smoking? Through social pressure, the method that had the most effect.

Governments banned smoking in public areas. Then the public took over. When Bette Davis lit a cigarette in All About Eve, it was a symbol of power-driven sexuality. Now, television includes warnings about sex, violence, and smoking -- as if they are all in the same category. And they are -- according to the public. Smokers are now a social pariah. If a character in a movie smokes, you just know she is the villain.

All of that makes me wonder how successful this new labeling program will be to convince Mexicans to eat a healthier diet. The program is not limited to labels, though. The government imposed a tax on sugary drinks and foods. A small one. I suspect it is just a start. But I doubt social opprobrium on food will ever be as effective as it was on smoking. Who knows?

After all, it took a long time for the anti-smoking campaign to be successful. The Surgeon-General's warning about smoking was issued in 1964. A lot of smoke has gone over the lungs since then.

Some nutritionists have long argued that the basic Mexican diet is not healthy. Restaurant Mexican food has long been a target of the calorie-saturated fat-sodium brigade. And it looks as if the Mexican government has been persuaded by that particular denomination of the nutrition religion.

If our experience with the anti-smoking brigade is any indication that success comes only when the public joins the bandwagon, I am not certain that attacks on tortillas are going to be a rallying cry for the peasant pitchfork and torch rising.

I am not a fan of tortillas. But my son Omar is. And I suspect if asked, he would probably respond: I'll give you my tortilla when you pry it from my cold, dead hands."

For me, this is a great opportunity for a bit of virtue signalling. When asked if I want a tortilla. I can now respond that I would prefer something healthy.

Like a cinnamon roll.