Food Nannies Gone Wild

MeMe Roth, an anti-obesity crusader, is pretty happy with the healthy lunches served in PS7, her kids' public school in Manhattan. For all other foodstuffs offered at the school, though — cake on birthdays, a lollipop as a reward for a task well done — she demands that the school first obtain parent-signed permission slips.

On reflection, "happy" may be the wrong adjective to describe Ms. Roth's general disposition toward food. Maybe "Scrooge-like" and "miserable" would be more fitting. "Smug" might work too.

Consider:

The police were called to a YMCA in 2007 when she absconded with the sprinkles and syrups on a table where members were being served ice cream.

More recently, when asked to discuss her concerns at her children's school, she attended the meeting only to reportedly end up cursing, and throwing candy.

The PS7 staff has now politely suggested that maybe the Roth children — that is, the Roth parents — would be happier if they picked another school. Makes sense, no? This is what seriously dissatisfied customers do, after all: They take their business elsewhere, in a fine display that they understand the power of markets and the power of voting with one's feet.

Ms. Roth won't hear of it, however, complaining that she is being "pushed out." Evidently, she is hellbent on continuing to make the school administrators' lives, and those of the multitude of parents who think she's off her rocker, as difficult as possible.

It would be one thing if Roth were just your run-of-the-mill self-obsessed shrew (MeMe is an interesting name, don't you think?) — an unpleasant but inconsequential crank. But as a self-anointed obesity expert ("Let's finally recognize obesity as child abuse," she intones on her website), she does frequently get the media's ear.

If her name rings a bell, perhaps you've seen her on TV railing against the size of Santa Claus's belly. Or you may have caught her when she called the Girl Scouts perfidious "cookie pushers," or when she had a few choice words for a bride-to-be trying to lose a few pounds for her wedding day ("a fraud" she called the young woman, among other things).

Ms. Roth ought to have every right to decide what her kids eat. She may instruct them accordingly. Other people's kids, not so much.

As she further enhances her résumé with petty demands, obnoxious ultimatums, and noisome hissy fits, we're sure to hear from her again — my guess is, as a top pick in a future Obama or Bloomberg administration.

Comments

[Dark Phoenix]

Although I agree that the parents in this case are definitely off their rockers a bit here, I wouldn't be so quick to assume that school administrations always care about the welfare of their students. From personal experience, I can tell you that there are teachers and administrations who feel their knowledge and position trumps those of anyone else, including parents and doctors...

[Rogier]

"I wouldn't be so quick to assume that school administrations always care about the welfare of their students."

I never claimed they did.

[BigLiberty]

This: Ms. Roth ought to have every right to decide what her kids eat. She may instruct them accordingly. Other people's kids, not so much.

is precisely the conclusion to which I came about this woman. In the interest of disclosure, I'm a blogger who believes that people should be allowed to be whatever body size they are, without comment or action by the (state or federal) government. If body autonomy is lost, then the rest of our civil rights will quickly follow.

So MeMe can obsess about the fiber/calorie/sugar/fat content going into her children's mouths all she wants. But other kids' mouths? Sorry, that's where your liberties end.

[Dark Phoenix]

"

"I wouldn't be so quick to assume that school administrations always care about the welfare of their students."

I never claimed they did.
"

I was more referring to the linked article, which really tries hard to give the reader that impression.

[Amy]

Actually, I don't think she should have the right to give her children her eating disorder, which appears to be what she's doing.

[hermesten]

Dealing with people like this obviously mentally ill control freak is when you begin to fantasize that one of chubby kids has a dad or uncle that's mobbed up.

[Timothy]

If she weren't a national media crusader, her untreated mental illness and anorexia would be tragic. As it is - that's just dark comedy gold.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/may/24/meme-roth-obesity-nutrition

[Rogier]

Wow, thanks Timothy. Now that's an interesting article.

"Roth's mother, father, grandmother and uncles are all obese. Her father weighs 300lb," observes the Guardian interviewer.

A direct Roth quote: "The day, on my birthday, that my mother was to bring cupcakes to my [kindergarten] class, I put my head on the table because I knew that within minutes my mother would be there and everyone was going to know that my mother was fat. I felt ashamed. I was grateful that down the block there was another mother who was fatter than my mother."

Nope, no mommy and daddy issues. At all. No sirree Bob.

[Timothy]

The end of the article is the most sad and hilarious part.

When I ask her if she's ever been anorexic, she gasps: "No! I've never even been on a diet!" So I ask her what she eats in an average day. On this, Roth is reticent. She now runs a private nutrition counselling business, she says, and because of that, "I don't spend a ton of time telling people what I do personally. What works for me may not work for other people."

That's fine, I say, but just as an example?

"I eat beans like nobody's business," she says hurriedly. "I eat more black beans than anyone else I know."

I try to pin her down to something more specific. Let's just do a sample day, I say. What about breakfast? Roth grimaces. "I hate to say this, because I think it's counter to what most people should do, but I never in my whole life have enjoyed breakfast. For me, it doesn't work as well as other things."

Right, I say. So how about lunch?

She squirms visibly. "You're taking me where I don't want to go ... What works for me doesn't work for a lot of people."

Well, you've said that, I insist, so taking that into account: lunch? Roth hesitates. "I discovered when I was in college that I work best when I get a workout in and eat after that. Sometimes I'll delay when I eat until I get a workout in. But I don't let a whole day go by without running four miles."

OK, I go on, but supposing you couldn't work out until four o'clock in the afternoon - would you not eat until after that?

"I might."

I look at my watch. It's 3.30pm. Alarm bells start to ring in my head. How about today, I ask. Have you eaten at all today?

Roth is a little quiet.

"No," she says.

There is a pause.

"But I feel great!"