People now say lard isn’t good for you. But it’s what we grew up with

From The Economist

What Barrys US health reforms have to deal with...

And Obamaworld is buzzing with ideas to help people keep fit. Taxes on booze, cigarettes and sugary drinks, which are low by rich world standards, could rise. There is talk of making companies install gyms in the same way as they do fire escapes. Some favour giving people a “nudge” (the title of a recent book popular among Obamaites) to live more healthily. For example, people eat less if restaurants serve smaller portions; children eat better if the school cafeteria puts healthy food at eye level.

The cultural obstacles to all this, however, may be greater than Mr Obama’s lean, sporty advisers understand. Consider the shoppers at the Save-A-Lot supermarket in Hamlin, West Virginia. At the beginning of the month, when the food stamps arrive, they snap up buckets of lard so big that the label says: “Warning—Children can fall into bucket and drown.” The manager, Key-Ray Adkins, shrugs: “People now say lard isn’t good for you. But it’s what we grew up with.”