Food Fight!

As I alluded to yesterday, there's been a big debate/fiasco over the "Maine State Dessert."  I haven't been following it too closely, mostly because of this one burning question I have that no one can seem to answer:

Why in the world do we need a state dessert?

I know there's been precedent for weird and seemingly pointless state symbols; for instance, did you know that the Maine state soil is the Chesuncook soil series, or that the Pertica quadrifaria is the state fossil?  (I did find it interesting is that the Schooner Bowdoin is officially the state vessel.  I spent a summer on the Bowdoin back in 1997.)  It's not just Maine, though; milk is the state drink of Maryland, and the cast iron dutch oven is the official cooking implement of Texas.

But I digress.

The debate at hand was whether the Whoopie Pie or Blueberry Pie should be given the title "Maine State Dessert."  Even with many more pressing matters to attend to in Augusta, legislators have been tied up with this question since late January.

The whoopie pie is, of course, two dollops of cake sandwiching a sugary frosting center.  Mainers like to take credit for the creation of the whoopie pie, although Wikipedia indicates that it could have been first created as far away as Pennsylvania Amish country.  The main argument against the Whoopie Pie, however, is that it's terribly sugary and fattening in a time when over 30% of Maine children are overweight or obese.  Really, there's nothing nutritionally-redeeming about it, antioxidants in chocolate notwithstanding.  (It's darn tasty, though.  That's at least something we can all agree on.)

Blueberry pie is even more self-explanatory.  What with the blueberry being the official state berry, it would stand to reason that its pie would also be remarkable.  It's also, as some people have noted, a real dessert, where the Whoopie Pie is more of a daytime snack.  (I can't make this stuff up, folks.)

Last Wednesday, the House approved a compromise: the Whoopie Pie would be the Maine state treat, while Blueberry Pie would be given the title of state dessert.  The compromise was approved in the House 107-34 and will soon go to the Senate for consideration.

I'm glad that there are still some things the government can come to bipartisan compromise on.  My burning question, however, remains unanswered.