And so, coming to a takeaway, a café or a pub near you, is this sledgehammer of calorie-hating force that will paint devil’s horns on the scones with cream and jam at your posh treat of cream tea. Or your late-night hotel room service of burger and chips, or your Big Mac and fries.
Because, of course, there you were thinking that chips and kebabs and doughnuts and treacle tarts and milkshakes and cheese souffles and self-sourcing chocolate fondants and chicken tikka masalas were good for you and OK to eat day in, day out. So thank God – because you are clearly so unutterably stupid – the Government has waded in to help you out.
Of course, the Government refuses to step in where it should, working directly with schools. As Miers says: “The Department for Education just isn’t interested. This policy is very un-joined up.”
She is concerned that it is encouraging young people to think about food in the wrong way. “Calories are not bad for you, we need them to live. Putting them in a bad light can actually endanger people. The Government needs to intervene in schools to educate children about healthy eating. Because once a child becomes obese, it’s very hard to deal with.”
There is, of course, no such thing as unhealthy food; just an unhealthy diet, an immoderate consumption of certain foods and a lack of exercise. I eat for a living, so am acutely attuned to my daily consumption. I overeat – deliberately – for work and fun. I then lay off the carbs and bevvies for a bit, and pedal harder on my bike to seek mind and bodily balance.
Meanwhile, it’s one more blow to the hospitality industry attempting to get back on their feet post-Covid – and in the midst of a labour shortage. “Calorie-counting is not a walk in the park,” says Aldo Zilli, a celebrity chef who has worked for Pizza Express, the UK chain of Italian restaurants, San Carlo, and now advises the Lucarelli chain. “As a recipe-writing consultant I would need to add an extra day a week to do it. We are going to struggle.”
Miers adds: “What it means is that every dish we have on a menu has to be sent off to be tested and the calories worked out. It’s quite expensive.”
