Day 025 - 16 Sep 94 - Page 34
1 earlier, namely, that you do make a distinction between
2 items of food and diet in general?
3 A. That I do, yes.
4
5 Q. You do make that distinction, do you not?
6 A. I personally, yes.
7
8 Q. So if you go into a restaurant in Texas -- do you live in
9 Texas still?
10 A. I do, indeed.
11
12 Q. And eat a steak? Do people do that in Texas?
13 A. It has been known to happen.
14
15 Q. Have you been known to do it?
16 A. I have.
17
18 Q. According to your definitions, as I understand it, such a
19 meal would be a bad meal; a meal which is not nutritious;
20 is that right?
21 A. The quantity of steak I eat is not nutritious, yes,
22 Mr. Rampton. I eat far more than just three ounces.
23
24 Q. Do not talk about quantity. If you go into a restaurant
25 and eat a meal of steak and let us call it french fries,
26 if you like, that is a bad meal?
27 A. It would depend on the quantity and the method of
28 preparation, but a three ounce piece of lean beef
29 accompanied by a salad with a non-fat dressing and fresh
30 vegetables without salt added, that is a good meal,
31 perfectly fine. It is well within the dietary guidelines,
32 and the nutritional guidelines as well.
33
34 Q. What items do you allow your children to eat when you take
35 them to McDonald's?
36 A. The Happy Meal is what my children order. They are
37 not really ordering the food, they are ordering the toy
38 that comes with it. I allow them to order the toy and the
39 food. It is a rare event, but it is one that I do
40 permit. The reason I say it that way is my son, my seven
41 year-old son, is likely to eat the hamburger and part of
42 the fries. My four year-old daughter is likely to eat
43 some of the fries and virtually nothing else. She is on
44 the 10 per cent scale of weight; my son is probably on the
45 90 per cent scale of weight.
46
47 Q. That is common experience amongst parents of children that
48 children do not always eat everything that is put in front
49 of them?
50 A. That is absolutely true, even if they choose it.
51
52 Q. Even if they choose it. Also, to use an American word,
53 many children are quite picky about what they eat?
54 A. That would be true. What I permit my children to eat
55 is utterly irrelevant to my duties as a law enforcement
56 officer at the time at the Attorneys General office.
57 Whether I permitted them to do that or not might go to the
58 question of whether I was out on a personal crusade on
59 McDonald's. It does not go to the question of whether
60 these ads violated the law.
