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San Francisco Happy Meal ban (and a little more on McRib)

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San Francisco became the first major city in the country to ban restaurants from giving out toys with meals that have more than a set amount of calories, fat and salt, or that don’t include fruits and vegetables. (Here’s our story.)

Ironically, the vote came on the very same day that fans of McDonald’s McRib (500 calories, no ribs, 26 grams of fat) rejoiced to see the sandwich back on menus nationwide for a six-week period.

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Daniel Conway, the California Restaurant Assn.’s spokesman and lobbyist, was struck by the concurrent outpouring of desire for McRib and the apparently growing movement to limit fast-food marketing to children. He was also impressed with our call for McRib haiku, and suggested that people also write haiku about the San Francisco supervisors who voted for the Happy Meal ban.

And in a last McRib thought, I heard again today from barbecue chef Neil Strawder, of Bigmista Barbecue catering in Long Beach. He’d gone out and tried a McRib just so he could come back and tell us what he thought. Here’s his review: ‘I ate it. I tried some of the meat without the bread. I tried some of the bread without the meat. The only thing with any flavor was the pickles.’ He directs us to the Barbecue Brethren blog, where BBQChef33 offers a recipe for a sandwich made with meat from real baby back ribs.

-- Sharon Bernstein

Follow me on Twitter @sharonbernstein

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