Hasta La Ideas

As of this morning, the food pyramid that I, for one, was raised on is no longer: the New York Times reports that “[Michelle] Obama, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Surgeon General Regina Benjamin unveiled [a] new healthy eating icon at a news conference in Washington.”

The new design is called MyPlate, forming the veritable centerpiece to Mrs. Obama’s anti-obesity campaign. Like it’s predecessor—which dates back to 1992, by the way—it is a straightforward graphic representation of dietary guidelines, updated to reflect the latest research.

The plate was created by the Department of Agriculture with input from the first lady’s anti-obesity team and federal health officials. The agriculture department said that it conducted focus groups with about 4,500 people, including children, as they developed the new icon. Developing the icon and creating a Web site and other educational materials to go along with it cost about $2 million. That money will also help pay for an educational campaign centered on the plate icon over the next year, officials said.

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