The problem with the nation's health isn't the parmo – it's what it represents
I was completely oblivious to the allure of a parmo until this week. But now I know what it is […]
The parmo is a regional delicacy beloved across the North East (Photo: ParmStar)
By Simon Kelner
i columnist
October 16, 2018 5:23 pm(Updated October 9, 2020 7:06 pm)
I was completely oblivious to the allure of a parmo until this week. But now I know what it is – a breaded and deep fried chicken or pork escalope topped with bechamel sauce and Parmesan (or Cheddar) cheese – I simply can't wait to try one.
It is, apparently, a fast food delicacy born, bred, and exclusively served in the North-East of England, or more accurately on Teesside, and it weighs in at a whopping 2,000 calories. One of those bad boys, and a grown man has done his daily calorie intake in one sitting, and that's without the side order of chips which usually accompanies a parmo. Who knew?
Read more: What is a parmo, the Middlesbrough delicacy described as 'monstrous' by obesity campaigners?
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A touch of exoticism
Further investigation reveals that the parmo has been around for more than 70 years, having been brought to the region by an American soldier, who settled in Middlesbrough after the Second World War and opened a restaurant in the town. He created a dish that, while having little to do with its terroir, suited the post-war appetite for indulgence and exotica. It brought a little bit of Mediterranean glamour to Teesside, and has been a jealously guarded secret since then.
Asda has more than 600 stores in the UK, but only the ones on Teesside stock the parmo. And last year, the town's mayor campaigned for the parmo to receive Protected Designation of Origin Status from the EU, like a Melton Mowbray pork pie (534 calories) or a Cornish pasty (774 calories).
But now the humble parmo is outed as public enemy number one. Health campaigners have blamed it for the region's obesity problem. According to NHS research released in the past week, 10-year-old children in the North-East were ranked as the most unhealthy in Britain, with a shocking 23 per cent of them classified as obese. And Tam Fry, chairman of the National Obesity Forum,knows where to lay the blame. "I can answer in two syllables," he said. "Parmo.
"You would have to be an Olympic athlete to eat it without effect; for the rest of humanity there is an unbelievable risk of obesity," he added. There is no evidence that Olympic athletes incorporate the parmo in their nutritional plan, so it's safe to say that the majority of these artery-clogging juggernauts are being consumed by people who lead a rather less physically active life. The question is: what to do, if anything, about this serious public health issue? If a quarter of a region's children are obese, the state would be abdicating its responsibility if it didn't draw attention to unhealthy habits particular to a location. This is, in fact, the role of the nanny state.
Cheap, easy food
But it's simplistic to hold the humble parmo wholly responsible. The wider problem is that in Britain's poorer areas, people are unwilling to spend their limited amount of money on good food. There is no culture, like there is in poor parts of mainland Europe, of healthy eating, of treating well-sourced, locallly-produced food as a necessity, and not a luxury. In Britain, unfortunately, it's something of a race to the bottom: load it up and sell it cheap.
The parmo is not the problem in itself. It is more the symbol of a careless attitude to nutrition that extends way beyond the North-East.
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