Don't Let Them Eat Cake!

The Chairwoman, heading the UK's Foods Standards Agency (FSA), advises that folk should not take cake (or, presumably, chocolates, sweets etc?) into the office. She thinks this might well impair the health of their co-workers (https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jan/17/people-should-not-take-cakes-in-to-the-office-suggests-food-watchdog-chief). It's certainly true, that some cake ingredients are nutritionally unhealthy. Displaying cakes, can also make it difficult for people who are counting calories. Having said that, bringing cakes into the office (alternative collective workplaces are available) is usually intended to be a prosocial act e.g. marking someone's birthday, marriage or promotion etc. Cakes can even be baked and 'sold' in the office, to bring in money for charity e.g. 'Save the Children'. It's unsure, whether pieces of carrot (I, for one, am carrotphobic) or celery, would be as effective in either case. Perhaps a little unkindly, the FSA chair likens cake in the office, to passive smoking. The office collective going out for after work drinks (she doesn't comment about this), is certainly less healthy, than sharing a bit of cake. The bonding of workmates is important for effective activity. She also states that advertising junk food, undermines 'people's free will'. This, also, appears to be a well-intentioned comment with a reasonable factual basis. Many Philosophers, however, worry about whether there is actually such a thing as 'free will' in a long-lived, prosocial species like humans!