The Long-Eared Drifter

If you haven’t seen this recent Looney Tunes clip, it’s certainly worth a look.

Bugs Bunny (aka the Long-Eared Drifter) convinces Daffy Duck to eat healthy by controlling his portions, cutting out bad carbs and fat, and eating lots of fruits and veggies. Some thoughts as I watch this:

  1. Will Bugs and Daffy suffer from an apparent lack of protein and fat in their diet? Even their stir fry seems to be just vegetables.
  2. How exactly would Bugs describe “bad carbs?” And are the carbohydrates in his yogurt parfait the good or bad variety?
  3. Is it the beef, lard or flour (or bullets) in Daffy’s tacos that will “jack up [his] bad cholesterol?” Are any of these ingredients healthy?

I’m guessing most kids will just tune this message out anyway, but for those who don’t, how accurate is Bugs’ advice? I don’t propose to have the answers to the questions posed above, which is precisely the point. Theories of nutrition have changed drastically since the inception of Looney Tunes (remember the original Food Pyramid?), and even today no complete consensus exists on the best diet for everyone. What will the ideal diet look like when the kids watching this have grown up? Is Looney Tunes the proper authority to dispense such dietary recommendations?

The Long-Eared Drifter