Cheese Is Not Heroin, Eric Adams

The headline may sound extreme, but unfortunately it's not. New York City Mayor Eric Adams recently compared people who love cheese to people who suffer from heroin addictions, reports The Guardian.

Though the mayor has admitted to some lapses in his vegan diet (he has on occasion eaten fish), he's been a strong proponent of getting New York City residents to take on more plant-driven diets. In fact, the Mayor's efforts have led to a new policy for public school cafeteria menus—beginning almost immediately, NYC public schools will have Vegan Fridays.

In his continued vegan crusade, the mayor has made some drastic statements that honestly might be counterproductive to his goal of getting people to move to a more plant-forward diet.

"Food is addictive," said Adams. "You take someone on heroin, put them in one room, and someone hooked on cheese, put 'em in another room, and you take it away, I challenge you to tell me the person who's hooked on heroin and who's hooked on cheese."

I'm all for trying to get people to eat plant-based. There are many benefits to such diets and nothing wrong with encouraging people to try healthier and more sustainable alternatives. However, this is an extreme angle that just plays into people's outdated negative perceptions of vegetarians and vegans as "crazy" "health" nuts. Adams said "studies" backed up his claims, but did not cite which studies he was referring to.

It's insulting to people who actually suffer from addiction to compare their struggles with a love for aged cheddar. Hopefully people know that the two fall under completely different categories. I'm going to go out on a limb and say the people of New York (or any people for that matter) do not need to attend any sort of Cheese Heads Anonymous (no disrespect to Wisconsin readers).

Cheesus Christ, mayor. Get it together.