UPDATE Gwyneth Paltrow fails the Food Stamp Challenge after four days
Well, that didn’t take long. Four days into her week-length Food Stamp Challenge, Gwyneth Paltrow has broken fast–literally.
Paltrow took to GOOP, her oft-derided blog, to detail her reaction to the challenge and to the reaction to her challenge that blew up social media. In Paltrow’s own words,
As I suspected, we only made it through about four days, when I personally broke and had some chicken and fresh vegetables (and in full transparency, half a bag of black licorice). My perspective has been forever altered by how difficult it was to eat wholesome, nutritious food on that budget, even for just a few days—a challenge that 47 million Americans face every day, week, and year. A few takeaways from the week were that vegetarian staples liked dried beans and rice go a long way—and we were able to come up with a few recipes on a super tight budget.
She does get extra points for using “brouhaha,” though.
Paltrow’s blog post finishes with recipes for three dishes she (or someone close to her) made using the ingredients she purchased for the challenge.
The oft-criticized blonde was halfway into the challenge, whereby she would live on $29 worth of food for one week in order to simulate life as a food stamp recipient. $29 is the average (and supplemental) amount in food stamps a beneficiary of the SNAP food stamp program receives per week. Paltrow took picked up the gauntlet her friend, celebrity chef Mario Batali, laid down last week.
The internet still seems divided on this. Is Paltrow a heroine for trying in the first place? Or a fool for missing the challenge’s point? Or is there a third, heretofore unimagined way to interpret all of this? What do you, the viewers at home, think? Is the Food Stamp Challenge going to be for 2015 what the Ice Bucket Challenge was for 2014?
(Photo credits: WENN)
