This is funny.

I have my own skepticisms about Panera; I've always felt its good-for-you was patina, more than performance. But this snide broadside from the Corn Lobby is from another planet!

The writer is offended by Panera's declared "no-no list" that bars ammonium chloride, propylene glycol alginate, sodium metabisulfite, and more. The "more" is where the offense is taken: High fructose corn syrup is being phased out.

"While this sort of food snobbery may be trendy, it does little good for actual consumers and pushes the food conversation even further into the realm of unrealistic, self-righteous ridiculousness. ... Simply, just because an ingredient is hard to pronounce does not mean it is bad. Just because it sounds 'natural' does not mean it is the healthy option. It is easy to fall into the natural trap, but easy is not always best. Healthy eating requires actually reading about the nutritional value of food, not casually complying with the latest fad."

The piece is a wonderful illustration of how partisans — New England Patriots fans come to mind this morning, after the release of the football-inflation report yesterday — can contort anything to fit their reality.

More natural, less processed food is "food snobbery?" And titanium dioxide is the salt of the earth?

"Easy is not always best?" — when the best arguments for food processing are convenience and long shelf life?

At worst, natural foods are "re-trendy," because the old name for whole, natural food was "food."

"Actual consumers." "Self-righteous ridiculousness." "The natural trap." "Actually reading." OMG, I could quote the whole thing!