Now can I serve cookies?

I had to read the St. Louis Post-Dispatch (I grew up in the St. Louis area) today to learn that vendors can now peddle their home-baked goods at farmers' markets.

What brought this to mind?

A stupid enforcement of a rule by the McHenry County Dept. of Health a few years ago against a B&B owner. A B&B, of course, can serve breakfast. It can serve a hot breakfast - a delicious, individual, gourmet breakfast. One such as you cannot get in any restaurant. And it's served to your place at a dining-room table with polished silver and the "good" crystal. On a tablecloth. With linen napkins.

I was particularly galled at the stringent enforcement because I had been after the Health Department in the past to inspect and act against the many restaurants (McDonald's, Taco Bell, etc.) in McHenry County where kitchen workers illegally handled prepared foods (cooked burger patties, buns, condiments) with their bare hands. The health code clearly prohibited that, and it occurred every day in McHenry County.

Enter the Cookie Police.

If a B&B owner can prepare a gourmet breakfast and serve it to guests, why shouldn't that B&B owner be able to cookie homemade (is this redundant?) muffins and chocolate-chip cookies and put them out for guests arriving in the afternoon?

Absolutely not! The B&B owner was supposed to buy pre-packaged, individually-wrapped cookies and put them out on a plate, still wrapped!

Will the "farmers' market" rule allow a B&B owner to bake cookies and put them out now?

You can read the Post-Dispatch article here.