There’s always room for J-E-L-L-O -- especially in Utah, where a group of Brigham Young University students is petitioning to make the jiggly dessert the state food.
“Jell-O is, I think, the all-American food,” says Jeremiah Christenot, a junior, who is heading the effort. “It’s easier to make than apple pie.”
For the next several months, Mr. Christenot and about 50 other campus volunteers will help Jell-O officials try to persuade state legislators to sponsor a Jell-O bill. The P.R. firm that handles Jell-O tapped the students through a campus press-relations association that gives undergraduates hands-on experience in publicity.
A petition drive kicked off at the Freedom Festival, in Provo, where Jell-O molds in the shape of “2000" and Jell-O stickers, buttons and T-shirts were given away.
The drive, which snagged 2,500 signatures at the festival, will continue through Brigham Young’s Homecoming and New Year’s Eve celebrations, with a target of 50,000 names.
The campaign began when a local chef decided Salt Lake City should reclaim from Des Moines the title for highest per-capita Jell-O consumption.
“There’s pride involved,” Mr. Christenot jests. “They can have their corn. We want our Jell-O.”
http://chronicle.com Section: Short Subjects Page: A9
