IronPigs to offer broccoli bites - filled with bacon

Coming soon to a minor-league ball game near you:

Broccoli.

Days after a national physicians group renewed its push to get the Phillies' triple-A affiliate, the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, to include vegetables on its pork-laden stadium menu, the team has agreed to add the green stalk.

But there's a catch. Bacon is involved, and, it turns out, some national publicity as well for the IronPigs' response.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM), a nonprofit based in Washington, asked the team Monday to go easy on the bacon and other processed meat, which the group said is unhealthy, and get some vegetables on fans' plates.

The group also asked for a broccoli mascot to go along with others the team already has, all involving pork. The Inquirer reported Tuesday that IronPigs president and general manager Kurt Landes said no to a broccoli character.

But the team said Wednesday that it will honor the PCRM's request. Sort of.

"The club will begin to offer deep-fried bacon-cheddar broccoli bites filled with broccoli florets, real bacon and sweet onions in crisp potato breading," the team said in a statement.

That's not what the PCRM, which advocates a plant-based diet, had in mind.

"We're happy to see broccoli on the menu," the PCRM said in a statement. "Unfortunately, smothering a vegetable with fat and cholesterol is the quickest way to rob it of its health benefits. It's like feeding your children strawberry ice cream but taking credit for offering them fruit."

Fox News took notice of the dustup. On a Thursday afternoon business show, host Stuart Varney interviewed Landes and praised his tactics.

"You stuck it to them, didn't you?" Varney said.

"Everything we do at the ballpark has a bacon or pig theme," Landes said. "No one is going to tell us or our fans what to eat at the ballpark."