Utah's love of gelatin dessert is now more than just a stereotype.

Sen. Leonard Blackham, R-Moroni, sponsored a Senate resolution that would designate Jell-O brand gelatin as the state's official snack food.

Blackham cites Utah's high gelatin consumption, its being a representative of "good family fun," and the campaign by Brigham Young University students to make the dessert the state's official snack.

The measure was adopted by a 25-3 vote in the Senate.

Blackham's resolution even brought Jell-O pitchman Bill Cosby to Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers to recognize the jiggly dessert as a Utah staple.

In return, Cosby was made an honorary Utahn.

There's no denying that Utahns love their gelatin desserts. You can't go to a church function or party without having some variant on gelatin dishes, including the infamous lime-green gelatin with carrot shavings in it.

In a culture that eschews coffee, tea and alcoholic beverages, gelatin desserts are a fairly harmless vice.

Besides, who doesn't like Jell-O gelatin, the dessert there's always room for?

But let's look at this realistically.

The Legislature meets for 45 days a year. In that time, they have to set the state budget and sort through about 800 bills and resolutions covering a wide range of topics.

Do we really want legislators wasting precious time on resolutions promoting Kraft Foods' dessert products? That's why Kraft pays Cosby large piles of money to go on TV and profess his love for the stuff.

And it's not just the waste of time.

Think about the staff time that gets devoted to this, from the legal staff in the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel to the people who work in the Bill Room who make sure there are enough copies of this for every lawmaker, reporter, lobbyist and whoever asks for one.

Let's also think about how much paper is being wasted here.

Couldn't these resources be better used on matters like public education, transportation or electric production?

Did we really send these men and women to Capitol Hill to debate desserts?

Then there's the issue of promulgating a Utah stereotype. We wouldn't see a resolution designating minivans as the state's official car or black dresses and bonnets as the official women's wear.

Should Jell-O brand gelatin be Utah's official snack? Tell us what you think, either on our Web site, www.HarkTheHerald.com, or on our call-in line, 344-2942.

We'll take your comments until Feb. 7, and publish the results in the Feb. 11 edition of the paper.

When you respond, please include your name, hometown and phone number for verification purposes. Only names and hometowns will be printed with the responses.

Anonymous and unverifiable responses will be discarded.

If you use the Internet, please keep your comments to 75 words or less. If you call in, please limit your response to 30 seconds or less.

Members of The Daily Herald editorial board are Publisher Kirk Parkinson, Managing Editor Mike Fitzgerald, Opinions Page Editor Donald W. Meyers, Community Editor Sharon Gholdston, Orem resident Curtis Turnbull and Provo resident Carolyn S. Wright.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A5.