Shediac — This summer, an increasing number of people are ignoring the well-known axiom to avoid eating 30 minutes before swimming — especially at New Brunswick’s beaches.
Due to a widely known and often misunderstood pop song, a high percentage of visitors to Parlee Beach are bringing super-sweet confections to the park each day to enjoy “cake by the ocean.” However, the sudden surge of the outdoor desserts is harming the beach as well as the seaside wildlife.
“I have been waiting for summer to arrive for months,” said 24-year-old Moncton woman Chéri LePlage. “My friends and I were all meeting up at Parlee, and out of the 10 of us… every single one of us showed up with a supersized pound cake! It was hilarious, just like the song! Ah ya ya ya ya!”
She and her friends are not alone. Park officials are saying there has been a dramatic increase in the amount of cake and pastry being brought in Parlee Beach this year. “It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” says Parlee Beach
spokesperson Marie Glaçage.
“Our lifeguards estimate that over 75 percent of our patrons are consuming cake or cupcakes on any given day. It certainly shows what months of Top 40 radio play and the power of suggestion can do to a population already predisposed to cake consumption. Ah ya ya ya ya!”
Park staff are referring to the pop song sensation”Cake by the Ocean,” the debut single by American rock group, DNCE. While the song is a metaphor for sex on the beach, many New Brunswickers are taking it literally as a suggestion for oceanside snack food.
Health officials are concerned by this trend — 63 percent of adults and 24 percent of youth in New Brunswick are already overweight or obese, higher than 11 of the 13 provinces and territories.
However, the more pressing concern is the immediate impact to the beach and surrounding wildlife. There are thousands of pounds of pound cake being discarded around the beach, and the seagulls are consuming it as fast as they can find it.
“This food shouldn’t be eaten by seagulls,” says Glaçage. “It’s causing overgrazing, malnutrition, and high concentrations of fecal coliform because there is seagull poop literally everywhere. It’s really gross. Ah ya ya ya ya!”