Pittsburgh’s Residents Warned of Fat City Diet

An effort is under way to get people in the Iron City to stop eating like steelworkers.

The state has joined 100 companies and two drug store chains in sponsoring the Pittsburgh Community Health Challenge, which will offer about 52,000 of the companies’ employees and other members of the public a 10-week analysis of their eating habits.

Organizers hope to turn people away from an artery-clogging legacy of pirogies, kielbasa, gyros and other high-fat ethnic dishes that sustained generations of robust steelworkers.

“Our parents developed high-fat kinds of foods when they were working in the steel mills,” said Donna Donati, the program’s executive director. “They used to work very hard (and) burn those calories off.

“But we’re eating the same foods they ate when they hung their clothes outside on the line, rather than what we do, sitting around as they dry in the dryer.”