Food News, With Extra Hardee's

The gastronomically incorrect Hardee's: Selling high-caloric, unhealthy food increases the bottom line. (Sometimes the puns just write themselves.)

Speaking of burgers...did you know the oyster was last century's hamburger? "A little over a century ago, the New York street food of choice was the oyster, which grew so abundantly that rich and poor alike ate them in vast quantities." Despite the mindbending historical reference, I suspect reading the book review of Josh Ozersky's The Hamburger is more edifying than reading the book itself:

"One serious omission, though, is a realistic discussion of the scale of the industry it describes, which we all know is staggeringly large, but it is in fact even larger than most appreciate.  The amount of beef McDonald's alone uses in a year is so great that if the cows supplying its restaurants were all in one herd, and were being killed Blackfoot-style by stampeding them off a cliff 20 feet wide, McDonald's gauchos would have to be rushing the herd off that cliff from dawn to dusk, every day of the year, to satisfy demand. The pop and sizzle of hamburgers conceal the frantic moos of an unfathomable number of animals, and it would be nice to have some acknowledgment of their sacrifice."

After reading about such vast consumption of hamburgers, you should spend some time wondering: Is the world's food system collapsing? Cautionary quote: "As the world becomes richer, people eat too much, and too much of the wrong things—above all, meat." (Look for this slogan to appear on a Hardee's cup near you.)

"Why do Americans think they deserve to eat more than Indians?" Good question, and one that should be put not only to George Bush but to the CEO of Hardee's, Andrew Puzder.

The NY Times argues we should "leave our agricultural future to chefs and anyone who takes food and cooking seriously. We never bought into the “bigger is better” mantra, not because it left us too dependent on oil, but because it never produced anything really good to eat." Again, talk to Andrew Puzder.

Brewer's first baseman eschews the Wisconsin state vegetable, the bratwurst, in favor of avocado dumplings. Turns out a vegetarian diet and professional baseball are not incompatible. Take me out to the ballgame, just not to Hardee's.

Now the payoff: Free veggie burger! (Seriously. Click and print.)

Comments

[bazu]

Blerghhhh. I hate Hardee's (or Carl's Jr., as they're known in the West Coast. I loved how Obama included "we can't keep eating as much as we want" along with "driving SUVs" and "keeping the thermostat at 72 degrees" as irresponsible acts in that speech he recently gave!

[KathyF]

I didn't see that; thanks for the info. I did read recently that he became a vegetarian in NYC for a while, while he lived a "monk-like" existence. I know they try to eat healthy at home, and he eschews junk food on the trail. Good example for a president to set. (Yeah, I'm projecting.)

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