the burger debate hits centerstage

so last week i brought attention to a soft spot of mine, which is my new fear of the hamburger. well, right at the top of this morning's headlines on cnn.com you'll find this: "should americans banish the burger?"

so. this is now a national issue. my question is, will it stop there? and how do you feel? sure, it's amusing if little ol' me in chicago writes about it, but when cnn and larry king bring it to the forefront of the national stage... becomes a bit more real, doesn't it?

but i can't say i'm a huge fan of how the cnn coverage is selling this story. should americans banish the burger? are you kidding me? why is it that we have to overdramatize everything in order for it to appeal to the general public?

no. there is absolutely no need to ban the burger. what we need, and insanely enough this wasn't discussed nearly to the point of necessity by cnn, is a complete overhaul of the ground beef industry. it's not the burger that's to fear, it's what's in the burgers we are eating and how it's getting there.

of all the energy that would go into a ban on the hamburger, how much more could be spent to finally straighten out the money-making meat packing giants that have corrputed not only the country's ground beef marketplace, but also shriveled the balls of those at the usda who have any power to rectify the matter.

because when you look at the solutions discussed by the guests, solutions that ranged from cutting ground beef entirely from the diet; cooking ground beef until it's completely cooked through; irradiating the beef; or for all of us to convert to a strictly vegetarian diet, each one overlooks the very problem that's at the heart of the matter: we're not holding our foodmakers responsible. and this coming from academics on the matter.

and despite tying these university professors and health professionals alike within the debate, it was anthony bourdain who actually got it right:

"'we have eyes in the front of our head. we have fingernails. we have... teeth and long legs. we were designed from the get-go... so that we could chase down smaller, stupider creatures, kill them and eat them. that said, we may be designed to eat meat. we are not designed to eat fecal choliform bacteria.' he went on to blast the practices of larger meat processor and grinders as 'unconscionable and border on the criminal.'"

exactly! listen to the man, for crying out loud!

the video is long, running at almost a half hour, but seriously, take the time to watch it. this is a much bigger issue than any of us might think. food reform is nothing to scoff at, because i promise you this, it's something that is not going to just disappear. things are undoubtedly going to change.