Why the Stars & Stripes this week?
Well, after a week that’s seen packs of wild animals resembling lions roaming the streets around Auckland’s Viaduct, and the breaking of Burgergate, and people shaking the moths out of bright red socks and Champagne sales soaring … it’s all gone a bit bonkers. 4th July is approaching, and that’s the time Americans like to chow down on burgers and fries, and as we’ve just robbed them of their biggest drinking vessel, and endured the brief and laughable Burgergate (What? Sous vide burger patties???), it just all came together with a hiss and a roar. (I’m having way too much fun with all these puns!) Yes, well, if you don’t live in New Zealand you won’t be aware that the Nanny State is alive and well here. That means that some well-meaning ill-informed drongos decide what is safe to eat and what is not. Burgers cooked to medium-rare were to be outlawed. Oh the uproar! Great. That’s one of the best things about Kiwis: we don’t take stupidity lying down. Medium-rare burgers are back on the menu! Yep, Burgergate was all over in a matter of days (‘Oh no, we didn’t mean in proper restaurants, just takeaway chains’ – you can see the golden arches bowing to such pressure NOT). There are already strict controls on meat processing all along the chain in this country, and when interviewed on Radio NZ an industry spokesperson couldn’t tell the interviewer whether anyone had actually ever got sick from eating mince that had gone off. |