DEAR HANNAH
(in response to this essay by Hannah Hayes: “An open letter to Anthony Bourdain, a chef who hates my dad”)
I applaud and respect your loyalty to your Dad–and your impassioned and articulate defense. As a father myself, I would be very proud. And I do not for a second, see your Dad as some evil mad doctor, deliberately doing bad things to our food supply. I am not even–in principle (unlike many of my chef peers)–opposed to big producers or feed lot raised beef–or even “processed food. I AM, however against the whole idea that any corporate entity did, would, should or could feel it necessary or expedient to use ammonia in a meat product. Especially our beloved national dish, the hamburger. It is, unfortunately, my distinct impression and belief that Cargill has made use of a supplier who DOES treat meat with ammonia. I quote the New York Times below:
“Cargill, one of the nation’s largest hamburger makers, is a big buyer of Beef Products’ ammoniated trimmings for its patties. Company records show that Beef Products, like other suppliers, has periodically exceeded Cargill’s limits on acceptable bacteria levels. That led Cargill to stop buying meat from two Beef Products plants for several months in 2006 after company tests showed excessive levels of salmonella.
But the following year, when Cargill faced an E. coli outbreak, it ruled out Beef Products as a possible culprit, citing the U.S.D.A.’s view that the ammonia treatment provided a “lethality step” for the pathogen. In addition, Cargill officials said recently, they suspect that another supplier, not Beef Products, was the problem. As a result, Beef Products did not face as wide a recall as other Cargill suppliers.”
I’m not even suggesting that Cargill’s ground meat products are necessarily “bad” for you. I’m saying I do not like the whole idea that anyone would use what I believe to be a cleaning product in making hamburger. I believe that a good quality hamburger–suitable for sale to children and adults–should require neither ammonia nor well done cooking to make it considered “safe.” I suspect, judging from your piece, and your stated personal choices for food sourcing, that you feel the same way. My opinion on hamburgers and what I believe to be standard practices by Cargill and other companies do not make me “hate” your Dad, or you–or anyone working hard and trying to do right by their family.
I just think ammonia–anywhere near my burger is bad. And I deeply resent the common restriction in many businesses against ordering burgers anything less than medium well to well done.
Again, I applaud you personally for standing up for your family–and for standing up to me. I enjoy a good argument (no surprise) and thank you for making one. I do, however stand by my opinion.
Very best wishes to you and your family–against whom I bear (I assure you) nothing but good will. Let us hope that this practice is abandoned at whatever level these decisions are made. And as quickly as possible.
Best,
Anthony Bourdain
Unquestionably believe that which you said. Your favorite reason seemed to be on the net the easiest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I definitely get annoyed while people consider worries that they just do not know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a signal. Will probably be back to get more. Thanks
Hiya, I am really glad I have found this info. Today bloggers publish only about gossips and internet and this is really annoying. A good blog with exciting content, that’s what I need. Thanks for keeping this site, I’ll be visiting it. Do you do newsletters? Cant find it.
I enjoy what you guys are usually up too. This kind of clever work and reporting! Keep up the good works guys I’ve you guys to my personal blogroll.
A lot, this particular put up is often the best for this successful subject. My partner and i harmonise with all your final thoughts and could thirstily look ahead to your actual one way up-grades. Claiming i am grateful will not only turn out to be decent, on the wonderful readability inside of your crafting articles. I’ll right take hold of your entire rss to remain educated from a enhancements. Exceptional operate and being successful in your own trade orders! Please explanation excellent deficient British currently in no way a 1st language.
Greetings! I’ve been following your web site for a long time now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Humble Tx! Just wanted to say keep up the good work!
Hello, I just thought I would post and let you know your blogs layout is really screwed up on the Firefox browser. Seems to work good on Internet Explorer though. Anyhow keep up the great work.
I like this web blog very much so much great info.
Your website doesn’t display properly on my iphone 3gs – you might wanna try and fix that
This is a fantastic website, will you be involved in doing an interview regarding how you designed it? If so e-mail me!
I have learn a few good stuff here. Certainly value bookmarking for revisiting. I wonder how a lot attempt you set to make this type of wonderful informative site.
Good post. I was checking constantly this weblog and I’m impressed! Really beneficial details specifically the last part I care for such information considerably. I was looking for this particular information for a long time. Thank you and great luck.
Absolutely interesting article. I really love those types of blogs which add quality to the online environment.
Howdy! I just wish to give an enormous thumbs up for the good data you’ve gotten here on this post. I might be coming back to your weblog for more soon.
Great blog! Do you have any recommendations for aspiring writers? I’m hoping to start my own website soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you advise starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many choices out there that I’m completely confused .. Any tips? Thanks!
Obviously, there are tons of people who would need that access every of this info meant for to be had in addition to to facilitate is why there are tons of pages with the purpose of try to facilitate emphasize in relation to this plus honestly, for the most part of them are simply behind right scams!
That is the precise weblog for anybody who needs to seek out out about this topic. You realize a lot its nearly onerous to argue with you (not that I truly would want…HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a subject thats been written about for years. Great stuff, simply nice!
An impressive share, I simply given this onto a colleague who was doing just a little evaluation on this. And he in fact bought me breakfast because I found it for him.. smile. So let me reword that: Thnx for the deal with! However yeah Thnkx for spending the time to debate this, I feel strongly about it and love reading extra on this topic. If attainable, as you grow to be experience, would you mind updating your blog with extra details? It’s highly helpful for me. Large thumb up for this weblog put up! Replica Breitling Crosswind Special Watches
Hey! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I really enjoy reading through your posts. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same topics? Thanks a ton!
I’m impressed, I need to say. Really hardly ever do I encounter a blog that’s each educative and entertaining, and let me let you know, you could have hit the nail on the head. Your thought is outstanding; the issue is one thing that not sufficient persons are talking intelligently about. I’m very completely satisfied that I stumbled throughout this in my seek for one thing referring to this.
I wanted to thank you one more time for the amazing web page you have created here. It is full of ideas for those who are seriously interested in this kind of subject, especially this very post. You’re really all absolutely sweet along with thoughtful of others and reading your site posts is an excellent delight if you ask me. And what generous treat! Mary and I usually have enjoyment making use of your suggestions in what we need to do next week. Our listing is a kilometer long and tips are going to be put to very good use.
very nice of her to defend his dad
Dear Anthony,
Saw Your episode on Finland on you tube, will be aired in fall in Finland. Do You think it was worth a trip to Scandinavia, which You already "disliked"? You said the reason was because Finns are the second largest fan base of Your show. Probably won't be for long. A great piece of journalism showing people drunk coming out of bars at 4 am, that really doesn't happen anywhere else. Been watchin Your show thru the years and was able recently to compare the episodes of Spain and Finland. It is wonderful to see that You are able to show the same amount of respect for local gastronomy no matter where You are. The conversation with Your producer before the show revealed it all. Make sure its wintertime etc…You really found the best we could offer, thankyou for the respect.
.