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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2002-03-27, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27, 2002. PAGE 5. Other Views Come on, let's get McReal Are you old enough to remember when the sign over the Golden Arches would read "40 MILLION SOLD" or "80 MILLION SOLD"? : Man, you're pretty old. Those signs were reading "50 BILLION SOLD" 'way back in 1984. Ever since, if they bother to mention it at all, the signs just say "BILLIONS AND BILLIONS SOLD". . I always feel a twinge of pride when I read those numbers. And I always say to myself "Yup, and I only bought one of them." That's the sum total of burger transactions between me and the folks at McDonald's - one sad and solitary Big Mac purchased in Thunder Bay, Ontario, back in the late 70s - and I ditn't even eat it, at that. That's because I made the mistake of looking inside my burger before biting. into it. I still remember hoovering off that bun top and peering down at the scientifically calibrated swirl of goop lathered across the top of the McMeat patty. • It looked to me like the sight that greets you when you take the lid of a can of old paint that's been sitting in the garage for a couple of years. I closed the burger, hooped it into the McTrash bin and walked out, ,- Okay, I may have used the washroom first. McDonald's has great washrooms. And I don't really mean to single out McDonald's. They're no worse (or better) than the plague of Arby's, Denny's, Burger Kings, A and W's, Wendy's and Hardees ad nauseam that mottle the Canadian landscape. But make no mistake: it's not food they're offering, it's Nearfood. Mostly oversweetened, Some time ago I wrote about the beginnings of the production of beer and indicated that it had something to do with the production of food. It may have got side- tracked a bit along the way but it did have ingredients which were closely identified with the nutritious value of the current food. I should like to do the second part of this discussion, one which looks at the origins of wine. Sine enough, it, too, has some human value and in this case it is more so for its medicinal value, both at the time of the Romans and in the year 2002. • In short, it just won't go away. Any history of wine would not be complete without the story of Galen, who was. the imperial physician to the Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, in the 2nd century Ap. Galen had already seen that wine had the ability to disinfect wounds, and was further convinced that it had medicinal powers as well. True to his task, he proceeded to engage in one of the first known wine-tasting tests by sampling all those available, just to make sure that the emperor had the best medicine available. He probably settled on products from the Falerian region near Naples since it was generally considered that the finest wines came from there. You would think that the Romans would spare no effort to sample the quality to its fullest; on the contrary they never drank wine by itself; -such a practice was considered barbaric. Instead they diluted it with 'various amounts of other ingredients; the most likely one was water with a ratio of 3 parts water to 1 part' wine. Not only did it give them greater quantities but it also made the water safer to drink. . This latter property was important in the groWing Roman cities and, as I explained in my article on beer, it is still valuable today. I haVe drunk both wine and beer in 'various places in the Mediterranean and the Middle East whereI simply did not trust the- water. Would you believe that during Roman times wine was also mixed with seawater, a move Arthur Black empty calories that are building us a nation - hell, a world - of doughy, overstuffed, but underfed, children. The fast food chains have done to food what Henry Ford did to cars - and what our it-is-to- laugh brewmasters have done to beer. Aside from microbrewers, who, God bless 'em, actually care how their product looks and tastes, most of the folks who make our beer could be turning out laundry soap, ceiling tiles or diet cola for all the subtleties of taste they deliver. You know and I know that if somebody lined up eight or nine Dixie cups filled with mainstream Canadian beer in front of an average customer and asked them to identify each one, most folks couldn't pick out the 50 from the Canadian from the Kokanee from the Ex from the Blue. That's because the mainstream beer makers stopped selling beer long ago. What they sell now is...advertising. I once asked an ad executive why Canadian beer- makers spent hundreds of thousands of dollars each year sending off film crews as far as Australia to shoot elaborate, frothy, feelgood TV beer commercials. "Because all (mainstream) beer is the same" Raymond Canon The International Scene that was supposed to "enliven the wine's smoothness" according to the writer Pliny. They even went further by mixing snow, honey, 'herbs and spices, the latter two to mask the fact that the wine was turning to vinegar. Since wine could not be kept for long periods of time, it is not surprising that such steps were taken to get rid of wine "on the edge". The Romans would not be totally surprised, I am sure, if they were to know that today's study of the properties of wine show that daily consumption of moderate quantities of red wine can be said to reduce the incidence of heart attacks by as much as 40 per cent. Don't Continued from page 4 most readily admit they would not be able to represent their individual concerns and issues to government officials. That's_why general farm organizations like OFA exist, so why the reluctance to play an active role In supporting this work -that farmers do on behalf of other farmers`' Commodity organizations work with governments too, but usually to deal only with commodity-specific matters. That's where general farm organizations come into the picture — to pressure governments at all levels to consider the best interests of the agricultural community that aren't directly linked to• a particular commodity. Respondents were also invited to list reasons they didn't want to support the Ontario Federation of Agriculture. Replies under this heading covered a broad spectrum of thinking. he said. "It looks the same and it tastes the same. So what we're really selling is the label." But I'm off on my Whateverhappenedto- goodor beer rant - what I was talking about was fast food outlets and what they've done to the concept of eating out. It's not just the fare they serve, it's the whole experience. You don't get served at fast food joints • - you get processed. Everything is designed to get you in, fill your order, take your money and move you out as fast as possible. The mustard,, relish and catsup dispensers are strategically placed for maximum efficiency. The tables and chairs are welded to the floor so as not to interfere with traffic flow. Well, you know what? Eating a restaurant meal isn't supposed to be the equivalent of a pit stop at the Indy 500. It's meant to be joyous and leisurely with conversation and laughter - even singing. And I believe that somewhere deep in the cortex -of our lizard brains we all remember that. They're remembering at the McDonald's outlet in Dayton, Tennessee. Every Thursday night the restaurant hosts a two-hour show of gospel and bluegrass music. ' Visitors are encouraged to sing along as they chomp their Big Macs and sip their Slurpees. And you know what? The restaurant does 5 to 10 per cent more business on Thursday compared to any other night of the week. And it's catching. The Hardee's down the road is launching a special- menu-gospel-music show for Tuesday nights. The greening of fast food - who'da thunk? Interesting concept — Mahalia and Bill Monroe with your EggMcMuffin. You want fries with that? be surprised if some day you see some advertising suggesting that a specific red wine has better success in doing just that than other wines. For all I know, it could well be one stocked by the LCBO. In the meantime we would also not be surprised to learn that wine experts, like their beer counterparts, are trying to recreate Roman wines. One of the resqlts is a white wine that is lightly flavoured with salt water, another has spices and honey added to it. If you want to try a Roman aperitif, mix half a cup of honey with a bottle of white wine and refrigerate. I won't tell you how I made out but I would be interested in hearing youlr findings. Another expert argues that the closest modern wines get to their Roman counterparts are found in young, sweet white wines made in Germany or near the French town of Vouvray. As far as red wines are concerned, the closest are Italian made with the Aglianico grape. I went to the Moselle River in Germany to try the white wines suggested abo-ve. I did not, however, add any water. Some reflected individual issues from the distant past where someone wasn't satisfied with a personality representing OFA at that time, and continue to hold that reasoning as justification -to request a refund: Others made the observation that Ontario's farm organizations won't work together to take a single voice to governments. That's a legitimate observation that can only be corrected when enough farmers work' from within their organizations to direct their leaders to understand and respect the need to change the situation. These responses have been informative to read, and the suggestions will be considered as OFA strives to meet the needs and expectations of Ontario farmers. By Jack Wilkinson, President, Ontario Federation of Agriculture. Bonnie Gropp The short of it Not this time Mother Nature does have a demented sense of humour. For the first day of spring she brought us some of the worst weather of winter, wrathful, without warmth. ./ Having heard promises of an early arrival of the greening season, this latest blast was• a spiteful reminder that the matriarch of our environment answers to no one. A fanciful creature she can be in turn charming and loathsome, but always surprising, always in charge. It wasn't just humans caught off guard by her latest joke. I watched, and felt so badly for a rather expectant robin shivering as she sought shelter in the tiny but sturdy branches of a hydrangea shrub. Snow covered her dinner table, and it will be quite some time before there is a variety of suitable housing materials available as they lie hidden and frozen. For us, however, the big issue is generally about travel. We have our cozy homeS, and we can always find sustenance. But, society does • nothing anymore which doesn't require getting from one place to another. And having endured months of Mother Nature's capricious nature, I for one was not the least amused by her latest whim. Heading to work on Friday as squalls and snow showed little hint of abating, I slithered along on slippery roads, bounced through drifts, and gazed bleary-eyed through a usually thin, but often heavy veil of white; Key to my purpose was the driving need to get to the office, organize some tasks and complete others. Some things just simply can't get done at home. However, there are others which can, and it with wi h this thought that I piled some .t projects over by my coat, ready for a getaway, because I had decided enroute, I was heading back as soon as possible. There was no way I was going to risk getting caught by deteriorating weather, or worse, stuck away from home. It's interesting that when I consider a vacation, time away from work, the last place I want to spend it is home. Yet, when blocked roads mean a sleepover, there is a frustration. This is no rest from the commonplace, no adventure. I want my own cozy four walls. I want to provide my own sustenance. There's always been something about being trapped away in a snowstorm which raises my. panic level. I remember travelling a closed highway so that I wouldn't have to spend a weekend away from home. Seeing the sign of my town brought tears to my eyes. Yet, weakness was soon replaced by the confidence of success. I did make it, atter all, stupid though it may have been to try. On another occasion, friends and 1 were caught in Michigan, and despite warnings to stay put, fought the weather in increments to get back to our families. We arrived no sooner than if we had waited until it all ended; but at least we had a sense of purpose during those three days. I suppose that is the frustration. The situation is out of my control. Well, Mother Nature may have had a good chuckle this past week, but I still have sonic power. It was with a sense of satisfaction that as she raged, and ranted, I worked and watched front home. She didn't catch me this time. Will that be red or white? Letter to the Editor