Sunday, July 05, 2015

Food Fight!


Believe or not, there’s a food fight going on!  Part of the fight affects us, the consumers, directly, such that we find ourselves being “beaten” by the fast food industry.  The other part is more indirect, where one fast food chain is having a food fight with another, and we, the consumers, are stuck in the middle.

I found myself amused when I came across a blurb that outlined how fast-food joint employees were warned against eating some of their employer’s dishes.  Comments included: dirty machines that are rarely cleaned; meats that are left out for days; recycled meats; and artificial products that are microwaved and then left in containers for hours.  What a revelation—and sarcasm intended!  If thinking that this might be going on makes you sick, then imagine what will happen if you actually ingest the goop!  Is that direct enough for you?  Ugh, I think I’m going to barf!

Moving on to the indirect impact that this fight is having on us, we find one fast-food conglomerate jabbing at another, making fun of it while trying to promote their own version of the slop.  It pokes fun at the same monotonous menu and likens some of the dishes to land mines, just waiting for us to “step on them.”  They go so far as to portray the clowns as “evil.”  This is all out war!

Hey!  Wait a minute!  Didn’t I make similar comments about the food and clowns over a year ago in my book?  I think they stole this from me!  I think that we have a lawsuit on our hands!  However, and to use the catch phrase from Apollo 13, “Houston, we have a problem!”  I’m way too small, without any clout, and I don’t have the necessary resources, financial, or other to fight a conglomerate.  So, what can I do?  You guessed it!  I can only…blame it on fast foods!

- B. J. T. Pepin