What Makes Us Label (Almost) Everything?

As I do every morning, today I got up, got my coffee and settled down on the sofa to ingest the life-liquid as quickly as I possibly could. Matt usually gets up a couple hours before I do so the television is already on when I “shuffle my slipperless toes to the kitchen” most days.

Most mornings he goes for the Today Show. It’s easy and always there. Reliable.

Before I go on here I’d just like to say that I have nothing specific against the Today Show. I’ve watched that show on and off for years. I was even a little sad when Katie Couric left. The way I feel about the story I saw this morning isn’t specifically attacking the show.

Instead, my baffled head shake comes from the fact that people must want to hear about stuff like this, otherwise they wouldn’t report the story. The people out there in news program land enjoy hearing stories like this one, it isn’t about placing blame on “news” anchors or the writers.

Now I know a bunch of you probably think I’m talking about the Amy Schumer v. Glamour Magazine debacle that took place a couple days ago. They have a Plus Size women issue, Amy gets named in the issue, they don’t label her as plus size but she freaks anyway and takes to twitter to release her frustration.

No. I mean, that story is an interesting experiment in political correctness but it isn’t the labeling issue I’m referring to this morning.

What got me all riled up this morning has to do with food.

Before you say the “ugh” that’s dying to escape from your throat give me a minute.

You know I’m pretty environmentally focused, and that goes for the planet as a whole as well as the tiny speck of space I inhabit on the blue and green rock. I like my home to be clean and try for a chemical-free existence. I prefer to make a lot of my own stuff like laundry detergent and lotion. And I try to buy organic options whenever possible.

So, with all that said, you might be thinking I’m talking about labeling food with GMOs. And in a way, I guess I am, but that still isn’t the issue at hand. It raises a whole bunch of questions though and here’s why:

The story I saw this morning was about labeling our junk food with recommended exercise time in order to work it off.

Now, I’m not sure you had the same reaction as I did. Mine went something like this:

I’m sorry, but, what the actual fuck?

Once that went through my mind, the next three things I thought about, in this exact order, were:

• We can’t get GMO labeling but this stupid shit is okay?
• Who in the hell thought of this and how did it end up as a story on a morning talk show?
• Idiocracy

I really can’t understand this world we live in sometimes. Big huge corporations are creating seeds resistant to pesticide and pests – and they all tell us those seeds are perfectly safe to consume – but the fight to have packages marked with that information is like asking the CEO of that huge company to pull his teeth out with a pair of rusty pliers.

Who wants to place bets that we get big bold stickers next to all the nutrition information on our bags of chips that tell us to shove in 5 of those chips then go do 100 sit ups before the fight is even over on GMO labeling?

Like I said, it makes me sad for our society. Watching people watching segments like that and knowing there are tons of people sitting at home and nodding along at just how great an idea that is makes me mental.

I mean, come on.

And I don’t mean to offend anyone here, because I’m basically talking about myself, but if you’re a person who sits around shoving snack foods, junk food, fast food down your gullet, is it safe to assume you don’t really give a shit about the nutrition label that says you need to go jog around the block?

Because, and answer me honestly here, what’s the first thing you want to do after ingesting a few (hundred) handfuls of cheddar and sour cream chips? I may not know you but, using myself as the example again, I feel pretty secure in saying it isn’t 'go to the gym'. At least not for the majority of the world.

The good news, if for nobody other than Mike Judge, is that at least we’ll all know how much we have to exercise while drinking our butter. It's just unfortunate, that butter is probably going to kill us with chemicals before we ever get off our ass to go workout.

• • • • • • • • • • •
In addition to this drivel I also write books, both fiction and non-fiction.
Learn more on my author page.

Under the Wire with The Dish!

I tossed and turned. My brain was all tingly with excitement for the vast array of possibilities. A burger recipe. That is what we were charged with conceptualizing for The Dish! in June and immediately I realized it would be no easy task. There are so many different types of burgers it was going to take some serious crafting to come up with the perfect one.

I toyed around with the idea of a meatless burger because the veggie burgers they sell in the store are not only processed but always seem to have mushrooms. I figured “If you want something done right, do it yourself”. Unfortunately my limited brain capacity for cooking didn’t really allow a good filter and I never came up with anything (yet, I swear it will happen one day!)

Instead Matt was the one to cook up some ground turkey burgers by adding a whole bunch of spices and some home grown basil to make one super tasty treat! We cooked them on our George Foreman grill and although we didn’t have sliced cheese, Matt improvised and pulled some string cheese for his own unique take on a cheese burger.

So here’s Uncle Matty’s Spicy Chipotle Turkey Burgers

1 lb ground turkey (85/15 fat)
¼ tsp ground chipotle spice
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Mix it up well and grill to your desired level of done-ness. We like just medium so did 12 minutes on the Foreman Grill. We ate them on light wheat buns; top with your favorite condiments.

Now Matt also mixed up ½ tsp chipotle, ¾ tsp sea salt, ½ tsp garlic powder and 1/8 tsp ground black pepper to sprinkle over our fries on the side. He baked for about 20 minutes on 400.

The meal was spicy but not “mouth on fire oh no I might pass out” hot which was just perfect on the cool night we ate these.

Now are you a burger person like we are? If you are and you write about it then submit your link to The Dish! by July 5, 2010 and you could win a $60 CSN Stores gift certificate to spend however you want.

Um, score!

Seriously, we all know burgers of some sort will probably be involved in our meal plan this upcoming weekend so why not snap a photo of it & toss a post up on your blog? You might just win the GC but even if you don’t win that you score anyway because you got an awesome burger out of it!