CLONED STEAKS...AM I DREAMING???

I don't know how many of you have caught the recent news articles regarding the FDA's stance that food from certain cloned animals and their offspring is safe to eat and that current FDA regulations could allow for these products to find their way into our grocery baskets without any notice, special labeling or guidelines!!!

WHAT? Did I miss something? Have I been dreaming?

I thought with the outbreak of "Mad Cow Desease" in Europe a few years back and the few isolated cases of it found in North America had started to raise awareness both on the part of the consumer and on the part of our government agencies that we should ALL start being a little more careful about what goes into our bodies!!!

More and more articles are written weekly about the benefits of "organic" "all-natural" and "sustainable" ingredients being used to prepare our meals. The benefits are two-fold in that it is better for us personally as well as better for our environment.

Here in Maine, one of the larger grocery store chains has been marketing heavily their whole new "All-Natural" line of food stuffs. Stores like "Whole Foods" continue to open in state after state with local consumers lining up to shop at these stores.

Would anyone really want to be eating a thick and juicy "cloned" Porterhouse, hot of the grill? Does any mother out there actually think that feeding her child a "cloned" cheeseburger sounds like a good idea?

When I was a kid growing up in Connecticut, I can remember a TV commercial for some brand of "artificial" butter (margarine), where deep in the forest, surrounded by wild animals, stood Mother Nature (in all her beauty) crunching on a piece of toasted "white" bread covered with this lovely concoction of synthetic lard. Suddenly, she aggressively thrusts her hands towards the heavens proclaiming that "It's not nice to fool Mother Nature" as the dark clouds fall upon the forest and the wild creatures scury off looking for shelter from the ensuing fury about to be bestowed upon the earth. I cannot stop and think how appropriate that commercial seems to be today in the face of this news from the FDA.

What is your take? Would you be content going to your local grocery store or out to a restaurant and ordering up your favorite steak, cooked just the way you like it, not knowing if this culinary marvel was in fact from a "cloned" animal? Would you be the least bit disturbed pulling up to your favorite "fast food" joint and "super-sizing" some "cloned" ground beef? Not what I would call a "Happy Meal"!!!

Is there anyone out there that thinks that the idea of digesting any food which comes to us from a "cloned" animal is a Good Idea? I would love to hear your rational!

For me, tofu and veggie-burgers are sounding better and better and I cannot stomach the taste of veggie-burgers and tofu does nothing for me from a culinary point of view.

Please let me know your thoughts on this one!

Thanks,

Chef John

http://www.cookwithjohn.com/

john@cookwithjohn.com

To TIP or Not To TIP?

My wife, Cindy, and I just returned from spending New Years on the beautiful island of Bermuda.

It's been more then 25 years since our Honeymoon visit and the island has changed a great deal, but it is still lovely, the locals extremely friendly and polite and genuinely appreciate the tourist trade.

During the first half of the week, the weather was ideal - mid 70's, sunny, low wind...the second half was a mixed bag of sun - then rain - then wind - then sun and so on. (For those who have not visited the island, tourist are not allowed to operate automobiles so visitors have one of two means of transport...Taxi's, which can get very expensive very quickly or the rental of scooters). Having opted for the latter, we did get caught several times traveling from one end of the island to the other only to find ourselves in the middle of a downpour. But that is a whole other topic.

We had the opportunity to dine all over the island,from St. Georges to the Royal Naval Dockyard and we found that all but one of the restaurants we dined at added a mandatory 15% "Service Charge" to the tab (the Swizzle Inn was the only place we found that did not add the charge and they went out of their way to make sure that guests understood that fact!).

As I sat enjoying a pint of the Frog and Onion's Black Anchor Porter, it dawned on me that the USA is one if not the only country that does not impose a mandatory "Service Charge" for restaurant meals. Canada, France, Spain, Ireland, England, Germany, etc. all have an added "Service Charge".

I know that recently several big name restaurants in New York, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles have tried unsuccessfully to implement such a charge but patrons have threatened to boycott these establishments if they did not rethink this practice.

So, my question is this: Is it time for the US market to re-evaluate the whole Gratuity or T.I.P.S. (To Insure Proper Service) method of server compensation or not? Should we accept a standard percentage rate be applied to our final bill at the end of a restaurant meal? Should the food industry pay all their employees competitive wages and simply adjust their menu prices to reflect this change?

I have worked in restaurants throughout North America for the past 36 years and I can make the argument for or against a mandatory "Service Charge", but I want to know your feelings.

Please remember to keep posts positive and please, please, please keep your posts on point.

Thanks for your input,

Chef John

http://www.cookwithjohn.com/

john@cookwithjohn.com