On Boycotts and Just Not Wanting to Buy Something
After Friday's post about Buy Nothing Day, I got to thinking about boycotts. From where I sit, a boycott is the decision not to do something you'd otherwise normally do in order to make a statement of some kind. That could be a political statement, and economic statement, or any other kind of statement you might like to make. I mentioned that I didn't shop at Wal-Mart, but I'm not sure I'd completely call that a boycott. There are political and economic reasons that I don't shop there, but even before I knew about those, I didn't particularly like the feel of Wal-Mart, so I still didn't shop there. If Wal-Mart turned around on the policies I disagree with, I'm still not sure that I'd start to shop there.
In planning this post, I'd intended to talk about a recent experience I had in Ontario. We were up there a little while ago (in fact, I wrote a post extolling the virtues of Shreddies as we were returning), and we had lunch at a chain restaurant in the Toronto suburbs. Mrs. Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk ordered a hamburger medium rare and was told that it was illegal in Ontario for a restaurant to serve a hamburger cooked any less than medium well. Based on that experience, I was intending to use the example that if I lived in Ontario, I'd never get a hamburger when I was eating out. I didn't think I'd be boycotting hamburgers, just that I didn't happen to want one cooked as thoroughly as they were required to be cooked.
But then I went looking for the law that said hamburgers had to be cooked to a certain level of wellness. I was going to rail against the nanny state and complain about government sticking its nose in where it doesn't belong. Unfortunately, I couldn't find such a law. I did find a reference on Chowhound in which some anonymous commenter said that although they weren't aware that it was actually illegal to serve rare hamburger, they didn't know of anybody in Toronto who actually would (so I guess that just about clinches it). I also started wondering if the beef manufacturers might have something to say about such regulations. Surely beef sales in restaurants would suffer if the law said it had to be overcooked--wouldn't they be up in arms?
I'm curious now. Do any Canadian--or more specifically Ontario--readers know anything about such laws one way or another? Was Mrs. Talk Talk Talk Talk Talk's server simply looking for greater authority for a restaurant policy? Can I actually order a hamburger in Toronto and receive it cooked the way I want it? I may just have to boycott Ontario restaurants until I can get an answer of some kind or other.
posted by Doug @ 11:37 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
I don't know of any such law in Ontario, however, at the same time, I have never ordered a burger rare or medium rare (or been with someone who did).
Interestingly, just yesterday, my wife and I had brunch at a local favourite, and we both ordered pancakes, which we often do. My wife had, as usual, brought along her own maple syrup (since the restaurant's offering is tasteless and overly sweet) and her own strawberries to put on the pancakes. We had never had a waiter or waitress comment on us "bringing our own food" into the establishment, however yesterday the waitress spotted the berries and commented that health regulations prohibit patrons from eating "their own" food in a restaurant. As we had never heard of this so-called law, I suspect that the burger "regulation" is simply another non-existent law reflecting, as you put it, "looking for greater authority for a restaurant policy."
I've had waiters give me the old "it's against the law to cook burgers/beef below X," where X varies, but is always more cooked than I like it (like all right-thinking people, I like my meat to be medium rare). I suspect they figure "it's against the law" will shut me up, wheras "it's against restaurant policy" will simply make me ask to speak to a manager.
Similarly, I once tried to return a DVD to Best Buy and was told that they couldn't accept the return because it was against copyright law. That's not true either.
Somewhere in some Canadian forum I was looking at last night there was a comment from a person who'd never seen anyone order a hamburger less than medium. If you've never seen that, cousin jim, then you've never been with me when I've ordered a hamburger (although it seems unlikely, I suppose it's possible).
As for your experience with your wife yesterday, I've seen a number of people bring something of their own (often condiments) into a restaurant and add it to the food served. I know at least one friend who always carries her own salad dressing. Maybe the Health Department will have to start searching our bags when we go out to eat.
All I can say, Jason, is that those copyright laws are getting more and more restrictive.
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