By: Vincent L. Hall
You may or may not remember Clara Pelley, based on your age and lifelong experiences, but as the culture would say, IYKYK! (If you know, you know!) On January 10 (my birthday), 42 years ago, a Chicago manicurist made history in three words… “Where’s the Beef!”
She first shouted this line in a famous Wendy’s Commercial. In the ad, she looks at a giant hamburger bun with a tiny meat patty inside, mocking rival fast-food chains. The short line quickly became a massive cultural pop-reference and everyday slang for asking if an idea or product has any real substance.”
Clara was the first thing that ambled into my mind as I listened to Eric Schlosser celebrate the 25th anniversary of his blockbuster book, “Fast Food Nation,” on “Democracy Now!” And yes, you’re damn right, I’m tuned to that podcast every day, so don’t get in my car complaining. Here’s how Amazon describes the book.
“The jaw-dropping food industry exposé on how America’s fast-food industry has shaped the landscape of America.
This fascinating study of corporate power reveals how the fast-food industry has altered the landscape of America, widened the gap between rich and poor, fueled an epidemic of obesity, and transformed food production throughout the world.
Eric Schlosser inspires readers to look beneath the surface of our food system, consider its impact on society and, most of all, think for themselves. This book has changed the way millions of people think about what they eat and helped to launch today’s food movement.”
Fast Food Nation was so informative and transformative that it was developed into a documentary just six years later. But the horrors Schlosser described in the American food system a quarter of a century ago are nothing compared to the nightmare we face today.
Schlosser went straight to the point. He stated that although American ranchers and farmers fell headlong for Trump, his policies were hurting them tremendously. Trump recently signed a proclamation to sidestep the federal law requiring products to bear a label stating where they were made.
“President Trump made a proclamation saying that 660 million pounds could be coming into the country. It’s quite remarkable that we have this president who talks about “America First” and is so supported by rural America, but with a stroke of his pen is basically screwing over American ranchers. This Beef is most likely coming from Brazil.”
The author, a social and investigative reporter, also bemoaned the fact that our food supply has been monopolized. “Four large meatpacking companies control about 85% of the market for beef, whereas in the 1970s, the top four beef companies had only 21%.”
And by now you are probably asking, “Where’s the Pork?” The show’s host, Amy Goodman, mentioned Jim Pillen and his pigsty politics. The Pork baron owns a multimillion-dollar hog business that employs tens of thousands of undocumented workers, just like the beef industry. Pillen is the worst kind of hypocrite, a rich one! Amy led the next question session with a damning indictment.
“The New York Times and the Flatwater Free Press report that over the span of more than a decade, Pillen’s company—Pillen Family Farms—has relied on undocumented workers to grow into one of the largest hog producers in the U.S. Despite that, Pillen has often echoed Trump’s racist rhetoric about immigrants and a so-called “invasion.”
To say that MAGA, by membership and mantra, are a bunch of raving hypocrites is useless. And whether its politics, Christianity or patriotism, they are oxymoronically engaged.
Clara Pelley asked the question Where’s the Beef more than 40 years ago. A better question today, as you sashay down the grocery aisle, is “Where did that Beef Come From? You don’t know and President Pork Loins doesn’t intend for you to know. Where’s the Beefeaters? I need a “drank!”
A long-time Texas Metro News columnist, Dallas native Vincent L. Hall is an author, writer, award-winning writer, and a lifelong Drapetomaniac.
