Growing up in the suburbs of Northern Virginia, my parents were extremely safety conscious: we kids always wore our SPF 30 and hats, we biked on the sidewalk, wore our seatbelts, but when it came to meat, my mom liked to run a little on the wild side. Although we never ate a rare steak or hamburger, we sure used a lot of napkins and that wasn’t because of the A1 Sauce (my mother abhorred A1). I remember my mom’s cutting board brimming with the steak’s red juice along the board’s gutters. Yum! She always bought the best quality meats and the only thing I can fault her with her hamburgers was buying buns that were always way too big for the burger. I’m so glad I had this juicy experience because if my dad was in charge everything would be well and well-burnt. He was always so afraid of anything juicy because his mother cooked everything to death and warned him about the dangers of trichinosis. Yes, different meat, but same risk. Thank goodness he let my mom cook, although he manned the grill. I know I blocked out those arguments about meat temperature and his mother. All I could smell was the seared beef drifting in through the screen as I popped another tomato meant for the burgers into my mouth.
Why am I going down burger memory lane? My good friend, Steven Elliot, owner of Falls River Books and Northgate Books is passionate about making rare burgers legal in North Carolina (Read more about rare burgers at Steven’s website). Although I’m not a rare burger fan, I can understand why he wants burger lovers to have a choice. Because of fears of undercooked ground meat causing an E. coli outbreak, North Carolina requires all restaurants to cook their burgers to 155 Fahrenheit, which eliminates you from having a rare, medium rare or even a medium beef patty. Overcooked burgers don’t taste good even if you dunk the whole thing in a bottle of ketchup. If NC restaurants do serve rare hamburgers they receive demerits from the Department of Environmental Health which can affect their restaurant rating.
Steven wants restaurants to allow rare hamburgers to be served to anyone older than 18. Hey, the restaurants can even issue a disclaimer on their menus. Even if you don’t like rare hamburgers, is it right that the state can tell you how you like yours done? Imagine never seeing a burger that’s pink in the middle—that was my dad’s experience until he married my mom.
With Steven’s persistence and advocacy, the rare burger ban in North Carolina may be a thing of the past next year. Stay tuned!
Alice Osborn, M.A. is the author of two books of poetry, Unfinished Projects (Main Street Rag, 2010) and Right Lane Ends (Catawba, 2006); she is a manuscript editor, freelance writer and storyteller. A former Raleigh Charter High School English teacher, Alice has served as a Writer-in-Residence in the United Arts Artists in the Schools program since 2009 and has taught creativity, poetry, memoir and blogging workshops to Triangle residents for five years. Her work has appeared in Raleigh’s News and Observer, Soundings Review, The Pedestal Magazine, and in numerous journals and anthologies. She lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with her husband and two children. Visit her website: www.aliceosborn.com.
Alice Osborn, Writer & Editor’s Posts – 919 Business Networking – Local Business Owners & Professionals
