National Post (National Edition)
`Cease all tartare operations' ... or else
New Brunswick health officials are depriving people of one of the great culinary joys in life: steak tartare. The raw meat delicacy, a French classic long served at restaurants around the world and famously loved by the likes of Anthony Bourdain, Gordon Ramsay and even Sigmund Freud, is deemed unsafe and is being forcibly pulled from menus across the province.
This month, eleven restaurants were served notice to stop serving the dish. Chef Luc Doucet of Moncton's popular Black Rabbit restaurant told The Canadian Press he was “Blindsided ... I got an email from health inspectors that they needed a meeting and they showed up Thursday and served us a letter to cease all tartare operations and take it off the menu.”
You'd think health bureaucrats would have bigger things to worry about during a pandemic, but, of course, this is Canada.
NANNY STATE WOULD
PREFER TO ERR ON THE
SIDE OF DICTATORIAL
CAUTION. — MADDEAUX
This is a country that revels in legislating against pleasurable things that have little to no real risk at the expense of the public's freedom and, in this case, tastebuds.
Did New Brunswick have a single good reason for this display of food tyranny? Nope. By their own admission, there was no freak tartare incident where someone got sick or died. There was no new study warning about the dangers of raw beef. According to Bruce Macfarlane, a spokesman for the Department of Health, “(t)hese letters have not been issued as the result of people becoming ill from consuming these foods — instead, they are issued because of general food safety concerns, as eating raw or lightly cooked meats may increase the risk of food poisoning.”
This isn't just a New Brunswick phenomenon though. Canadian officials have long had an absurd obsession with forcing people to eat food most of the world would consider vastly overcooked. Canada is the only G8 country that prohibits the production for sale, transportation and consumption of raw milk and cheese, dooming its people to bland dairy and digestion discomfort. This isn't some law that simply exists on the books; the government actually spends taxpayer money to fund undercover operations and criminally prosecute farmers who flout these dictates.
Nevermind that raw dairy is served at practically every single restaurant in France and the French, as well as the millions of tourists who visit the country each year, seem to be doing just fine.
Try ordering a rare — or even medium — hamburger in Canada. I do it often, and usually this is what happens: a look of abject fear flashes in the server's eyes before they say they aren't legally allowed to do so, but they'll see how outlawish the chef is feeling today. Sometimes you get lucky and score a hint of pink, but more often you get a hard slab of cow deprived of its natural flavour and texture that borders on carcinogenic. This is because it's illegal in most provinces and municipalities to serve burgers cooked to less than 71 degrees Celsius, which is a full 8 degrees above medium-rare.
Again, countless Americans just south of our border enjoy rare hamburgers with no dire consequences every single day. However, our relentless nanny state would prefer to err on the side of dictatorial caution.
In New Brunswick, not only is tartare off the menu, it's also illegal to serve a rare or blue steak. Provincial rules demand steaks be cooked to a minimum of 63 degrees Celsius, which is medium-rare. Note that meat lovers in most other places consider steaks cooked beyond this threshold to be a culinary sin.
In 2004, Ontario tried to ban fresh sushi before righteous outrage forced officials to scrap the rule. Six provinces currently outlaw the sale of junk food in schools. In Ontario, pizza companies had to alter their recipes so they could still legally continue the cherished tradition of pizza days. Transporting wine or beer across provincial borders was illegal until 2019 and enjoying a drink in a park or on the beach still makes you a criminal in most Canadian cities.
Enough already. Canadians are historically complacent about government overreach, but even big government proponents should be alarmed by the Orwellian phrase “cease all tartare operations.” This is a country where farmers are currently in court fighting for their constitutional right to sell good cheese. As we attempt to open up post-COVID, health officials' comfort with creating and enforcing nonsensical, despotic rules poses a real threat to regaining the freedoms we once took for granted.
First they came for the tartare, but who knows what could be next.