Sir, – Can we stop the criticism and national flagellation and start congratulating the food regulatory authorities and Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney for finding a problem and dealing with the issues promptly and efficiently in the full glare of Europe’s media. It speaks volumes for the quality control in this important Irish industry.
How high would the praise be if our financial regulatory authorities had acted with the same diligence seven or eight years ago! – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Perhaps the rather selective Irish distaste for horse meat might be considerably sweetened if consumers thought of the massive subsidies and tax efficiencies afforded to the cosseted Irish horse breeding and racing industry as they sank their teeth into finest Kildare horse flesh, complete with a rich and thick Cheltenham relish, naturally. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Larry Goodman (Front page, January 19th) states: “We are talking about DNA testing and DNA will pick up molecules and something in the air”. Perhaps Pegasus? – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Joe O’Rourke (January 19th) wonders why there is no ham in hamburgers.
Overlooking the fact that this can evidently not be taken for granted, it is for the same reason that there are not (one hopes) significant amounts of minced Frank in a frankfurter.
In German many dishes are named after cities – a Florentiner, for instance, is an almond biscuit. Hence hamburger, which should specifically mean a patty of ground beef, but it’s easy to see how the word burger took on a life of its own in English, to be prefixed by beef, chicken, “vege”, and so on, not forgetting the uniquely Irish spice and batter variants, and recent controversial innovations.
Surrealists should note that John F Kennedy’s famous Cold War declaration “Ich bin ein Berliner” could translate as “I am an iced doughnut”, and schoolboy humorists will have no difficulty in deciphering the origin of the American slang “wiener”, from the famously diminutive Vienna sausage.
I trust this clarifies the matter. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – I hope there was no dog in my “hot dog” last night! – Yours, etc,