Health By Illness?

In the past couple of weeks, Canadian processed meats and cheeses have been found to contain harmful bacteria--listeria in the meat (shipped from Ontario across the country) and salmonella in the Quebec cheese.

These outbreaks are no run-of-the-mill food poisoning; people have died. The list of affected products continues to grow. More people are paying ever-closer attention, in spite of some "food scare fatigue" following the outbreak in vegetables (jalapenos, as it turned out, not the tomatoes) earlier this summer.

I find it difficult to believe that I have not yet mentioned poutine in this blog, but that is apparently the case. Take a plate of french fries, cover it in beef gravy and cheese curds, et voila! Poutine, AKA heart attack on a plate.

Poutine is considered by some to be an important national food (read how it came to be, and how Bush came to imagine Jean Poutine to be the Canadian Prime Minister, here). Others prefer to give the spotlight to Nanaimo bars (for a photo, look here. You're on your own for recipes, but beware those with anything other than custard as the yummy creamy filling). Still others hold up the Caesar (a Bloody Mary made with Clamato) or the Persian (again, another confection; it's an overly heavy cinnamon bun with pink frosting), which is actually unique to Thunder Bay.

Is this a healthy country? Not so much, though it's no worse than the U.S. or some European countries. And if people stop loading everything with cheese and choose something other than processed meats to put into their bodies...well, it might be a bad time for Quebec poutine, but the healthcare system might appreciate a healthier population.

But it's worrisome. Continue with your regularly scheduled political festivals; we've got other stuff to think about up here.