Carnivores Beware (Or: Forget the hot dog -- I'll take a salad)

The other day, my mom clipped out a timely article from our local paper severely warning readers to shun grilled meat. Why? Because, like everything else it seems -- from deodorant to bubble bath to the air we breathe -- it now (potentially) causes cancer.

It's Memorial Day, one of the biggest grilling days of the year. It has been for decades. Supermarkets post every grillable meat item they have on sale, luring carnivorous buyers. Gas tanks are filled up, and spares are on hand. Charcoal is ready for ignition. Hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, bratwurst, and the 2,000 other species of tubular meat is ready to go, sporting every rub and sauce and marinade known to mankind.

And now we're warned? Now we're told to forgo that hot dog or sausage or burger and eat some greens instead? Turn off the grill forever and have a PB&J sandwich?!

Science stepped in here. The intense heat of the grill reacts negatively with the proteins in the meat, causing carcinogenic chemicals. And then the fat drips off the meat into the fire, causing other carcinogenic chemicals to mix in with the smoke. The smoke rises up and sticks to the meat, blanketing that rib-eye in a cancer marinade. And forget the hot dogs and sausages and other processed-type meats -- it's even worse, for the "fake" stuff is an instant cancer magnet. Between the bun, ketchup, and pickles is a giant, juicy cancer bomb. We all pretty much know not to eat charred meat; a hot dog that's completely black should obviously not be ingested. But to not grill at all? OUCH!

I love grilled meat. Chicken, steak, burgers, fish, you name it -- it tastes pretty incredible when cooked on a grill. The thought of not doing this again, or maybe only 3 times a year (vs. 3 times a week) actually makes me kind of sad. But I don't get it ... why is this news all of a sudden? Why the fear? I told Don about this -- the grill master in our family -- and I kind of laughed, saying that mankind has been roasting their kill over a fire since the caveman days ... and all of a sudden now, millions of years later, we have to stop because it's bad for us?

It's interesting, really. I'm not a scientist, but I don't think the meat-over-the-fire is what's necessarily bad. I wonder if human beings have evolved over the years in some way, our bodies in some way are no longer able to handle or process what goes into them. Don said (rather cerebrally) that it might just be a sign of the progression of what it means to experience life on this earth. My mom wondered how far cancer goes back. And don't even mention the hormones and who-knows-what-else goes into the animal before it turns into our dinner ... that can't help either, I'm sure. The Caveman didn't salivate over a grilled meal of hormone-enhanced mammoth.

Earlier this week we had steak seasoned with a dry rub of sage, basil, salt and pepper. Grilled.
The next night we had chicken seasoned with a dry rub of marjoram, salt, and pepper. Grilled.
Last night we had friends over for dinner, enjoying ligunica sausage, asparagus, and some Mediterranean cheese. Grilled.
Today is Memorial Day. Later this afternoon we're going to Jim and Michelle's house for a family picnic. Jim's in charge of the hamburgers and hot dogs. Grilled.

I think we just used up our entire yearly allotment of grilled meat over this past week.

It's just all really interesting. So what do you think? Are you ready to sell your grill on ebay and forgo grilling from henceforth and for all eternity?

Happy Memorial Day to you all, regardless of what you decide to eat.