gluttony

Saturday June 20, 2020

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday June 20, 2020

The end of the buffet as we know it?

December 4, 2013

The COVID-19 pandemic may be the end of the restaurant buffet as we know it. 

With concerns over the spread of the virus heightening concerns around food safety, the fill-your-plate dining concept is facing serious challenges.

Some Alberta restaurant operators believe that long after anxiety around the spread of the virus subsides, customers won’t have an appetite for self-serve eats. 

Some buffets shuttered by the pandemic may be gone forever, said Oscar Lopez, the founder of Pampa Brazilian Steakhouse, a chain of five Alberta restaurants. 

“That’s the $2-million question,” Lopez said. “This is part of a huge industry.

December 13, 2013

“We’ve been thinking about it a lot.” 

After months of public health messaging about virus prevention, customers may have become permanently put off by sneeze guards and shared spoons, Lopez said. 

He wonders how long the world-famous buffets of the Las Vegas strip will remain closed, or if now-docked cruise ships will ever serve their food in the same way again. 

Even when Alberta health restrictions prohibiting buffets are lifted, his chain of restaurants may never operate them again. 

June 11, 2014

“An emotional scar has been left on people,” he said. “I’m skeptical. I don’t know. 

“When Alberta Health Services allows us to reopen our salad bar operation, I’m not quite sure that we will. I think that will have to do a lot with what the public’s reaction is, what their memory of this whole situation is.

“We may just keep doing what we’re doing.”

Pampa is known for its rodizio-style service. Customers sample from shared plates and meat skewers served by waiters circulating from table to table. The salad bar is also a huge draw, Lopez said.

Coronavirus cartoons

Since reopening, the restaurant is now plating its food individually in the kitchen. Tables are carefully spaced two metres apart. The salad bar is closed indefinitely. 

Lopez considered having an attendant for the buffets but said he was advised by health inspectors that it would be too difficult to keep customers a safe distance apart from each other. 

“Almost overnight we had to reinvent ourselves and sort of reteach our team on our new style of service, so we’re kind of learning as we go.” 

Most customers have been accommodating, he said, but some reservations have been cancelled.

“It looks empty. It looks sad. We have lost a lot of the ambience in the restaurant.” (CBC)

Letter to the Editor, Wednesday June 24, 2020

June 20 cartoon missing racialized customers

I want to thank The Spectator for giving us a great example of systemic racism: A cartoon with seven people at the buffet table and not one racialized person. I guess only white people in Hamilton go to buffet restaurants. Despite the fact that systemic barriers exist everywhere, people continue to be blind to them.

Jorge Lasso, Hamilton

Friday, December 13, 2013

Friday, December 13, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday, December 13, 2013

It pays to be an Executive working for the Ontario Government

Ontarians have for too long been the victims of a culture of entitlement at Ontario Power Generation, says Premier Kathleen Wynne.

She was reacting Wednesday to a scathing report from the provincial auditor general that slammed the utility for its overly generous salaries, bonuses and pensions.

“I am deeply concerned about what seems to be the culture in that organization, which is why changes are being made. We are going to bring in legislation to actually allow us to have more ability to control those compensation packages,” Wynne told reporters at Queen’s Park.

Ironically, she had just spoken to members of CARP, a senior advocacy group, about enhancements to the Canada Pension Plan.

Auditor general Bonnie Lysyk said the “very generous” compensation for senior staff at OPG, which was created after Ontario Hydro was broken up, is being passed on to ratepayers, who face a 42-per-cent rise in their electricity bills over the next five year.

Within hours of the damning report being delivered, Energy Minister Bob Chiarelli announced that three highly paid senior OPG executives were canned.

The compensation controversy is just the latest to hit the minority Liberal government bedevilled by a litany of spending problems, including the gas plants debacle that could cost taxpayers up to $1.1 billion. (Source: Toronto Star)

The governing Liberals confirmed Wednesday that ousted Ornge CEO Chris Mazza collected $9.3-million over six years at the province’s publicly funded air ambulance service.

The figure, which was recently reported, “is accurate,” Health Minister Deb Matthews said Wednesday after testifying at a legislative committee.

That includes salary, bonuses, expenses and other fees, she said. A summary sheet outlining what Mazza collected will be provided to the committee to “make it all clear.”

A legislative committee looking into the Ornge spending scandal had previously heard that Mazza made $1.4-million in a single year, on top of hefty loans totalling $1.2-million. (Source: Toronto Star)

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Wednesday, February 27, 2013By Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Could Mike Duffy and Pam Wallin be turfed from the Senate?

For Senators Mike Duffy and Pam Wallin, the fundamental question is not whether they fiddled their expense accounts. It is whether they even qualify under the Constitution to be members of Parliament’s upper house.

This is the real import of the latest Senate scandal. Those who are not “residents” of the provinces or territories they purport to represent can’t sit in the Senate. Period. The Constitution is quite clear.

Yes, Duffy has promised to pay back the more than $42,000 in housing allowances he obtained by claiming a primary residence in Prince Edward Island. And yes, Wallin has reportedly agreed to repay some of the $350,000 she took as recompense for flights to undisclosed locations.

Yet as they try to deal with these misspending charges, both are acknowledging something far more serious. They don’t live in the provinces they claim to represent — at least not in the way most Canadians would understand.

Wallin says she spent just 168 days last year in Saskatchewan, the province she was appointed to speak for. That’s not enough to qualify her for, say, a Saskatchewan health card (the magic number there is 182 days).

Indeed, the Star has reported she holds an Ontario health card — a privilege granted only to permanent residents of Ontario.

Duffy has given up the fiction that he lives in Prince Edward Island, the province he claims to represent, and has admitted that his real home is the Ottawa suburb of Kanata. (Source: Toronto Star)

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Wednesday December 23, 2004

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday December 23, 2004

Fat December

A stroll after Christmas dinner is part of many families’ festive timetable – but heart experts say a pre-dinner walk is a good idea. Glasgow University research for the British Heart Foundation found it could help reduce the damage done by too much Christmas pudding.

It says a 90-minute walk lowers fat levels in the blood and improves blood vessel function.

The study is published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

They said the health benefits of a long stroll remained even after the walker had eaten a high-fat, high-carbohydrate meal.

The researchers studied 10 lean and 10 obese middle-aged men.

Each was tested twice for his response to a fatty meal, with the tests performed a week or two apart.

On the afternoon before one of the tests, each man walked on a treadmill for 90 minutes. In the second test, no exercise was done.

The researchers found that both lean and obese men benefited from taking exercise.

Levels of triglycerides (blood fats) were reduced by 25% both before and after the fatty meal.

The researchers also looked at the endothelium, the inner wall of the blood vessels which provides an important defence against the build-up of fatty deposits inside the blood vessels.

These deposits can disrupt blood flow and lead to a heart attack.

Exercise appeared to improve the function of the endothelium by 25% before the meal and 15% afterwards.

The researchers say that, as well as offering a timely reminder about the counteracting a rich diet with plenty of exercise, their findings suggested some possible explanations for its protective effects.

They said it showed that exercise can both improve the way the body metabolises food and help blood vessels resist the harmful effects of fatty foods.

And that it demonstrated that just one exercise session can provide immediate benefits that last at least a day. (Source: BBC)