The WSJ reported this story about how much harder it is for big-headed chefs to smuggle contraband meat into the country in the wake of the Christmas Day Underwear Bomber.
Oh, boo-hoo.
As with most travelers who think US Customs & Agriculture restrictions are 1) quaint; 2) not applicable to them; or 3) an intellectual challenge to be overcome on principle, these clowns don’t even bother to show any sort of chagrin about their activities. This isn’t smuggling, they say; smuggling = drugs. We’re engaged in, in…educational endeavors. Yes, this is educational, not criminal!
(Educational in the sense that they’re trying to pirate proprietary product information from European artisans so as to improve their own revenue stream.)
The reporter seems to admire their escapades, giving them a Peck’s-Bad-Boy-meets-Robin-Hood patina. He buries the little fact that the bans on importing this stuff is for the protection of, you know, the American people & our own agriculture business. The sausages & salamis they slip down their socks can contain all sorts of nasties like bacteria that can spread disease much wider than their restaurant patronage.
Naturally, the chefs don’t comment on that little fact, nor does the writer ask them about it. “So, you’re saying that knowing which spices go into coppa di Testa so you can have a new menu item three months out of the year outweighs the spread of disease throughout the domestic pig population?” No, that might be awkward--they might not comp him a meal if he did that.
Way to focus, egotistical morons; way to show your civic values.
