Iowa is just Maid Rite

Maid-Rite...mmmm....Loose Meat

New York refuses to give homosexuals equal marriage rights and, with that work out of the way, has moved on* to trying to ban salt from restaurants so that, I don’t know, no one ever has to die, ever…or enjoy life, in general, or something.

Meanwhile, Iowa lets gays marry and its state senate just approved a measure that protects the traditional-but-possibly-dangerous-bacteria-friendly method of cooking Iowa’s signature sandwich, the Maid-Rite…because that’s how a proper “loose meat” sandwich is done in there parts.

A majority of senators sided with the Maid-Rite in Marshalltown to override concerns from state food-safety inspectors who question the restaurant’s cooking methods.

Some senators chafed at what they perceived as an attack on an Iowa icon and argued that the cooking method this Maid-Rite outlet has used for 82 years should be preserved.

“Maid-Rites are very important to me,” Sen. Dennis Black, D-Grinnell, said Wednesday. “I’m unaware of a single person that’s ever gotten sick from a Maid-Rite.”

The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals has told Taylor’s Maid-Rite restaurant that it must alter its process for cooking loose-meat sandwiches. The process at Taylor’s involves cooked hamburger being placed in the same heated receptacle that’s used to cook raw meat.

Iowa 2, New York 0. And people wonder why I like admitting to other New Yorkers that I grew up in Iowa…

*OK, it’s just one Brooklyn legislator for now. But that a state lawmaker would even waste his time pitching such a health-nanny proposal, even as a PR stunt, speaks a little to the Empire State’s views on the reach of law and personal health. Gov. Paterson** proposed a soda tax before abandoning it in the face of unpopular opinion. Bloomberg is now petitioning the state to allow him to tax soda in NYC, which, according to a New York Times back-of-the-napkin analysis, would make soda more expensive than some beers.

** Also, recent Iowa governors have so far avoided consorting with top-dollar prostitutes. And not having aides who allegedly beat up their girlfriends and have the state police cover it up.