WOMEN ARE NOT MEAT
Too bad Good Times has missed the fact that women are tired of being used as sex objects—why would the hamburger on your cover have bare legs and high heels? It’s 2025 and that is not how many (dare I say, most) women want to be represented—we are not meat for your consumption. Please think twice next time.
Kate Clark | Santa Cruz
BURGER WEEKS
First of all I am very pleased that burger week is now more than a week. Went to Santa Cruz Diner for the Monte Cristo burger. They didn’t have the tater tots, but the substitute onion rings was fine. And I have a lot of perimeters. I want a side, and hand formed, 1/2 pound, angus beef are important. My brother and I will partake of more burger week with the added days, yum.
Thank you
Summer Goodwin | Santa Cruz
BURGER LOVE
My favorite is the double cheeseburger at East End gastropub.
The beef has a great flavor. All the condiments are well balanced.
I substitute cheddar because I personally like that better than American cheese.
For me, it is the closest thing to a Zip burger from Zip’s cafe, which is a famous burger from my hometown in Cincinnati.
Thomas Wenstrup
BURGER HATE
It was jaw-dropping to see the 2-21-24 issue of the Good Times weekly featuring “Santa Cruz Burger Week”! Are we living in the past or has no one heard the world’s leading scientists warning we are moving toward extinction of life on Earth?
This extinction disaster is due to global warming, climate change, pollution, deforestation, lessening water resources and accelerating species extinction, all largely attributable to raising beef and other flesh products to consume.
One burger requires nearly 2,000 gallons of water to produce. In the U.S., 55% of all water consumption is used by animal agriculture. It accounts for 91% of Brazilian Amazon Rainforest Destruction (136 million acres destroyed yearly). Animal agriculture produces more greenhouse gases than all transportation put together.
Livestock consumes 50% of all grains grown, increasing world hunger and using 45% of the entire Earth’s ice-free land. It’s a leading cause of species extinction; USDA is killing 2.7 million wild animals yearly to protect land for livestock grazing.
Additionally, livestock production is a leading cause of freshwater pollution; resulting in ocean dead zones and the Great Barrier Reef die-off.
What can we do about it? We can rapidly move toward a plant-based diet and thereby each and every person will daily save 1,300 gallons of water; 30 sq. ft. of forested land; 45 pounds of grain and 20 lbs. of polluting CO2 equivalent gases per day.
Human behavior is consuming and destroying our Earth. Shifting our harmful behaviors to ecologically sustainable ways is a solution. Promoting Burger Week is not.
Bill Meade | Associate Producer “What The Health” on Netflix | Watsonville
Agreeing 110% with the thoughts of Kate Clark’s letter. Shame on the editor and owner of this publication for tossing that image on the cover and throwing away 50 years of progress.
To Kate’s comment… how do you know they aren’t the legs of a drag queen?
/////////////////////BILL MEADE is my neighbor in Watsonville and speaks the truth. i am so glad he lives near me.
I made a new millenium resolution in 2000. it was to give up beef and pork. i still eat seafood, poultry and lamb, but I am glad i gave up beef and pork. and i do not ever miss them.
a dear friend , now deceased from HIV, introduced me to DHARMAS. that was in 1998, when i moved to this county. i vowed i would NEVER eat vegan or vegetarian food. HOW WRONG I WAS ! Now, i must eat Dharma food at least twice a month. or i go into withdrawal and crave SPAM! horrors !