The Denny’s Thing Burger, Not Exactly Kosher
Denny‘s is running a tie-in with the upcoming Fantastic Four film and features various dishes with a “theme” pertaining to the character it ties in to. As a whole I’d shrug my shoulders, but the one for The Thing is actually interesting. I’ll ignore the 1920 calories, 1180 of them from fat, the high amount of fat, cholesterol, and sodium. You might be a superhero to survive eating it.
For those that might not know, Benjamin Grimm aka The Thing, is one of the more prominent Jewish characters in the Marvel universe. While he’s not regularly at synagogue in the comics, he has said Jewish prayers in comics and mentioned his religion every so often.
Back to the hamburger. It includes the burger, cheddar cheese, bacon, and a cheddar bun, among other things (special “thing” sauce). Pick up on the issue here? Not only does the hamburger include bacon (some Jews don’t eat pork, I do), but it also mixes milk and meat (unless Denny’s is admitting their cheese is anything but). This violate Kosher law which prevents the mixing of the two. In other words, this is a meal a lot of Jews probably wouldn’t eat.
The Thing might not keep kosher, stats vary as to how many Jews do (anywhere from 15% to 40%), it definitely is a bit insensitive to his history and background. Definitely a hand. head. slap. moment.
As a Jew myself, not giving this much thought. The Thing in the film that this item is promoting is African-American and I’m highly doubtful he’s Jewish. If you have issue with that, maybe talk to the film’s writer and director about their choices, rather than Denny’s, who just slapped character names onto product and sold it like they would collectible cups.
With Jews getting attacked in a variety of places in Europe these days, perhaps we can focus on the real injustices of the world and not the bizarrely tangential cosmetic ones?
The Human Torch is the one that’s African American in the film.
Yes, Brett, you’re right. I still stand by my comments other than that.