New York Minute 57 - Barbecue Protest

This weekend, the annual Big Apple Barbecue event filled the streets near Madison Square Park with the scent of grilled, smoky pork, beef, and chicken. The sun was warm, the lines were long, and the crowds were hungry and enthusiastic. 

I gave up on my first attempt to attend on Saturday. The place was mobbed. I tried again around 6 PM thinking that I might be able to pick up some dinner, but they had already closed the food stands down for the day.

I made one final run on the place late Sunday afternoon. Happily, this time I was successful. I sampled dishes from a couple of the stands; everything was delicious.

While I was there, a group of animal rights protesters showed up and began chanting anti-meat slogans. "Animals feel pain just like us!" I was thinking, "yeah, well, animals feel hunger, too. And when they do, a lot of them kill and eat other animals."

The chants continued. At one point, someone from the crowd of barbecue enthusiasts yelled out, "Black Lives Matter!" That lightened the mood. A gentleman near me remarked that they were protesting in the wrong place. "There's nothing but meat eaters here!"

A moment later - I swear this really happened - counterprotest erupted when a group of queued up barbecue fans started chanting "We want meat! We want meat! We want meat!"

Oh, my goodness, that was such a total New York minute!

I didn't hear the anti-meat protesters after that. I think they gave up and called it a day.

Copyright © 2017 Daniel R. South 

All Rights Reserved