There was an interesting juxtaposition at Tuesday's City of Brownsville Commission meeting.
On the one hand, commissioner Rose Gowen announced the beginning of The Challenge 2018 and encouraged each and all to register for prizes as an incentive to live well, fight obesity and develop good eating habits. There will be prizes by age group for those who lose the most weight, she said.
Registration starts Friday at the Main and Southmost libraries Friday and in the Linear Park Saturday.
Then, commissioner Cesar De Leon read a proclamation in recognition of Vera's Backyard Bar-B-Que which specializes in "delicious barbacoa de res cooked en pozo, brisket, and chicken tacos with hot corn tortillas & homemade salsa."
Gowen thinks that as medical doctor she should oversee not only municipal matters in her role as an elected official, but also in her professional capacity as weight watcher and anti-obesity crusader of the Lower Rio Grande. As such, she feels she has the mandate of the city to spend millions on hike and bike trails, a Valleywide "active" plan and now, to make these lard-lovers lose weight.
This is nanny government at its best. Of course, it's the public's money and not her own, so she feels no pain in performing her altruistic acts.
De Leon, on the other hand, said he got the idea of issuing the proclamation when he visited Vera's for some chow and noticed that state and nationwide publications such as Texas Monthly had recognized Vera's unique (and traditional) method of cooking a beef head.
"Barbacoa aficionados know that Vera’s is the only restaurant in the state, maybe the country, that still does real “barbacoa de cabeza en pozo con mesquite,” or cow’s head barbecue smoked in an earthen pit over mesquite coals. While the health codes do not allow new restaurants to cook in holes in the ground, sixty-year-old Vera’s has been grandfathered in for decades. (Don’t worry, the heads are wrapped in heavy-duty aluminum foil before being smoked.) Their menu is hand-written on a piece of poster board and also offers lengua (tongue), but we kept it basic with cachete (cheek), and an order of fresh corn tortillas. "
So if all these people from Austin and beyond the state line recognized this Southmost purveyor of this delicious grease-tinged delicacy, why not the city where Vera's is located, De Leon wondered.
And so on Tuesday the commission went on cross aims: one to urge people to stop eating greasy food, exercise and lose weight, and the other to celebrate the culinary marvels of the naturally greasy South Texas culinary delight called barbacoa de res.
Hey, maybe they could team up and recruit Challenge 2018 contestants from Vera's Friday to Sunday while they're open for business. On the other hand, once you latch on to a half-dozen taquitos of barbacoa it'll be hard to stimulate anyone to move, exercise and think about losing weight.
It will be, well, a challenge.