Saturday, February 02, 2013

Offensive crisps?

A Bloody Mary is a cocktail made with vodka, tomato juice, worcester sauce, tabasco and seasoning. The origin of the name is possibly based on Bloody Mary (Mary I), Bloody Mary of folklore, Mary Pickford or a waitress in Chicago.

A Virgin Mary is a non-alcoholic version of this, just as all non-alcoholic cocktails are commonly referred to as virgin.

Does it not seem reasonable then, to call a spicy tomato flavoured crisp, Virgin Mary?

Apparently not.

Pret a Manger have withdrawn the crisp after complaints from Catholics. Fair enough that they don't want to upset people, I wouldn't expect them to risk alienating customers over something so easily changed as a name of a crisp flavour.

But do Catholics commonly wander into bars and feel offended by mocktails?


No comments: