A relatively new tradition on the island is an event called PEI Burger Love. During the month of April, many restaurants come up with a unique and scrumptious burger concoction which they feature on their menu. The deal is, people go and try different burgers and vote on their favorites. It’s a great way to bring business into restaurants in the cold winter months when tourists aren’t around. Another great thing about Burger Love is that all the meat used is locally raised beef from PEI. This is an awesome way to support the farmers in the local community and to help out the beef industry. This year, PEI potato farmers joined Burger Love as well by providing delicious potatoes for French fries (PEI is pretty famous for its potatoes). This event is a great way to support local farmers and restaurants.
It’s also a really great way to burn a hole in your wallet and gain a few pounds! The burgers have to be in a certain price range, but when they’re around $15 a piece, and you eat quite a few throughout the month, plus meal tax and tips and drinks, it adds up pretty quickly. The timing also happened to correspond with a period when stress eating is at its max, and the time and motivation to cook meals for myself was at a minimum. Finals started mid April, so we had the combination of stress eating from impending exams and then stress eating from taking exams. I can’t complain too much, though. It was delightful after a tough exam to go and stuff my face with delicious food.
I’m also thankful that I now have the time to eat right and exercise more, with the summer offering me freedom from sitting in a desk chair for hours on end. Finals brought about three weeks of a sedentary lifestyle, characterized by a sore behind from all the hours spent studying, and a flabby body from lots of burgers and not a lot of exercise. I’d like to think maybe next year will be different, but with tantalizing burgers calling my name, I don’t have high hopes.
