Alaska Sen. Mark Begich has a bone to pick with Domino’s Pizza. A fish bone, to be exact.
Begich was “offended” by a recent ad from the pizza company called “Powered by Pizza,” which argues that many great ideas — on school projects, or at start up companies — are forged over pizza.
“No one’s coming up with a world changing idea over halibut,” the narrator goes on. “No way. It’s always been pizza.”
“Really?” protested Begich, the Democratic junior Senator of a state where halibut is “a staple in Alaskans’ diet and a bedrock of Alaska’s coastal economies,” in a letter sent to Domino’s CEO J. Patrick Doyle on Wednesday.
And in the great tradition of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Begich included a halibut filet in the package to Doyle to further his “edible education.”
“Why are you hatin’ on our halibut?” Begich writes in the letter.
“Halibut are a nutrient-filled food and an excellent source of high quality protein,” Begich writes, going on to list off the nutritional properties of the fish.
Here in Alaska, we need that kind of healthy energy. Alaska is a state founded on fishing, mining, logging and drilling — hard work done in some of the most extreme conditions on earth. Alaskans are world class skiers, snowboarders, snow-machiners, and hockey players who need halibut-powered energy to compete. And though we occasionally consume food delivered in a flat cardboard box, we prefer heartier fare knowing that a trip to the mailbox may require extra energy to confront an ornery moose or a hungry bear.
It occurs to me that your pizza preference mayb e the result of an uninformed palate, so I’ve sent you a delicious Alaska halibut filet for your edible edification. I know you’ll enjoy this tasty treat and hope it will become the first of many fresh Alaska fillets you will feast on in the future.”