Swiss burger chain ‘Holy Cow’ urged to rethink its name as it is highly insensitive

Madhu Patel

CHICAGO: It is hugely insensitive for a Lausanne (Switzerland) headquartered restaurant chain selling beef burgers naming itself holy cow. They said that the cow, the seat of many deities, was sacred and had long been venerated in Hinduism. It appeared to be a blatant trivialization and belittling of a deeply held article of faith by Hindus

The restaurant chains should not be in the business of religious appropriation, sacrilege, and ridiculing entire communities. They urged “Holy Cow! Gourmet Burger Co.” (HCGBC) and its CEO Adrian Stadelmann to seriously and urgently reconsider its name so that it was not unsettling to the Hindu community.

Hinduism is the oldest and third largest religion of the world with about 1.2 billion adherents and a rich philosophical thought and it should not be taken lightly. Award-winning Swiss fresh gourmet burger chain HCGBC, launched in 2009, has 17 restaurants across Switzerland in Basel, Biel, Delemont, Fribourg, Geneva, Grancia, Lausanne, Lucerne, Sion, St-Gall, Villeneuve, Zurich Airport, Zurich. It sells 14 different beef burgers, including “Elvis”, and calls its grills “sacred”.