Just a cracker? Chicago restaurant tops burger with unconsecrated Communion wafer

A good burger can be a very spiritual experience -- a bite that brings you closer to whatever higher power you may believe in. But when a Chicago restaurant decided to top one of its burgers with an unconsecrated Communion wafer, some thought it was anything but religious.

Kuma’s Corner, a burger restaurant with heavy metal-themed decor and menu, recently introduced “The Ghost” burger to its menu as the burger of the month, reported Chicago Tribune. The 10-ounce burger is topped with goat shoulder, aged white cheddar and ghost chile aioli, and comes with a nod to the body and blood of Christ with a red wine reduction sauce and an unconsecrated Communion wafer.

“People have been kind of upset,” Kuma’s Corner director of operations Luke Tobias told the Chicago Tribune. “The thing with this is, the Communion wafer is unconsecrated, so until that happens, it’s really just a cracker.”

The restaurant names all of its burgers of the month after bands. “The Ghost” burger was named after the Swedish heavy metal band Ghost. Its lead singer often dresses up as a Roman Catholic cardinal in robes with his face painted.

“It’s not the Eucharist, but it’s still symbolic,” Jeff Young from the Catholic Foodie blog told the Chicago Tribune. “It is a mockery of something that is holy.”

Kuma’s Corner isn’t the first to bring the decor and symbols of a religion into its restaurant. Congregation Ale House, a bar and restaurant with locations in Pasadena, Long Beach and Azusa, calls its happy hour “mass” and decorates its interior with aspects of church architecture.

Reactions to “the Ghost” burger on Twitter have been mixed.

@Teresa Tomeo tweeted, “A Chicago restaurant tops a burger with a red wine sauce and an unconsecrated host. Tasteless.” @mblumkin tweeted, “If you have a problem with this, just don’t eat there.”

Do you think the burger is offensive? Let us know in the comments below.

Want more quirky food news? Follow me on Twitter: @Jenn_Harris

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