AW blogchain - eating your pets
Today is the day of the blogchain. Some of you will have met the blogchain before, others will be here because of it. For everyone else, it’s when a group of writers link to each others’ posts, using the previous one as inspiration. This month’s chain has been rather rollercoastery for me because the first few writers were talking about dogs, and I had this horrible thought that I would have to talk about dogs as food (and maybe their significance historically) which is not something I really want to talk about, to be honest. I was lucky, though, and dogs and cats faded just in time.
Polenth was before me in the chain and said “If the post is about eating bumblebees or cute froglets, I’m going to cry. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”
What do I do? I have recipes for frogs and even recipes for dogs, but I won’t give them to you. The thing is, each and every culture has its prohibited areas and all these are no-go for most of us. These prohibitions are legacies of our food history. It means that some things bring us to tears when we think of them as food and some bring us to nausea. These emotions are sometimes linked to the actual foodstuff and its qualities (see yesterday’s post!) but are equally often linked to how we’re brought up and how we see food. What I love doing is tracing the growth and change in these sentiments over time. When a pet becomes food and when foodstuff turn into cosseted cuddlies – these are important to know. Why the changes happen are even more important. They help us define some very fundamental aspects of ourselves.
Now I wonder how Spontaneous Derivation will handle the next link in the chain?
Secret Government EGGO Project
Fantastical Imagination
For the First Time
Virtual Wordsmith
Polyspace
My Life, You’re Welcome to It
Polenth’s Quill
Food History
Spontaneous Derivation
Spittin’ (out words) Like a Llama
Fresh Hell
SLAKE
Forbidden Snowflake
Virginia Lee’s Vagaries
March 20th, 2008 at 3:02 am
[…] Written for the March 2008 AbsoluteWrite blog chain, which is apparently about dogs and other pets. And Gillian Pollack before me also wrote about eating your pets. […]
March 20th, 2008 at 3:56 am
I’m willing to try most meat, as long as the animal is not still alive. That would include trying frogs and bumblebees, but not if they’re my frogs and bumblebees. I draw the line at certain individuals rather than species. Eating a pet or friend doesn’t seem right. It lacks trust.
I’m sure this comes in part from befriending some unusual animals over the years. It means I can’t split by species and say I eat that species, but not that one. There wouldn’t be anything left to eat if I did.
March 20th, 2008 at 8:16 am
Hm. I was wondering about where people draw the line while watching Anthony Bourdain’s show. He’d finally found his while eating an undercooked boar’s anus in Namibia. Me, I’m a vegetarian so I’m not going to be eating anyone’s anus or a dog or even a roasted spider anytime soon.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Yea, so you are a vegetarian..Ok..don’t judged people who eat meat..Your ancestors eat meat to survive..your here aren’t you due to them surviving all those yrs on meat and meat products….Well..all i say is what do you wear on your body and feet..Shoes made from an animal’s hide..you sit on leather sofas..Your care seats..leather?..Excuse me but..if you are going to be all natural..why not go join the pigmys in the African jungle or the So.American forest..
March 20th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Wow, Nic got all hot under the collar and randomly off-topic to boot.
Me, I’d like to try some crunchy fried bald eagle.
There’s a breed of cat that’s raised for food in Asia, apparently, as the tiger part of the turtle-dragon-tiger-phoenix dish. The chicken gets to be the phoenix. I don’t know about the other two; probably a real turtle and a snake.
March 20th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
My dad ate frogs as a kid… Sounds OK to me
March 20th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Hell, I’ve been a vegetarian or five year, and just recently went back to eating meat (but only local!)
In the past I’ve had gator (yum), snails (eww) and frog legs (chicken!).
I’ve had korean and chinese food in the past that I couldn’t readily identify.
As mentioned already, it all boils down to personal lines. Will I eat cat/dog? Can’t say that I will.
March 20th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I dated a guy once whose family raised cows. I liked to go down to pasture and feed a cow an apple. I named my cow Norman. And one day I went to my boyfriend’s house and his family was eating…steak. And it was Norman. So sad.
March 21st, 2008 at 8:51 am
I’m not an adventurous person by any means when it comes to meat. I’m essentially a cow, pig, fish, chicken person.
You’re right about different cultures having different lines on what is acceptable. It’s interesting to see how some gasp or cringe at the thought of eating cat or dog and yet it’s as common as beef in some cultures.
March 22nd, 2008 at 9:32 am
Wow, Nic got all hot under the collar and randomly off-topic to boot.
my post was in response to the one before it..Do you know how to read?
Can’t you tell..i guess not!
I won’t eat a dog or a cat..But some people do..i am not going to judge them..if they do ..Why should i care?
i don’t care what anyone eat as along as they are not a freaking canibal…that is where i draw the line!
March 24th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
I’m pretty limited in what I’ll eat when it comes to flesh, not only because I have an iffy stomach but I have a texture thing too. I can’t bring myself to bite into the body of a shrimp but I’ll eat most “normal” land meat.
March 24th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
[…] First Time Virtual Wordsmith Polyspace My Life, You’re Welcome to It Polenth’s Quill Food History Spontaneous Derivation Spittin’ (out words) Like a Llama Fresh Hell SLAKE Forbidden Snowflake […]
March 25th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
The only unusual animal I’ve eaten is rabbit, mostly because moose, bear, snails, and frogs aren’t something that was served up at the dinner table.