O****ching Bizarre Foods
This has got me thinking about food and culture. In the U.S., there are only a few animals that are eaten regularly. There are a bunch of animals that we have access to in the U.S. that we do not eat, or at least most of us don't. Yeah, there are still some people out there eating possum and squirrel, but you can't buy that at your local grocery.
So my first question is, why do only eat a small number of animals? And how was it determined that in the U.S., for example, guinea pigs are pets while in South America, they are dinner?
Something else I've noticed from watching this show is that in many parts of the world, when they butcher at animal for food, they eat the whole things. All the organs and stuff. How come we don't normally do that in the U.S.? Is it just that we are rich and spoiled? We can afford to waste large amounts of food and don't need to eat every bit of an animal?
And finally, I was aware that insects were eaten in some places but apparently they are considered good food in lots of places. Instead of M and M's, people are popping a few grubs. Why don't we eat insects in the U.S?
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
on 10/14/11 11:29 pm, edited 10/14/11 11:30 pm - Front Royal, VA
Hi Kelly,
I love that show, and the one with Anthony Bourdain (No Reservations) .. I fantasize about traveling the country and trying all of those exotic foods and places and such, man what a life that would be, what FUN!
then I remember that rooster penis soup might make me dump and I just go back to watching him instead. haha
Americans used to eat all the parts of the animals (scrapple, pig intestines, tripe, etc) when it was a necessity, in some regions the poor still do. Oh hell, I love scrapple who am I kidding and we (husband and I) make well over 100K a year combined. I think our love of money and luxury have made it almost a stigma to eat and enjoy the "lower cost" or "lesser cuts" of meat.
My family had a restaurant growing up, so my daddy made us try everything, I'm pretty adventurous when it comes to trying foods, but I'm still a country girl at heart and in this economy I'm surprised that more people haven't turned back to the lesser cuts of meats to survive on.
We should be eating those insects, they are protein bombs! lol
Maybe the fact that we don't hunt or raise our own animals to eat, and we don't butcher them ourselves. It might cost a lot if we had to buy eyeballs but if we owned the cow and were butchering it ourselves it would not cost anymore to eat the eyeballs along with the hamburger.
I bet you wouldn't dump on rooster penis soup. It probably don't have much sugar in it.
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
~Jen
RNY, 8/1/2011
HW: 348 SW: 306 CW:-fighting regain GW: 140
He who endures, conquers. ~Persius
Please note: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. If you want medical advice, talk to your doctor. Whatever I post, there is probably some surgeon or other health care provider somewhere that disagrees with me. If you want to know what your surgeon thinks, then ask him or her. Check out my blog.
~Jen
RNY, 8/1/2011
HW: 348 SW: 306 CW:-fighting regain GW: 140
He who endures, conquers. ~Persius