Sunday, March 26, 2006

Purge and Binge

We have successfully eaten sacks and tubs and wads of frozen meat for our Ice Harvest.
We instinctively blend the meat with soup, rice, beans or other "extenders," so we're not gobbling as much pure animal protein in each meal.
And after this purge is all over, I doubt I'll be buying that much meat in the future.
(Have you read Michael Pollan's doubtful paean to murdering, butchering, and eating his own meat? Link will expire in one week.)
I'm craving fresh vegetables and fruit. We have some on the premises, but I'm not allowing myself to buy any more until the backlog of stored food is a bit more diminished.
Speaking of butchering your own meat: I do approve of the practice, especially if you're able to procure real animal protein in a humane way, and able to render it edible in an intelligent way.
However. I had an ex-brother-in-law who thought it was clever to catch fish out of the ocean, haul them on board his boat, and slice off fillets from the still-living animals — whose not-dead carcasses he would then cavalierly toss overboard. What a prick. I am embarrassed to tell you this.
But I'm not entirely finished eating meat.
Just a whole lot closer.

9 comments:

Jamie said...

Ew! The ex-brother-in-law thing. Ew!

I can't abide anyone who is callous about killing animals. It's one thing to do it and quite another to glory in it.

I'm craving vegetables and fruit now, too. I can't wait for the sorrel to be big enough to eat. And I hope I've planted enough peas...

Anonymous said...

Consolation:
The ex bro-in-law will have an interesting time in Dante's inferno. :)

Dagny said...

That ex-brother-in-law thing is just disturbing.

My grandfather was a farmer in Alabama and primarily raised hogs. There were a few cows around too. The majority of meat that my grandmother cooked was the stuff that my grandfather had raised. My grandmother also had a vegetable garden next to the house. I miss those summers.

Anonymous said...

I bet your grandfather-in-law did the fish thing too, maybe even your mother-in-law.

Anonymous said...

It's very hard to balance all this living-killing-meat stuff. I cringed at your EX-brother-in-law's callousness but I also cringe when folks in upscale sushi bars eat live sea urchins and other still-quivering sea beings. I get what Pollan is saying, yet I can't cook live crabs, lobsters, et al.

I remember the sounds of hog-killing in the fall in the South. Pretty horrifying. But I ate my uncle's hams and sausages.

We all have a lot to ponder, and to learn.

Dagny said...

Mmmmm. Crabs. Still remember the time I was at my other grandmother's in Virginia and we bought a bushel of blue crabs. I must admit I had no issue whatsoever in throwing them into the pot because I knew that they would be delicious.

Sculpin said...

This freezer-spelunking thing is a great idea. I've started following your lead too. It's been a little startling to see how much meat I have in the freezer. I hardly even eat meat. (Um, therein may lie the problem.)

Today's spelunk lunch, for the record: fava beans and shiitake mushrooms with olive oil, garlic, a little butter, and a little sherry, over whole-wheat noodles. Mmm. I'm easing my way into this.

Anonymous said...

For the record, I went fishing with my grandfather many times and whenever he caught a fish he clubbed it so it died instantly before he cleaned it. He would have thrown overboard anybody who filleted a fish before it was dead.

cookiecrumb said...

Um. I'm staying out of the family feud.
Family food -- yeah, that's more like it.
Anyway. Sculpin: Ditto. Exactly. (Your lunch -- mm.)