Yesterday, I happened across a pamphlet issued by the French Tourism association specifically for restauranteurs who must cater to tourists in their daily business. I can’t, for the life of me, find the link again but if I do, I’ll post it. The authors of the pamphlet profiled several different nationalities including the American nationality.
The section of the pamphlet that outlined Americans was intriguing, and it brought a few thoughts to the forefront of my mind. In particular, the pamphlet made several references to Americans’ distaste for anything that links their meat to something that was once living.
They write:
“The origin of the living animal must not be visible. Offal, frog legs, snails and rabbit are a source of disgust … [they] need a de-animalized meat.”
The thought of a de-animalized meat intrigues me. For a large part, our meat in the U.S. has been de-animalized. Indeed, if you walk into the meat section of your average super market there is very little available that indicates the meat you buy was ever part of a living being. The chicken comes neatly de-boned, skinned and prepackaged in styrofoam and plastic–complete with a little pad to soak up any animalistic juices that might leach from the meat after butchering. The chicken breasts even come four or six to a pack, though I know of no breed of chicken that sports six breasts on a bird (though I’m sure the food geniuses of our times are looking for a way to correct this problem of nature too.)
Why, I wonder, are we so afraid of the living origin of our food? Why are we so eager to sanitize everything that we eat?
I can see it in myself to some extent. I was a vegetarian for sometime, and a vegan for an even shorter period, but it felt largely unsatisfying and when I introduced high quality, pastured animal products back into my diet my life changed. I was healthier and had more endurance. My skin looked better. My mood was more joyful. I still can’t stomach offal though I know there’s a lot of benefits to be had by eating these mineral-rich organs.
It’s sad that we’ve become so disjointed from our food source that animals must be de-animalized before they’re served to us. In an effort to make food and nutritional health a priority we must get to know our farmers, ranchers, growers and butchers.
Moroccan Preserved Lemons
campfire roast chicken with flowering onion and dill
Our Daily Bread: No-knead Sourdough
A Story of Recovery (and a Recipe for Grain-free Carrot Cupcakes with Honey Cream Cheese Frosting)
A Recipe for Beet Kvass: A Deeply Cleansing Tonic
The First Salsa of the Season: Radish & Green Tomato
I raise and sell pastured beef. I also raise and sell registered breeding stock. EVERY animal on our ranch has a name, even the ones we know are destined for the farmer’s market. I would be a big hypocrite if I did otherwise. All cattle on our ranch get treated equally–regardless of what their “best use” is.
Lots of my customers tell me they can’t believe I name animals I know we are going to eat. I have some, though, for whom knowing the name and the story is an integral part of their buying experience. They like to know, for example, that “Half Moon” was a red Angus x Black Angus cross and the son of “Blue Moon” who is one of the top bulls for carcass quality in the Angus breed. It makes for a good quality control, too–since I have to be able to identify each package back to its ultimate origin!
not here! we are fully connected to our food source. Zach carries deer down from the mountains, we butcher, package, haul to the local grocers to be ground and finally ENJOY!…but I do know what you mean as I grew up not fully understanding that meat came from an animal.
I literally CANT eat offal – makes me nauseous or worse :/
I can, however, eat meat that hasn’t been de-animalized, because I have been around rural butcherings and been the helper for processing a deer into venison before.
Most people who can visit Europe and eat at fancy restaurants there have not had these experiences. I believe you are right about the supermarket experience having distanced the experience for many Americans, especially urban dwellers.
Susan in Va (SHS)
I have a lot of trouble eating de-animalized meat. In fact, I pretty much won’t eat meat unless I know where it came from. Luckily, I know a lot of farmers…