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Author
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Topic: Brain is Food, but what isn't?
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Omnivorous
Member Posts: 3991 From: Adirondackia Joined: 07-21-2005 Member Rating: 7.5
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Message 3 of 59 (271030)
12-20-2005 8:39 AM
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Reply to: Message 1 by Silent H
12-20-2005 6:19 AM
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Scrambled Pig Brains & Squirrel Brain Gifts
My father thought pig brains with eggs scrambled in butter were a delicacy; he persuaded me to try them once. I threw up--can't remember any flavor, just an exceptionally objectionable texture...sort of a fatty slimy mush. In Kentucky, and other parts south, squirrel brains are considered by some to be a delicacy, with some families following a long tradition of presenting them as gifts when they come calling. Unfortunately, they also perpetuate a disease which I believe is similar to mad cow. A similar disease persists in the far south Pacific--IIRC, among a tribal people who ate the brains of their dead, friend and foe. These instances suggest to me that consuming any brain tissue is probably unwise--the bacteria and virii we gain from animal husbandry are quite enough without adding prions. Of course, the brain-eating traditions in the south do help explain their electoral patterns.
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| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 1 by Silent H, posted 12-20-2005 6:19 AM | | Silent H has not replied |
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Omnivorous
Member Posts: 3991 From: Adirondackia Joined: 07-21-2005 Member Rating: 7.5
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Burgoo Is Bad But Better Than Brains
Thanks, WK--glad to see my aging brain managed a fair approximation. There is more on the CJD-variant risks of eating squirrel brains here. There is probably more recent material available, but this includes one of the best descriptions of the social environment of this practice I've seen. I am happy to report that my Kentuck clan belonged to the squirrel meat faction:
Squirrels are a popular food in rural Kentucky, where people eat either the meat or the brains but generally not both, Weisman said. Families tend to prefer one or the other depending on tradition. Those who eat only squirrel meat chop up the carcass and prepare it with vegetables in a stew called burgoo. Squirrels recently killed on the road are often thrown into the pot. Families that eat brains follow only certain rituals. "Someone comes by the house with just the head of a squirrel," Weisman said, "and gives it to the matriarch of the family. She shaves the fur off the top of the head and fries the head whole. The skull is cracked open at the dinner table and the brains are sucked out." It is a gift-giving ritual. The second most popular way to prepare squirrel brains is to scramble them in white gravy, he said, or to scramble them with eggs. In each case, the walnut-sized skull is cracked open and the brains are scooped out for cooking. These practices are not related to poverty, Berger said. People of all income levels eat squirrel brains in rural Kentucky and in other parts of the South. Dr. Frank Bastian, a neuropathologist at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, said that he knew of similar cases of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in Alabama, Mississippi and West Virginia.
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| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 4 by Wounded King, posted 12-20-2005 9:29 AM | | Wounded King has not replied |
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Omnivorous
Member Posts: 3991 From: Adirondackia Joined: 07-21-2005 Member Rating: 7.5
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tentacle spectacle
In East Asia port cities you can often find restaurants which specialize in preparing raw fish (I insist on calling it that) from specimens customers choose from large glass tanks. The spectacle of tentacles gripping tongues and being waggled about playfully during dinner is something I will never forget.
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| Replies to this message: | | | Message 12 by Yaro, posted 12-20-2005 10:49 AM | | Omnivorous has not replied |
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Omnivorous
Member Posts: 3991 From: Adirondackia Joined: 07-21-2005 Member Rating: 7.5
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Message 15 of 59 (271093)
12-20-2005 11:29 AM
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Reply to: Message 13 by Yaro
12-20-2005 10:52 AM
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Volcano Chicken
One of our best local Thai restaurants serves Volcano Chicken: it is deep fried crisp, then set on a wire support with a small burner below. It appears to be standing on drumsticks with the wings akimbo, fire and smoke belching out the neck cavity. I've never ordered it, but I watched someone else order it and then fail to overcome the grotesqueness barrier. I learned in my years in East Asia that grossing out the round-eyes is a popular sport: your local host seeks out the most archaic traditional restaurant then pores over the menu for the most obscure, exotic item they themselves never eat, everything from dog slow-cooked for days to chicken embryo soup. So I developed a defense: "I'm sorry, I can't have that--its against my religion: I'm a Rotarian." Worked every time.
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| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 13 by Yaro, posted 12-20-2005 10:52 AM | | Yaro has not replied |
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Omnivorous
Member Posts: 3991 From: Adirondackia Joined: 07-21-2005 Member Rating: 7.5
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Message 17 of 59 (271096)
12-20-2005 11:36 AM
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Reply to: Message 16 by Yaro
12-20-2005 11:32 AM
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Sausage & Law
Don't watch 'em make sausages and laws.
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| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 16 by Yaro, posted 12-20-2005 11:32 AM | | Yaro has not replied |
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Omnivorous
Member Posts: 3991 From: Adirondackia Joined: 07-21-2005 Member Rating: 7.5
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Message 34 of 59 (271718)
12-22-2005 12:54 PM
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Reply to: Message 32 by nator
12-22-2005 12:33 PM
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schrafinator writes: candied whole tiny fish That's just wrong.
bugs On purpose?
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| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 32 by nator, posted 12-22-2005 12:33 PM | | nator has not replied |
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Omnivorous
Member Posts: 3991 From: Adirondackia Joined: 07-21-2005 Member Rating: 7.5
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Message 44 of 59 (271825)
12-22-2005 7:59 PM
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Reply to: Message 39 by Silent H
12-22-2005 2:31 PM
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On Refusing to Mourn Tripe Tricked Out by Burning
Omnivore I am, from head cheese to spam. I've gnoshed dog and snake, yak milk, green ham-- I wolfed down long buried eggs with elan. Omnivorous I am, but blood-pudding I ban: I've dined there and ate that, but now if not meet, I won't choke it down, just to compete. Sure Rocky and Bunny impress; no doubt they taste great. But I've paid my Omni-dues. Give me a steak.
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| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 39 by Silent H, posted 12-22-2005 2:31 PM | | Silent H has replied |
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Omnivorous
Member Posts: 3991 From: Adirondackia Joined: 07-21-2005 Member Rating: 7.5
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Message 48 of 59 (271950)
12-23-2005 8:26 AM
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Reply to: Message 47 by Silent H
12-23-2005 5:34 AM
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Re: On Refusing to Mourn Tripe Tricked Out by Burning
holmes writes: Fair enough. I assumed you were discussing your diet for knowledge anyway You assumed correctly--that bit of doggerel was just for fun. Hmm...doggerel. I think I ate that in Hong Kong.
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| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 47 by Silent H, posted 12-23-2005 5:34 AM | | Silent H has not replied |
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Omnivorous
Member Posts: 3991 From: Adirondackia Joined: 07-21-2005 Member Rating: 7.5
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Message 50 of 59 (271979)
12-23-2005 10:31 AM
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Reply to: Message 49 by FliesOnly
12-23-2005 10:09 AM
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Re: On Refusing to Mourn Tripe Tricked Out by Burning
 Oh we've gotta drink some beers, Flies. It'll be a beautiful thing.
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| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 49 by FliesOnly, posted 12-23-2005 10:09 AM | | FliesOnly has not replied |
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Omnivorous
Member Posts: 3991 From: Adirondackia Joined: 07-21-2005 Member Rating: 7.5
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Message 52 of 59 (272215)
12-23-2005 6:47 PM
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Reply to: Message 49 by FliesOnly
12-23-2005 10:09 AM
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Re: On Refusing to Mourn Tripe Tricked Out by Burning
Flies writes: Actually that’s not true, I was just looking for a rhyme It is food that was wild I prefer most of the time. ABE: I added that last line just to clarify my position  We all wild, Flies.
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| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 49 by FliesOnly, posted 12-23-2005 10:09 AM | | FliesOnly has replied |
| Replies to this message: | | | Message 53 by FliesOnly, posted 01-04-2006 8:58 AM | | Omnivorous has replied |
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Omnivorous
Member Posts: 3991 From: Adirondackia Joined: 07-21-2005 Member Rating: 7.5
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Message 54 of 59 (275666)
01-04-2006 9:17 AM
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Reply to: Message 53 by FliesOnly
01-04-2006 8:58 AM
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Re: My wife "scores" again
FliesOnly writes: Many of you may not understand, but my wife actually apologizes and thanks the animal she has just killed. I do understand--it is an ancient and honorable tradition, one we see little of today. This message has been edited by Omnivorous, 01-04-2006 09:18 AM
Save lives! Click here!Join the World Community Grid with Team EvC!--------------------------------------- What I refuse to accept is your insistence that your beliefs about your beliefs constitute evidence in support of your beliefs.
| This message is a reply to: | | | Message 53 by FliesOnly, posted 01-04-2006 8:58 AM | | FliesOnly has not replied |
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