Edible Animals

[ysabetwordsmith]

My inner teenage boy was deeply amused by this billboard showing a spectrum of pets to food animals.

Me, I'm a pragmatist.  Anything I can get into my mouth and digest safely is potential food.  In practice, I strongly prefer not to eat other sapient beings unless I am starving to death, so things like cetacean, elephant, and primate are off my list of edibles outside of that context.  There are a few things I choose not to eat because I disapprove of their production methods; farmed veal exceeds my personal tolerance for animal abuse.  However, historic veal is in the same class as buckling for me -- used to be, all the milk animals would drop about 50% male offspring that you didn't need, so you dressed them out right then and had the tenderest meat ever.  That I would gleefully eat if I had the chance.  There are plenty of things I'd like to try, haven't encountered yet, and probably wouldn't want to eat routinely; dog and horse are both in that category.  So are insects, a key indicator that I am not culturally an American despite living here.  My everyday category is wider too: rabbit, goat, and lamb are all things I actively look for and order when I find them.  I also enjoy some animal parts that most Americans do not, including tongue, brains, heart, gizzard, and testicles.  I loved haggis the one time I got it.  However, I have tried kidney and wasn't fond of it; I really dislike liver and would have to be ravenous to eat it willingly.

These are all things that vary widely by culture and time period.  What are some of your settings?

Comments

[scrubjayspeaks]

I think I hit all the "too sapient for food" notes that others hit. I ultimately gave up octopus and squid readily but with sorrow, as those are flippin' delicious.

My regarded-as-eccentric rule is I won't knowingly eat any type of animal--beyond just specific individuals--that I've kept as a pet. Which rules out...most rodents including squirrels, possum, quail, duck, goose, frog, snail, lizard, cat, dog, horse, and rabbit. I think that covers it. My brain just seems to require "pet" and "food" to be circles with zero overlap.

My best friend has Chinese parents who liked trying to gross out the white kid when we were growing up. It never really worked, so long as they didn't tell me what it was in advance. (With my friend serving as a spotter for my known restrictions.) And I've had chips made from insects, but I haven't had a chance yet to try them whole. The texture might be a problem for me, but I'd be keen.

I did stop eating beef, because raw and rare beef reminded me too much of horse meat in the form of "dumbass foal found the only sharp object around and decided to skin himself alive, quick, somebody put him back together!" A distinctly unappetizing association. Raising animals has put a few kinks in my dietary habits. XD

On the subject of animal husbandry and food vs pet, anyone interested might like to check out Comrade Shepherd (@NeolithicSheep) on Twitter. She talks about raising heritage breeds, the ethics of food, and why snotty vegans need to get bent.

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> She talks about raising heritage breeds, the ethics of food, and why snotty vegans need to get bent.<<

1) Because each individual makes decisions for themselves, and has no right to force theirs on anyone else.

2) Because any action that makes animals less accessible, appealing, and useful to humans is a vote that those animals should cease to exist. That's what happens to animals that humans don't care about. The people who drove elephants out of circuses probably doomed them to extinction. Look at all the heritage breeds we've lost. Gaited horses used to be valuable and numerous; we're down to a few rare breeds.

3) This conversation usually ends when the vegan's fluffy herbivorous totem realizes there is a wolf in the room. :D

Re: Thoughts

[zeeth_kyrah]

Heh.. I seem to manifest cats a lot more, including snow leopard and treecat/margay (same species, different biology of origin, think treecats from the Honor Harrington series). But there is horse, bird (a couple of types) and snowshoe hare in here. Plus a dog or two.

I think I'm sensible about it, but the dragon in me keeps eyeing the animals as food supplies; she's been through a few hard winters before.