Edible Animals
Feb. 11th, 2018 04:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithMy 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?
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?
Thoughts
Date: 2018-02-12 06:34 am (UTC)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
Date: 2018-02-15 02:06 am (UTC)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.