Yesterday I treked through Costo with a membership-holding friend, the first time I had been there in over a year. In the olden days before Trader Joe's arrived in town, I might have picked up maple syrup, smoked salmon, Cabot cheddar cheese in big blocks, giant bags of salad, maybe some red snapper, but this time, I walked out with kitchen trash bags and a large box of organic chicken doggie treats-"No wheat, no corn, no by-products!"--from Castor & Pollux, Lincoln, Nebraska. ( The dawg approved.)
Later that night I read an excerpt in The Week from a piece by Steven Rinella in Outside magazine about his quest to eat dog, in Hanoi. He eats grilled strips of sesame crusted dog, dog feet ( I blogged once about the dog feet platter that whipped past those of us at the vegetarian table at a banquet in China), even plain old boiled dog leg. And he is not happy, though he knows much of the world does eat dog. ( Apparently native people of the Americas once were hound chow hounds, if you will. )
On his final day of eating dog---you can read the entire story here---he reports:
"I'm trying to will myself into a nonchalant attitude—just a guy in a restaurant eating his meal. I can't do it. I'm forcing it down, and it is not enjoyable. At this point, I've answered for myself the question I wanted answered: If your culture and your culinary curiosities go head to head, culture's going to win. It'll win even if you're rooting against it."
So---Even extreme eaters like Rinella cannot easily block memories of furry family pets while trying to reconsider them as food.
And then there are feathered pets---I first gave up eating chicken when our zany, alert pet hen, Harold, wandered into my kitchen in Belgium one evening. Chicken breasts about to go in the oven for dinner were on the table. I picked her up for a cuddle, in the manner she liked, and realized ( duh!) that her scrawny little chest was an unsettling reminder of the breasts I had just dredged in flour.
Since that time over 30 years ago, I have indeed eaten some occasional chicken--the rosemary-infused organic roast chicken perfected by my pal on the Hudson River, for example--and the inadvertent hen that I try to skirt in one dish at my local Thai buffet, and, of course, I feed chicken to my pet.
If you get to know most any animal at all well--a dog, a pig, a lamb, a hen--then it's so...
"I did not become a vegetarian for my health, I did it for the health of the chickens." Issac Bashevis Singer
( Dog pictured was the recipient of the organic chicken cookies, not a meal.)
No, Rose--pls find!
Posted by: Foodie | October 14, 2007 at 03:46 PM
Did you see the article about us westerners only eating chicken breasts? The rest going to Africa- they are drowning in it- and it is ruining their chicken- raising industry? Can't remember where I saw it.
Posted by: Rose | October 13, 2007 at 11:14 AM
Some people are advocating raw meats and bones, and mushed up veggies/nuts/berries for dogs--nothing cooked and no grains. An attempt to replicate the eating habits of dogs back in their more wolfish days.
Posted by: Foodie | October 13, 2007 at 01:51 AM
Rachel Ray has a featured every month in the magazine about cooking for dogs. I don't know if I could take it that far.
Posted by: Kelly Mahoney | October 12, 2007 at 08:26 PM
I can't decide whether that pooch looks worried or smug. LOL
Posted by: menukarma | October 12, 2007 at 07:17 PM
I like your Blog very much!
Posted by: Genevieve | October 12, 2007 at 01:42 PM
I just made chicken soup for my guests and am feeling a little bad about it! Dog is definitely out of the question! How could anyone eat man's best friend? No comprendo!If you ever owned a 100 year old carp, I think you would give up fish too.
Posted by: FM | October 12, 2007 at 06:49 AM