Oct 05 2007
Let’s Talk About Meat
As much as you’d like to ignore the fact, meat ain’t pretty.
The American food industry may have made meat bloodless and therefore more visually palatable but the truth is that when you eat meat, you’re eating the flesh of an animal.
Animal tissue. Meat.
Not so pretty, huh?
Which isn’t to say I don’t eat meat. I do. I’m not a vegetarian.
An Asian supermarket just opened up in my neighborhood.
As typical with these markets, there are massive fish tanks brimming with fish, lobsters, crabs and I am not sure what all.
Next to the seafood market is the butcher market. The meat is all on display, neatly stacked rows of raw flesh, some with bones, some without.
At a recent HOA meeting, one of my neighbors was discussing the supermarket. The woman had thin, graying chopped brown hair. She was freckly, small and scrappy. She had already noted several items that should be looked into around the complex.
Her voice was a tightly stretched New York drawl and she would precede her statements with, “It may not be politically correct but there are Certain People…”
Her graying, poochy husband sat next to her, mute.
I found her entertaining.
Someone had asked, “What do you think of the new supermarket?”
Mrs. Scrappy leans forward in her chair and said, “I’m telling ya, I don’t like it.”
We all looked at her as she shook her head slowly from side to side with her eyes closed, one hand wagging palm out.
The HOA (Home Owners Association) vice president asks, “What don’t you like?”
Mrs. Scrappy says, “Well…there are those fish tanks! I mean, all those fish! All crammed in there! It must be cruel!”
Another resident pipes up, “I was walking down one of the aisles and I heard this thumping sound and I look over and someone had one of those big fish in a plastic bag IN THEIR CART and it was still alive and thrashing around! It was awful! Blood was getting on the floor and ugh!”
Mrs. Scrappy weighs in again, “I don’t like it. I just don’t like it.”
The scene reminded me of when I was chatting with a woman who was learning how to cook and she said, “I just want the meat.”
I asked her what she meant.
She said, “I don’t want it to look like anything, I just want it to look like … meat.”
I still wasn’t getting it.
She uses the index finger and thumbs of both hands to form brackets and holds them up to me.
She says, “I want the meat to look like this. Like meat. I don’t want it to look like the animal.”
She continues, “I want the filet, the boneless skinless chicken breast, that’s what I want. The meat!”
I look at Mrs. Scrappy and the few others that are nodding along with her.
I can see that they want their meat to look like meat.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
HOA? Not sure what that is.
When I was in day camp we went to a farm. They showed up the process of killing animals. Cutting a chickens head off, the slaughter of a cow. Talk about animal cruelty.
Just the meat? She only wants the meat? I can only wonder how she treats her men. But enough of my mind being in the gutter. I tell you, if you see how they treat animals it would turn you off from meat.
UT: just updated the post – HOA means Home Owners Association. It’s an association with rules and regulations for condominiums, planned communities. My guess is that it’s similar to COOPs where you are.
I haven’t seen animal slaughter but I did seem my dad’s mom wring the neck of a dove to make a special soup. It was very fast.
When it comes to “meat processing” or slaughterhouses, I am sure that most people would become vegetarians if they saw it. I think if you had to kill what you ate, you’d have a greater appreciation for the animal. I just see how people like their food all neat and tidy. I guess having seen the Chinese markets as a child I know that the “meat” I see all tidy and packed was once running around or at least, living.
The woman who wanted “Just the meat” was actually trying to learn how to cook for her husband! She had been raised with a cook as a child (out of the country) and was this interesting combination of independent career woman in a male-dominated field (chemical engineering/petroleum) and South American flirtatiousness. So pragmatic is her work, so helpless and squeamish in the kitchen!
Well that was interesting to read, indeed! I think that the whole idea in truth is very much in line with other feelings that people have nowadays. They want things to work like they think that they should without understanding what is really going on.
I don’t like it. I’m not a fan of ignorance, and I expect others to be the same. It might be unreasonable of me, but I’d tend to think not.
They don’t want to know how their car works, they just want to drive.
They don’t want to know how the Internet works, they just want to surf.
They don’t want to know how their computer works, they just want to use it to write a paper.
They don’t want to see the raw cooking supplies, they just want the final prettied dishes.
Interesting and rather disturbing.
Derek: Great comment! Yes, people (including me) don’t necessarily want to know the “ugly truth.”
A lot goes on around us that we take for granted. That’s a luxury! We don’t have to know about where I food really comes from because WE aren’t worried about it! We don’t have to hunt for our meat or grow our own crops. We’d definitely know where it came from in that case.
I don’t know how electricity works (I used to have a better idea but I’ve forgotten so much of it now) but I’d like to think I have a bigger picture of what is going on when there’s a power outage. I see people who expect power lines and phones to be up and running fairly quickly after storm damage and I’m imagining all the crews driving out and pumping out water and I’m amazed at the SYSTEM that is in place to get a city up and running so quickly.
Maybe it’s the engineer in me! I do kinda like to know a little about how things work. That’s probably why I enjoying talking to most people when I’m on the road. I’ve learned about all sorts of things like how difficult it is to make a crispy potato snack that YOU CAN BAKE (this was a food engineer) or how airplane “glass” is manufactured or how concrete is mixed (for highways). I seldom want to discuss my work (yawn) “Application integration” when I can learn about someone else’s industry.
When people are comfortable (and I think that even the poorest in the US are more comfortable than those in 3rd world countries) they have the luxury to remain ignorant.
Ewww! I think I might not have an appetite for any meat if it was alive the day I bought it.
Mrs. Scrappy sounds very interesting… keep an eye on her.
Susan Q: I might not eat as much meat if I actually saw it running around a few hours earlier but I am not sure. I think it would depend on the animal and how well I “knew” it and if I thought it suffered when killed. I can understand why some people become vegetarians!
Mrs. Scrappy was funny. I think she was saying what most people were too “PC” to say. I don’t think she was racist when she pointed out that signs in the garbage rooms should be in different languages so that “people would know better.”
Many different ethnic groups live in my complex and some (like elderly parents) don’t speak much English, if any.
I’m suddenly reminded of the bit at Milliways, The Resturaunt at the End of the Universe from Douglas Adams. Where the option was to “Meet the Meat.”
ack: Yeah, a friend was mentioning that scene from the book about a cow (waiter) pointing out its various tasty bits and hoping to be chosen. I only read “Hitchhiker’s Guide” and forgot a lot of it!
We probably eat chicken, fish and red meat once each per week, and have tofu or nuts or beans the other times. I love hamburgers but hate thinking about where they came from. I wouldn’t be surprised if I wound up vegging out at some point, especially, yes, when I see the lobsters at the supermarket.
To end on a not-so-grisly note, I am also reminded of the Monty Python sketch where they serve humans.
You bought a condo with a HOA attached to it? You poor woman…
I am suddenly reminded of a scene from a Douglas Adams book (Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy series) where the characters are in a restaurant and a bovine like creature appears to see which part of it the characters want to eat.
One character is apaulled and states there is no way he is going to eat an Intelligent animal. At this point another character says, “Oh, so you’d rather eat an animal that didn’t want to be eaten?” The bovine acts insulted that the characters does not want to eat him as he has been raised to be eaten and it is a great insult to be turned away, “look at my rump! It’ll make a fine steak if it’s cut right.”
I come from a family of hunters so killing, cleaning, cooking and then eating something is the normal progression for me. I’ve seen plenty of dead animals hanging in the garage after a week long hunting trip and enjoyed eating their tasty bits for months after (big freezer).
Sadly I have acquired a beef allergy over time and can no longer eat beef. I can still eat pork and fowl but no more beef.
the frogster: You’re almost going vegetarian! I don’t eat much red meat. I usually eat chicken. I seldom eat seafood as I’m allergic to fish and shellfish doesn’t hold much appeal.
It DOES give me a bit of the heebies to think of lobsters being boiled alive. Eeee. I think about all they have to do to survive (the multple molts) and how long it takes them to grow big enough to be eaten. Well, I never was much into lobsters probably because I am not much into shrimp and lobsters seem like giant shrimp to me.
I can’t see giving up meat as I do like BBQ! Sure there are those tofu or garden burgers and veggie kabobs but ..
I am referring to someone’s home bbq. I seldom go to a bbq restaurant.
HMTKSteve: Yes, ack mentioned the Douglas Adams book as well and thanks for elaborating on the scene – that bit about “don’t you want to eat an intelligent animal?” hahaha!
I’ve spoken with hunters and have some idea of what is involved when hunting pheasant, ducks, elk and deer. Hunting ain’t easy!
Hunting game animals for food doesn’t really bother me. I may not do it (it takes a lot of work and the work begins once you kill the animal) but I know that it’s more than just a “bunch of guys in camo” shooting at animals. Hunting is pretty regulated as far as I know and is a big part of game/animal management.
I thought you might be familiar with hunting! Dang but it’s hard work especially deer and elk. This is why I get a bit annoyed when I hear people who are squeamish about seeing animal parts that look like the animal (like the head, tongue, feet). OK, I don’t exactly want to see a pig head on the table but when people begin to think of meat as some type of animal protein unit (APU) as opposed to CHICKEN breast or PORK (pig) cutlet, or BEEF (steer) shortribs…
When I’ve seen entire ducks hanging on the hook in the Chinese markets, I got a bit grossed out as a child. However It think it’s good to know where your food comes from, if you know what I mean. Protein is necessary for our survival and eating meat is the easiest way to get it. The food industry has sanitized meat for us and allows us to think of ourselves as civilized.
I realize that my reaction to my neighbors is based on the fact that I feel they are thinking that Asian markets are less “civilized.”
Yeah, I remember about the beef allergy. Does this occur with deer and elk and any so-called “red” meat?
The other day my 12 year old was trying to figure out whether she wanted to eat something that was offered to her at someone’s house & they kept answering to her inquiries about what it was, “It’s meat!” And she said several times, “But what KIND of meat?” I finally realized that I was going to have to intervene to get her the information she wanted & said something like, “I think it’s cow. Or maybe pig.” No surprise that she didn’t eat it.
My kids really only eat chicken. I think I gave them chicken at a younger age, so they feel like it’s more acceptable to eat a bird. Or something. I don’t cook a *lot* of meat. I like it a lot, but it’s generally not as healthy & worse for the environment and more expensive and everything. I hate the whole flesh thing, but I’ve gotten used to it so we can eat dead animals now and again.
It’s interesting to me how people negotiate the whole animal eating thing. I have a friend who won’t eat anything that nurses its young. My friend Laurie barely eats meat but is ok with ground beef when she *does*. I just can’t do ground beef almost EVER.
I’d think a fish that was still flopping around in my cart would taste pretty darn fresh when I did cook it, although doing so would be hard. I mean, I guess it would already be dead by the time you got it home, but you sure wouldn’t have to worry about freezer burn!!!!!!!
Jill: I’ve experienced the same thing as your daughter with people answering “meat” to my question about “what kind of meat” – like beef is the only type of meat there is. Much like I heard people will say “Coke” to any type of cola in certain parts of the country.
I enjoying eating meat but find beef and pork “heavy” and of course there’s the cholesterol thing. Cooking chicken is easy. OK, could cut up steak just as well but eh, chicken just seems easier. Cheaper, too.
I seldom eat ground beef as in a hamburger although I do like it in meatloaf (not that I eat meatloaf all that much) or meatballs.
I’ve caught fish so having one flop around in a cart wouldn’t be that difficult for me. It’s not like they aren’t flopping around at some point – I mean, you have to take them outta the water and then they suffocate so AT SOME POINT they will be flopping around. Unless you want to bop them upside their head underwater in some way.
Not that I want them to suffer. When I’ve caught fish I’ve either hooked them through the gills (not fun I am sure) or bopped them upside the head and put them in an ice chest.
You don’t eat pig, right? I mean, don’t you keep kosher? So no pig or catfish or lobster? Or gator?
yes that is a bit disturbing to see but the fact is that this happens everyday in the butcher shop and better them than us. thank you, butchers, for making meat look like meat or I too would be a vegetarian. I have seen these markets you speak of. They are usually in bigger cities. At least you know the fish is fresh. But it is pretty gross.
Nah, I don’t keep kosher at ***all***. Although the fact that I rarely bring meat into the house sort of makes some of our meals loosely kosher or “kosher style” by default.
Ricardo: I’ve seen photos of the outdoor meat markets in other countries with flies buzzing and sides of meat hanging …yeah, it’s a bit gross. The flies are what bother me. So yes, I am glad that I don’t have to see it all hang out in the states!
Jill: “Kosher style” ??? hahahaha! I dunno, it just makes me think of “kinda pregnant” which doesn’t really relate at all but I think I’m suffering from protein (MEAT) overload as yesterday I went to a friend’s annual bbq and it’s always incredibly delicious with all sorts of side dishes and of course I have to eat 2 of everything.
Very light eating today..detox, detox…
If we weren’t supposed to eat animals, then why are they so delicious?
Jake: And why were we given the teef to eat them wiff and the mind to come up with tasty ways to cook ‘em??
“‘Kosher style’ ??? hahahaha!” – actually at my old school our lunches (what the teachers brought & what the kids brought too) had to be “Kosher style”, which as far as I could figure out meant that you couldn’t tell it wasn’t kosher just by taking a casual glance…
:-0 :-0 :-0
Jill: so no ham and cheese sandwiches, huh? Or roast beef on rye with cheddar?