I am not particularly squeamish about eating meat. I rather enjoy it. We don't have meat every meal but mostly we do. I hope the meat I eat comes from a beast that has enjoyed a good life and an instant death.
Tradie Brother and Step Mother's husband bought a calf, and over a period of how ever long it takes to fatten a calf into a saleable beast to supply meat, Blackie led a charmed life. TB had great fun with the calf when younger and even as Blackie matured, when it would head butt him. TB's dog was rather jealous of TB's relationship with Blackie, but they tolerated each other.
Mother implored TB. You can't do it! You can't kill your pet, but eventually the deed was done and the meat shared between TB and Step Mother's husband. TB assisted with the deed and was in charge of putting mince into bags and could barely keep up with the skilled butcher.
While we did not get steaks, each of TB's siblings and Mother received about a 1.5 kilo of mince. I kind of put it out of my mind until last night when we were dining on the second meal from a Shepherd's Pie. R proclaimed that it was the last of Blackie. Sweetheart, I really wish you had not mentioned that. As well as Shepherd's Pie, Blackie has been made into Chow Mein, curried mince and meat loaf and he was rather delicious.
S'pose troubling about the source of your meat is rather a first world problem, but we should give it a thought at times.
This vego did read it. And agree we do need to think about where our meals come from. And our clothing. There are too many things we need to think about. Somedays both cells of my brain ache.
ReplyDeleteEC, your complainy is a modern disease and apparently we burn out our empathy to the point where it barely functions.
DeleteI don't like the idea of my meat having a name.Knowing the farm is enough for me.
ReplyDeleteMarie, quite so. We need to keep it anonymous.
DeleteI've never knowingly eaten an animal I've known. Seeing that as a city boy most of the animals I've known have been dogs, that's a good thing on two grounds.
ReplyDeleteYes Victor, it is quite unlikely that you have eaten any thing you knew by name. Btw, have you ever been to the countryside?
DeleteI have been known to stray past city limits but I always return.
DeleteAt least you did warn us Andrew :(
ReplyDeleteMother was quite right. You can't love your pet totally, then kill it to eat. It would be like eating your most beloved aunt.
Hels, yes, it is not something I would seek, but Tradie Brother has a lot of the old Australian in him.
DeleteR reminds me of my grand daughter; at the age of four the family were eating burgers for dinner and E said "we're eating Bessie aren't we?" one of the farm cows, Bessie had been taken to the butcher the previous week.
ReplyDeleteI don't eat meat much, mostly because it's rather expensive. I am cooking a beef pot roast today though, so there'll be hot meat for dinner and sandwiches for several days.
River, how clever of E to associate the two things at such a young age. We should all eat less meat.
DeleteI'm not a vegetation, but I would find it hard to eat a pet.
ReplyDeleteMerle...........
Merle, so Drummy won't be the roast for Christmas Day?
DeleteI couldn't be a vegetarian, I would be hungry all the time - well I think I would.
ReplyDeleteUsed to have pet lambs when first married as lived on the farm, but they were either sold or killed to eat...
Margaret, it is an interesting point about eating meat and hunger. I have to eat a lot more to feel satisfied if I don't have meat. Fish don't cut it. I soon feel hungry again after fish.
DeleteThat's why fish usually comes with a large bucket of chips :D
DeleteRiver, lol.
DeleteWe eat a fair amount of fish and I would have to agree with you Andrew, fish just doesn't fill unless I eat a large amount, well for me anyway.
Deleteooh there's something far superior about meat that you have killed yourself. A friend of ours used to do this, and the meat was amazing.
ReplyDeleteFen, maybe depends on how close you were to the animal. As has been suggested, if it has a name.........
DeleteIf I had to kill my own animals for food, I think I'd only be able to eat sea snails, crabs and lobsters.
ReplyDeleteAd Rad, why do I think you would not mind that so much. I can leave those, but I love oysters and mussels.
DeleteIck. Raise something as your friend, then kill it and eat it. Well, we're just animals ourselves. When I see people preparing to sit at a Thanksgiving table, all dressed up, having a nice prayer first, all I see is a bunch of wolves snarling and drooling for position to get at a carcass, fangs bloody in gore.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I shouldn't say this Strayer, but Thanksgiving to me represents much that is wrong in America. As you say, everyone dressed nicely, sitting with family and eating lovely food, while the country almost implodes with violence, poverty and so many social issues.
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