I just described how my grandmother prepared chicken, but I also
remember watching my grandfather butchering hogs. It was always on
veterans day. That was hog killing day. He took down his rifle and went
out to the hog pen. Each hog got a shot to the head. There was a lot
more work to it than there was to butchering the chickens. It was an all
day job and even though the bulk of the work was done on the first day
it was not quite finished until at least a week had passed. It involved
skinning, dismembering, gutting and then grinding sausage, hanging meat
for smoking and lots of other things. My grandfather did not make blood
sausage, but I later learned about that. It was done by slitting the
hog's throat and catching the blood in a pan and then cooking that blood
while stirring and adding spices. The blood would then be ladled into
sausage casings where it cooled and congealed into a solid sausage. He
usually discarded the skin too, but I do seem to remember once that my
grandmother collected some of the skin to bake into pork rinds. They
were very similar to the ones you get from a vending machine, but a lot
greasier.
On 12/12/2015 8:34 AM, joe harcz Comcast wrote:
Anyone who has hunted, and/or raised the animals one has eaten knows the realities.
Urban America doesn't really know where meat comes from.
But the fact that one must slaughter animals to survive does not make one a monster.
Much of my family are farmers and indeed also livestock folks.
We recently for example ate turkeys that oe of my brothers raised this summer and fall.
They were a source of amusement to my folks who watched them raised from the sun room.
By the way they were quite delicious.
----- Original Message -----
*From:* Alice Dampman Humel <mailto:alicedh@xxxxxxxxxxx>
*To:* blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
*Sent:* Friday, December 11, 2015 10:20 PM
*Subject:* [blind-democracy] Re: Apocalyptic Capitalism
yes, this is the ultimate in intellectual dishonesty…as long as
the animal, be it chicken, cow, lamb, rabbit, is all sterile and
protected by plastic, it’s not really an animal…how easy it is for
people to delude themselves…
For several years of my young life, I could not eat meat, because
I could not stand the thought of animals being killed and, worse,
killed in horrifying circumstances. I eventually got over it, and
I eat meat now. But I don’t kid myself about where it comes from,
and I believe that I could kill my own chicken if I had to,
because I already admit that somebody killed the chicken, so what
difference does it make?
BTW, I loved your descriptions of how it was in your mother’s
kitchen...
On Dec 11, 2015, at 2:10 PM, Miriam Vieni
<miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Bob,
I've been listening to the coverage of COP 21 on Democracy Now
for days and
reading many articles about climate change and Chris Hedges is
the only
person, so far, who has written that we could solve the whole
problem by
not eating meat. For years and years I have been reading articles
that
promote vegetarianism and give various reasons for its adoption.
Certainly,
the industrial farming and the industreal meat industry are
harmful. But no
one has yet convinced me that eating meat is bad for people. As
far as I am
concerned, we are biologically, carniverous animals and eating
meat is
natural. If people don't like eating meat or feel physically
better when
they avoid meat and dairy products, if they have moral objections
to eating
other animals, I accept their personal choices. But I don't
appreciate their
missionary zeal in attempting to convince others to adopt their
position. I
do think, however, that there should be changes in how the
animals that we
consume, are raised, and in how they are killed. I also hate the
idea that
we have to kill animals in order to eat them. Actually, I think
that people
like to think that all meat drops from the sky, neatly wrapped in
plastic
packages. This was brought home to me when, on Thanksgiving, I was
describing how, when I was a very small child, my mother would
buy chickens
from the kosher butcher. She brought home a whole chicken with
all its
feathers and its feet. Only the head was gone. She removed the
feathers by
hand, and then removed the pin feathers by holding the chicken
over the gas
flame of our stove to burn them off. I remember that these
chickens had
undeveloped eggs inside them, the yokes without shells. She
boiled the
chickens for chicken soup and the little eggs were part of the
soup, and
were deliscious. She skimmed the fat off the top, rendered it
with onions to
make chicken fat which was used in cooking and also, spread on
rye bread. My
older daughter was horrified by the foregoing description and
said, "I don't
want to think about a real chicken. I just want to get packaged
parts in the
store". So, perhaps Hedges is on to something. Perhaps if people
had to see
the cow slaughtered, steaks and hamburgers wouldn't be so appealing.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Bob Hachey
Sent: Friday, December 11, 2015 1:34 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<mailto:blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Apocalyptic Capitalism
Hi Miriam,
Reading this brought to mind the criticism I get from a few of my
vegan
friends and colleagues. They rightly label me a hypocrite based
upon the
fact that I complain about climate change and the deleterious
effect of
greenhouse gases while continuing to eat meat, eggs and dairy.
Many of my
favorite foods fall into these groups and boy do I love to eat.
The gut
around my middle is purely based upon diet as I get a good bit of
exercise.
I politely eat vegan meals at the homes of friends, but could not
picture
myself changing to a vegan diet. Even reducing meat consumption
would not be
easy for me. This all makes me wonder if meat and dairy are
addictions like
drugs, sugar or caffeine.
Bob Hachey
