effing google!
Well, I actually like google just fine, but I'm really annoyed about blogger now belonging to it. After the transition practically the whole thing -- as all of you living over here probably know by now -- is in Japanese. It's mostly because of this that I haven't posted anything in awhile. I CAN'T READ (most of) THE STUPID OPTIONS!!! I finally decided to just start pushing buttons and figure out how to post here.
Other than that...
As of friday I can now add a new item to the list of strange things I've eaten since coming to Japan.
I've had squid so fresh that it's skin was still changing colors, whale (which I feel guilty about now after learning about the sketchy way Japan gets whales), pig stomach, pig foot, raw and cooked boar meat, and now I have eaten horse.
Raw horse.
We went to a small Okinawan restaurant in town on Friday and it was lovely. I'd been once before and it has all kinds of crazy food (see afore mentioned pig foot) and we had alcohol with a dead snake in the bottle when last we went. There's a big tank in there with fresh salt water fish swimming about. Among other yummy and less strange thing, we ordered sashimi and the raw horse (which was actually quite tasty). A fish was grabbed from the tank right in front of us with much flapping about. A few minutes late it was on a plate in front of us, beautifully arranged with eyes still dilating and tail still twitching. A little creepifying but completely tasty.
Also on Friday, a package arrived from our moms containing birthday presents for Reese from mom and me, and his play station and games from home. Because of this, Saturday consisted almost entirely of playing Onimusha II. I don't remember the last time I was such a couch potato. We then went out for karaokee for two hours and I finally realized how fun it can be. I don't have to care about sounding good and it's a lot more fun when I can find songs that I know. We've now decided that every time we go we have to sing 'Phantom of the Opera', 'America' from Westside Story, and 'Supercalafragalisticexpiladosious' (I have no idea how to spell that).
Fun fun, and I'm now finding myself dangerously interested in playing/watching video games for hours on end.
posted by Amanda @ 9:28 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
'Supercalafragalisticexpiladosious'
I think you missed an 'h' in there...somewhere...
perhaps a good idea would be to look up the official lyrics from disney... :)
"sketchy way japan gets whales"
so, if there were no moratorium and they weren't masquerading behind 'scientific research', then you would be ok eating whale?
recently i have heard another story about sashimi and saw photos of the fish being killed and displayed on the plate... there is even a video on youtube (i haven't watched it) where th chef takes the meat off the fish and then puts it back into the tank... so cruel. i have recently added sashimi to the list of meats i don't eat.
as for horses... i used to ride.
"supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"... I think.
I understand the rejection of whale and sashimi, but horse meat is done in a comparatively humane way. (also compared with modern raising and slaughter of cows and chickens)
Additionally it's been a food in many different cultures for a very long time, with the modern British and US stigma coming from old church rules and pet sentimentality.
well, i'm definitely on the 'pet sentimentality' bandwagon... i wouldn't eat a horse for the same reasons that a dog owner wouldn't eat a dog in korea... can you imagine your pet 'Bear' being on the menu?
Also, horse meat is very common for pet food in NZ... there's something about eating the same thing as my cat that just doesn't seem quite right.
Anyhoo, all this talk is making me feel awful for ever eating any type of meat. My vegetarianism has been fragile lately... think i'm jumping on another bandwagon... the strict vege kind.
I didn't mean to upset anyone with this post!
I understand what you're saying Karen and have known many who are on the same page as you.
I love horses. I think they are wonderful creatures and can be long time companions in almost the same way dogs can be. In fact, horses are rather like very large dogs in many ways. There's an ick factor in eating them for the sentimental reasons, no doubt.
As for dog chow, lots of meat is ground up and fed to animals and it doesn't bother me to eat the same animal as my dog or cat.
I admit I'd be a bit more hesitant to eat a dog for the same sentimental reasons. I wouldn't want to eat Bear or anything as cute as him, but I'm still open to trying dog at some point. People's pets are not the animals making it on to the menu.
As long as the animal is not endangered or nearly endangered, and not slaughtered in an inhumane way (see afore mention whales, and also of course bushmeat), then I don't have a problem with it being eaten. I didn't know before about how sashimi is sometimes harvested, and I agree that that is a pretty aweful way to get meat from an animal -- even a stupid fish.
Dogs and horses can be smart and sweet and loyal. Cows and pigs are not completely unintelligent animals and can also be just as attached and loyal to people as regular pets if given the chance. In fact, there are studies that have shown pigs to be smarter and better at problem solving than three year old human children. Yet we still eat them.
As Maurice said, what animals we deem appropriate to eat is a cultural thing.
Some people don't want to eat animals for dietary or moral reasons. That's fine and I respect that. I just like meat and don't have a problem eating (most) of it. We're all omnivores and I'm sticking with it.
And Karen, don't go strict vege and give up fish just yet!! It's really really good for you and oh so tasty.
no need to apologise for blog material. was just trying to facilitate some good ol' fashioned discussion/debate... didn't mean for it to come across like i had taken offence to anything - i guess i just have very strong opinions on whaling and i am interested as to what people think and why people eat it.
If there is some debate about food and pain I want in.
Ok the reason why it is that I eat meat, similar to Amanda, is that it is good. "Bacon is good, pork chops are good." Cook a steak just right and it is one of my perfered meals. I eat meat because I enjoy the meat. The reason why I eat so much of it is that it was avaliable, between home and Ellensburg there were enough cow parts around. And it is good.
As far as pain and humaine ways to kill an animal. Allow me to rephrase that, a nice way to butcher an animal. Dead is dead right? How long does the animal have to be in pain before it become inhumane? If there is only an instant of pain then would not hitting the animal on the head with a tack hammer killing it instantly be the better course of action than a slow injection of poision? But the tack hammer is deemed inhumane because it is somewhat more violent death.
-Brandon
Meat is good. The rare-er the better. Buuuut...
really, in order to help keep the Earth from going further to hell, we should all be vegetarians simply because it takes up less resources to produce veggies and grains. It can take up to 10 times the grain needed to feed ten people to get the beef to feed one person. Plus there is the methane and waste material generated by cattle and the real concern about living up to our role as custodian of the Earth at the same time we are raising animals with dismal lives in tiny dark pens, feed on themselves.
And yet I admit I'm weak and do nothing about anything while eating a diet containing meat every day...
just to clarify, i think it is quite normal to eat meat. i used to eat meat. i stopped because it was cheaper to cook vegetarian when i had to cook for myself, and then i just couldn't stomach eating meat after a few years... i guess i had just gone off the taste.
i am not a crusade to stop people eating meat or make people feel guilty... i was just putting my opinions out there. i was mainly referring to the whales inmy original comment, and say what you want about humane/inhumane it is just down right cruel the way whales are harpooned, it takes some whales more than 30 minutes to die after being harpooned.
maurice, you point out a great point about meat being harmful for the earth. rainforests are being cut down everyday to make room for farms and cattle. makes me very sad.
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