Meat

Following on from my post yesterday about rat meat in China, Foreign Policy has helpfully found 5 ways to know you are eating rat meat.

Foreign Policy reached out to North Carolina-based artist Laura Ginn, who, after organizing a rat-themed five-course dinner in New York last year, has become somewhat of a rat meat connoisseur. With her help, we hereby offer you five ways to know you’re eating rat.

1. It smells like rat. Rats secrete an oil onto their skin that gives them their distinct “rodenty” odor. Some compare the smell to that of a warm tortilla, says Ginn, while others compare it to urine. Regardless, it’s distinctive. While it’s true that the odor lessens after the rat is skinned, and again after the rat is cooked, no amount of cooking can ever completely get rid of the smell.

2. It tastes like rat. The oil rats secrete gives them a distinctive taste as well. Ginn describes it as quite pungent and gamey — most similar to raccoon or rabbit. Blended with other meats, rat becomes a lot less distinctive, so you’d have to be rather discerning to notice it.  Read more »

(Photo by Lee Taylor)

Andrew Sullivan blogged about a new roadkill law in Montana allowing people to take home roadkill which was previously illegal.

In the post he used a picture of a Pukeko, which don’t live in Montana. A mate of mine emailed Andrew and pointed out a few facts about Pukeko, he updated the post with my mates comments.  Read more »

It is bloody hard to tell if it is satire. I have come to the conclusion that Alecia Simmonds is just another hippy weirdo:

Here are five reasons why feminists should try to eliminate meat:

1. Eating meat is associated with male power in its most vile and repugnant forms.

In a logic that sounds positively mystical, real men, we are told, should be physically strong and virile, which means killing and eating strong animals.

This is why cookbooks aimed at men focus on the barbecue. Anything less might turn them into gay homosexual fops. For instance, the Newtown killer used a rifle manufactured by a company called Bushmaster. Upon purchase, Bushmaster offers you a “man card” that is revoked if you’re caught, among other things, “eating tofu”. Why? Because real men eat meat. Sissies do not.

In rejecting meat, feminists – both women and men – are rejecting a potent symbol of patriarchal power.  Read more »

I knew I was right all along, eating meat is far better for you than following the rubbish food pyramid, especially for your teeth:

Prehistoric humans didn’t have toothbrushes. They didn’t have floss or toothpaste, and they certainly didn’t have Listerine. Yet somehow, their mouths were a lot healthier than ours are today.

“Hunter-gatherers had really good teeth,” says Alan Cooper, director of the Australian Centre for Ancient DNA. “[But] as soon as you get to farming populations, you see this massive change. Huge amounts of gum disease. And cavities start cropping up.”

And thousands of years later, we’re still waging, and often losing, our war against oral disease.

Our changing diets are largely to blame.  Read more »

With all the fuss in Europe over a bit of tasty horse meat you could forgiven for thinking this is a problem.

In South Africa they have found out that they have been eating donkey and water buffalo burgers instead of beef.

Research released this week found that donkey, water buffalo and other unconventional ingredients had been found in almost two-thirds of hamburgers and sausages tested in Africa’s largest economy.

But 4 years ago it wasn’t just donkey and buffalo.  Read more »

It’s the sort of thing Aussies would do, except they would use kangaroo…they once exported it as beef. Tesco has been found selling horse meat in their ‘beef’ burger products.

Horse meat has been found in burgers on sale in British supermarkets. Tests on beef products sold in Tesco, Lidl, Aldi, Iceland and Dunnes Stores uncovered low levels of the animal’s DNA.

In Tesco Everyday Value Beef Burgers, horse meat accounted for approximately 29 per cent of the meat. The supermarket announced last night that it was removing all fresh and frozen burgers from sale immediately regardless if they had been found to contain horse meat.  Read more »

I can’t stand Asenati Lole-Taylor but this tweet exchange is pure gold:

There is no helping bludgers and she has just found out. Julie Fairey goes all pinko and wants to give the drunk gambling bludgers a hug….and probably a couple of thousand of taxpayers dollars too…and os probably arranging for Len Brown to build them and affordable home.

Read more »

Council jobsworths with clipboards are setting about telling diners what they can and can’t order…they are cracking down on gourmet burgers and punters ordering the meat rare.

[C]ouncil officials are cracking down on the freedom to choose how your burger is done, warning restaurants not to offer them rare or even medium-rare.

A number of celebrity chefs are affected by the move, including Gordon Ramsay, whose Maze Grill restaurant sells a burger for £12, Angela Hartnett, whose York and Albany’s bar menu includes burgers, and the Soho House chain, run by Nick Jones, the husband of broadcaster Kirsty Young.

All face being asked at their next routine inspection how they offer their burgers after the decision by Westminster city council, which regulates food safety in more restaurants than any other local authority.

The decision is expected to be followed by other councils, but critics fear it could lead to questions over the safety of rare steaks and raw meat dishes such as steak tartare.

The policy is to be the subject of a legal ruling.

After routine inspections by environmental health officers, Westminster council challenged the way Davy’s was serving its £13.95 burgers at one of its restaurants in central London. Davy’s has taken the case to the High Court, which experts say could set a legal precedent as to whether or not diners will be able to order meat rare.

A Davy’s spokesman said: “The burgers are produced from high quality ingredients and Davy’s contends that it has safe measures in place to serve rare or medium-rare burgers.”

James Armitage, the council’s food health and safety manager, said: “This is about making sure customers are eating meat that is not a threat to their health. It is possible to produce burgers that can be eaten undercooked, but strict controls are essential.

“We have enlisted the UK’s top expert on E. coli, Prof Hugh Pennington, to get this matter resolved and he has outlined that rare minced meat that is not correctly cooked and prepared can kill.”

But John Cadieux, the executive head chef for the Burger and Lobster chain, said: “If you follow the guidelines to the letter then you’re going to destroy the burger industry.“

Not only that but you’re opening a Pandora’s box, because where do you finish? Steak tartare, runny eggs … the list is endless.”

via Andrew Sullivan

In the wild, animals are either a predator or a prey. They both eat very differently. One eats a lot every few days while the other constantly grazes eating a little here and there.

J. Stanton says there’s a lesson humans can learn from this about how we eat. In our interview with him, he shares some observations about eating like a prey versus a predator and which one we, as people, should imitate.

It’s obvious that the Labour Party MPs need some fortification during these stressful times.

The Whale suggests Bacon Flavoured Vodka drunk from Meat Shot Glasses.