Animals

[Mr Pee]

I've never eaten duck in my life and never will.I think of the cute little creatures my kids used to love feeding when they were younger.

They may be cute little creatures, but DAMN, they taste good!!

[Chris Newman]

Don't eat with your mouth open, Pee. You can put people off food.

[handsomefortune]

I loved the way they made little duvets for themselves out of the fur of their prey.....

austerity measures!

[salymap]

When I was a child during the war we ate lots of rabbit as they were available locally and, I think, off ration. Rabbit pie was delicioua, made by my mum, but I wouldn't eat it now.

Sorry Mahlerei

[Richard Tarleton]

When I was a child during the war we ate lots of rabbit as they were available locally and, I think, off ration. Rabbit pie was delicioua, made by my mum, but I wouldn't eat it now.

I've had some great rabbit dishes on my last couple of visits to Suffolk, where there are some great food pubs - rabbit pie, rabbit terrine - I think it's become quite fashionable again. It's the one animal I have cleaned, skinned, cooked and eaten myself - as a casserole, with Dijon mustard sauce...

[Mr Pee]

I'll eat pretty much anything, but I think I'd draw the line at these lovely Shetland Ponies:-

[umslopogaas]

#75 Mr GG: how can anyone be a partial vegetarian? I think my little sis would fit the bill. She doesnt eat meat, but she does eat fish, and she will prepare meat for the family. A full vegetarian presumably would not eat anything animal, even eggs, and a 110% veggie wouldnt even allow the boys to bring steak into her kitchen. And then there are vegans ... I once had a vegan student, she was quite bright and very determined, but she never looked healthy. I was often tempted to press a tenner into her palm and say, go and treat yourself to a nice steak dear, but I never quite had the nerve. It would have been seen as unprofessional, and of course, she might even have caved in to pressure from the hierachy and that would have cost me ten quid.

Personally, I'll eat most things, though I draw the line at tripes and brains.

And salymap, I too have fond memories of rabbit stew from my earliest days and very nice it was too. I suspect rabbit vanished from the menu for two reasons: one was myxomatosis that struck somewhen in the fifties and almost exterminated the rabbit supply, and the other was increasing prosperity, rabbit was always seen as the meat you ate when you couldnt afford anything better. Plenty of them round here, I must buy myself an airgun.

[MrGongGong]

Horse is very tasty in my experience

I'm partially teetotal ....... well in between drinks that is

[Mr Pee]

Horse is very tasty in my experience

I'm partially teetotal ....... well in between drinks that is

I did eat horse in France many moons ago- and yes, it tasted fine. But by then it was minced up and on the plate, not peeking over the side of the car door, as in the photo above....

I don't mind veggies, as long as they don't try and get all morally superior over their lifestyle choice. I think they should just be grateful that they are able to choose, when miilions around the world have to eat whatever they can get just in order to survive.

My auntie is what I suppose you'd call a partial vegetarian- last Sunday we were having roast chicken for lunch, and, having cooked her a special veggie main, she turned around asked if she could have some of the sausagemeat stuffing.....

[Richard Tarleton]

I'll eat pretty much anything, but I think I'd draw the line at these lovely Shetland Ponies:-

A lot of people have probably eaten horse without realising they were doing so, in certain types of salami.

If you visit the Lonsko polje nature park SE of Zagreb - the flood plain of the river Sava - you will see the beautiful Posavina horses grazing. The main reason this rare breed survives at all is because they are particularly sought after by Italians for luxury salami.

I have no moral objection to eating horse - I've just never seen it on the menu.

[salymap]

I met a lovely Belgian family when they were rescued from Ostende by a Soho grocer [the 'little ships rescue'.We met him after the war, but I digress !] During the war they lived at Petts Wood near me but when I stayed with them in Ostende later on they served very strange meat. Enormous slices of coarse grain. I choked on it every day as I'm sure it was horse. I didn't like to ask at 20 or so but I love horses.

[Ferretfancy]

How on earth can you be a "partial" vegetarian ?
It's like being "Slightly" pregnant !!!

Well, it's all a bit absurd, isn't it, but I have friends who will eat chicken or fish, but no red meat. Of the two viands ( I've always wanted to use that word! ) presumably fish don't get the chance to love their mothers, so that counts. I'm not sure about the emotional needs of chickens.

[Serial_Apologist]

I've been a "partial veggie" now for about 15 years. "Partial" because I eat cheese, eggs, cows' milk, fish twice a week, (oily, eg sardines, once), and have occasionally given in to temptation for a BLT sandwich. Other than bacon, I have not eaten pork, nor lamb or beef for that time, and finding the alternative sources of vitamins, iron etc available I have found no deterioration in my overall level of health and fitness. Fruits, nuts and vegetables seem to be much more compatible with the human digestive system, I've found.

I guess the change in my eating habits was brought about less out of disgust or disapproval at eating creatures with central nervous systems, or alleged cruelty in abbatoirs, than articles and programmes detailing the amount and cost of energy consumed by livestock which then fed us which could go instead to crops. (What crops is another subject outwith this thread). And I have no objection, as do some veggies, to substitutes which try to imitate the taste, texture or appearance of meat: why be a hair shirt, which has rightly imo got vegetarianism (among other lifestyle changes) such a bad name? To the question usually posed - what would I do with all the livestock? - sheep and goats provide essential grazing as part of land management, and there will still be need for wool and milk, though I admit I have no idea what proportions of cattle (UK or worldwide) at present go for beef or milk (or both), and whether or not by everyone in theory going vegetarian, there would be scope for reducing cattle rearing. One could, of course, "get rid of" all cattle by neutering.

S-A

[Richard Tarleton]

Well, it's all a bit absurd, isn't it, but I have friends who will eat chicken or fish, but no red meat. Of the two viands ( I've always wanted to use that word! ) presumably fish don't get the chance to love their mothers, so that counts. I'm not sure about the emotional needs of chickens.

Viands - I believe there can also be perfectly rational reasons for this preference, as some people find red meat harder to digest, but can cope with chicken.

[umslopogaas]

I ate horse several times when I was an impoverished research student at Cambridge. I shared a house with several vet students and they quite often came home with big slabs of horsemeat. Cambridge is of course quite close to Newmarket and somewhere in the vicinity was a knackers yard where old race horses ended up when they started to lose too many races. As I recall it was very good: a bit tough, but prime quality steak at dogfood prices.