new thread
For my fellow hunters/outdoorsmen/survival enthusiasts, the Art of Manliness just posted a decent little article on how to field dress a squirrel. The method described would also work well for a rabbit. For the sake of staying somewhat on topic, the author is a long-haired man, and the article does include photos.
--Val
Very interesting read, thanks Val.
My personal thoughts are always that we have gotten too far removed from our food. We forget that (in the case of meat) a living breathing creature died to be on our plate, if we are too squeamish to be part of that process we probably should be vegetarian.
I must admit, the only thing I'm a bit squeamish about is actually killing an animal. Once it's dead, I'll quite happily skin, butcher and cook it, which, I suppose, is slightly hypocritical, but there you go.
Hi Viking, I love your comments, as well as Sorted's comments -- very true, I think it's just human nature to be a bit squeamish about these sort of things, especially considering how far removed from Nature modern man has become.
Here's a quick story of my own:
When I was in cooking school (from '82 - '83, but let's not go there - LOL), our primary cooking teacher asked for a student to volunteer to kill & cut up a live lobster for a seafood bisque recipe we were making that day (a recipe that insisted on NOT dropping the living beast into boiling water to kill it)...
Since I happen to love love LOVE seafood (especially crab & lobster!), I volunteered to do the dirty deed, as long as I clearly understood how to kill it in the most humane manner possible.
With a large chef's knife in hand, I remember looking at the lobster's beady little eyes, saying (out loud, as I recall): "I'm so sorry to do this, as you're really cute..." (I confess I wasn't quite telling the truth when I made this statement - LOL) "But, I'd really love to eat you!"
And with that, I quickly slammed the knife right between his eyes, then cut off his tail & claws, separating them from his torso.
Most important thing of all: I remembered to THANK the lobster for giving his life up, so those of us in this cooking class could eat some delicious food for lunch...
I emotionally survived that ordeal just fine -- and from then onward, knew that I would never have to feel any meat-eater's guilt and become a vegetarian!
"End of story!"
- Ken in San Francisco
I think having respect for what you're eating is good. I have no qualms about killing fish and shellfish, but when it's something warm-blooded, I do feel reluctant. I can, and have killed animals in the past, but the older I get the less keen I am. However, I don't think I'll ever feel guilty enough to give up a bacon sandwich!
With all the tension in the world, economic and so forth, I would say it is a good idea to be prepared to secure our own food if the need arises. Crises aside, natural food comes without the risk of steroids and other hormones that often go into comercial food.
I guess the long hair comes into play as a survival factor as well due to the insulation it provides.
Pearson
Hi Val,
Very interesting website there, I had fun looking around at some of the other topics, too (although the page about "manly" Barbershops felt a little hypocritical of me to read - LOL)....
In any case, although when I was in my teens & 20s I used to camp outdoors & do a lot of backpacking, etc., the only real "hunting" I remember doing was catching and killing frogs when in Boy Scouts -- oh, and also a small amount of unsuccessful fishing!
I agree with and enjoyed reading Sorted's comments as well, and also responded to Viking's comments, below...
It's rather sad to think how modern man (especially so many American men) think of chicken or steak as something all scrubbed-up clean and neatly wrapped in nice little packages -- forgetting that it was once a living animal.
Thanks for the interesting post, Val, I enjoyed reading it (even though I have to confess that I've become a bit too "city folk" myself)!
- Ken