Reason Writers Around Town

Over at the America's Future Foundation mag Doublethink, check out Katherine Mangu-Ward's confessions of a dedicated carnivore.

The same issue also profiles reason's own Michael Moynihan.

Comments

[thoreau]

I used to be harsh on KMW. But, damn, she writes good stuff about food. So I repent.

[J sub D]

Ever since reading about it (National Geographic?), I've always wanted to sample rat in Thailand. Sick, isn't it.

[kwix]

J sub D,
If Thai rat is anything like their other food, it isn't sick, it's deliciously tempting.

[J sub D]

kwix, I spent a week in Pattaya once. Ate like a king with the added advantage of spending like a pauper. The culture excels in culinary arts.

[Taktix?]

Thai Rat? Can't be too bad. Roman patricians ate stuffed door mice at their finest banquets...

[Brian Sorgatz]

The Thai rat example brings up something interesting about the psychology of exotic meat. There are only two reasons that people are shocked by what kind of animal somebody else has eaten:

1.) The animal is considered disgusting and unclean (such as a rat).

2.) The animal is considered beautiful and noble enough to inspire protective feelings, or even a sense of kinship with humanity (such as a dolphin, although Mangu-Ward never mentions that species in her article).

I confess I would be heartbroken to eat a dolphin steak, even though my attitude is not necessarily rational. As David Cross has said in a stand-up routine, intelligence per se can't be a reason to refuse to eat an animal, or else there's no reason not to eat retarded people.

[shecky]

The Moynihan article explains why his H&R posts tend to be about subjects that have no relevancy to me as an American who has never lived abroad.

[J sub D]

1.) The animal is considered disgusting and unclean (such as a rat).

Perceived is right. The article I read so many moons ago, described the critters as being harvested while harvesting the wheat. IOW, grain fed wild rats. I'd imagine that's cleaner than the chicken you bought at the store last week. Some weird stuff sticks in my brain.

[Jemez Hobbit]

.. antelope is wonderful .. only thing better is oryx ..

.. did a "critter fritter" one year on my birthday .. found several exotic meats in the store and some hunter friends donated samples .. I think that we had about a dozen different varieties .. the antelopes (pronghorn and oryx) were hands-down the favorites ..

.. Hobbit

[SIV]

$22.50 a lb for snapping turtle?

I tells ya Bush and Bernancke have wrecked this economy with dollar debasement and inflation.

Bear is good. Very fatty,unlike most game meat.
Makes an excellent pot roast.

[Brandybuck]

Mmmm, hobbitburger...

[highnumber]

Brandybuck,
I thought the same thing:

"Hands down favorite was hobbit."

Where the hell did he get hobbit? I want to try hobbit!

[Schempf]

You can't beat a rare Panda steak - Yum!

[[e-mail]]

mmm, "Brandybuck", that does sound scrumptious. Is that kind of like beer-fed, Kobe beef. mmm, Kobe......

[Lamar]

How about dog? It seems that part of our aversion to some animals is their cuteness (kangaroo??). I'd like to chow on Koala, just cause its so damn cute.

[greenish]

I confess I would be heartbroken to eat a dolphin steak, even though my attitude is not necessarily rational. As David Cross has said in a stand-up routine, intelligence per se can't be a reason to refuse to eat an animal, or else there's no reason not to eat retarded people.

Funny, and all, but most retarded people are still way smarter than the vast majority of animals. And besides, what's wrong with "because I don't feel like it"?

[src]

You don't really want to chew on koala. It tastes like eucalyptus.

[Warren]

I'm hungry

[a]

From the Moynihan profile:

"The question these days 'Did you support the Iraq war?' is like 'Have you stopped beating your wife?'"

Um, no, it's not at all like that. It's like "Did you beat your wife?" Which is a perfectly valid question. Jesus Christ, Moynihan is fucking retarded.

[a]

It's also perfectly fitting that Moynihan, like so many neocons, was a left-wing idiot before he became a right-wing tool.

[joe]

I wonder how old Moynihan will be when he realizes that basing your politics around saying "I'll show YOU!" to your professors is no different from basing your politics around saying "I'll show YOU!" to your parents.

[Brandybuck]

I still like the old Rush Limbaugh parody commercial: "The tuna doesn't taste as good since they started using dolphin-free nets!"

[thoreau]

Since this thread is about KMW's food article, it's as good a place as any to pimp my latest blog post:

http://highclearing.com/index.php/archives/2007/11/19/7428

[glug]

When I use to work for Asswholefoods, I used to, deadpan style, tell the other clerks that some people were requesting tuna with *extra* dolphin.

(not that I don't think it's a good idea to reduce dolphins caught in the nets).

[Lamar]

What about tuna-free dolphin nets? Or my favorite, orca spread.

[R C Dean]

.. antelope is wonderful .. only thing better is oryx ..

Nah. Bear meat is the best game meat going. Kinda porky, with a sweet flavor.

[flipper]

But on the other hand....is there a libertarian case to be made for the 'reduction' (this is not a peta argument so don't even reach for that straw) of animal suffering?