Sausages
Yesterday I went over to see John and Katrin in Huddersfield (click here and you will find out all about the evils of Bread and its Crumbs).
A couple of weeks ago, in Bavaria, John and Katrin saw a pig being killed, and took some photographs, which - at my request - they showed me.
Such an everyday thing to those involved: such an unusual thing for most people these days to see.
It was very humanely done: the men stunned the pig and then slit its throat. There was lots of blood and I was struck by how human-like the dead pig looked. I'm not going to give you a graphic description, because I don't think I need to.
By the end of the day almost every bit of the pig had been used for something. and there was a photo of the rows of hanging sausages. That pleased me, as I think if we're going to kill an animal we should at least make use of all of it so it hasn't died in vain. There's a very similar account of a pig being killed, in the USA well over a hundred years ago, in one of the excellent books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, about her childhood in the wilds of America: but I can't remember which book.
I'm trying to frame the words for what I thought and it was this:
I think we should know more about where our food comes from, so pork chops aren't just thought of as something wrapped in clingfilm from the supermarket. Perhaps if children at school were routinely shown photos of where farm animals are kept, how they live and how they die, then we might be more humane in our treatment of animals.
And there's something too that says to me that if we stop pretending that death is a neatly-wrapped pork chop instead of a bloody carcass on the floor, then perhaps we might be more humane in our treatment of people, too.
Whilst I was looking at the photos John handed me a piece of sausage.
"Here," he said,"try this."
It came from the very pig in the photos, brought back from Bavaria. It was delicious.
A couple of weeks ago, in Bavaria, John and Katrin saw a pig being killed, and took some photographs, which - at my request - they showed me.
Such an everyday thing to those involved: such an unusual thing for most people these days to see.
It was very humanely done: the men stunned the pig and then slit its throat. There was lots of blood and I was struck by how human-like the dead pig looked. I'm not going to give you a graphic description, because I don't think I need to.
By the end of the day almost every bit of the pig had been used for something. and there was a photo of the rows of hanging sausages. That pleased me, as I think if we're going to kill an animal we should at least make use of all of it so it hasn't died in vain. There's a very similar account of a pig being killed, in the USA well over a hundred years ago, in one of the excellent books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, about her childhood in the wilds of America: but I can't remember which book.
I'm trying to frame the words for what I thought and it was this:
I think we should know more about where our food comes from, so pork chops aren't just thought of as something wrapped in clingfilm from the supermarket. Perhaps if children at school were routinely shown photos of where farm animals are kept, how they live and how they die, then we might be more humane in our treatment of animals.
And there's something too that says to me that if we stop pretending that death is a neatly-wrapped pork chop instead of a bloody carcass on the floor, then perhaps we might be more humane in our treatment of people, too.
Whilst I was looking at the photos John handed me a piece of sausage.
"Here," he said,"try this."
It came from the very pig in the photos, brought back from Bavaria. It was delicious.
posted by Daphne at 5:49 pm
6 Comments:
Might it have been The Long Winter? I seem to remember lots of food-prep scenes - I do remember the scene you are thinking of!! And they made maple-syrup candy...
It was Little House in the Big Woods. Laura was a very small girl and they made head cheese. Then all the bits were stored in the attic.
The Long Winter was almost all about starvation.
Thanks to both of you - I want to read all the books again now. I thought - still think - they're fantastic, not at all the soppy mush that people think of when they think of the television version of Little House on the Prairie.
My little sister got into trouble in primary school for listing them as an example of non-fiction.
I totally agree that in today's society, most people are completely divorced from knowing what they eat and its provenance. I eat very little meat, and that which I do eat, I make sure is high quality. Have watched too many 'Despatches' and the like which is also the reason I don't eat chicken (very occasionally I do though).
Ahh, of course - the head cheese.... It's all coming back to me now. I had nightmares for weeks after the whole leech debacle in By the Shores of Silver Lake.
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