Never Eats

I was going to post this in response to Hoke's recent wine forum post about his Cahors/foie gras convention, but I decided it belonged in the food forum, not the wine one.

Basically, foie gras is on my list of Never Eats. I've tried it, and it tastes good, but I just can't force it down my gullet knowing about all those geese who had something rather similar forced down their gullets.

I'm really not a bleeding heart vegetarian; I believe that eating flesh is natural - but I think that many of our methods of procuring flesh is unnatural. Or at least really, really cruel. This has led me to my resolution of only eating local, free-range meats from producers I can trust. I'm also moving away from domesticated animals and towards wild ones - I'm not a hunter myself, but I love game and it just seems more natural to kill an animal quickly in its own environment, rather than culling them in a man-made compound.

Does anyone else have items on their Never Eats list, due to moral or ethical standpoints? How about for any other reason, other than just not like the taste?

Every time I eat scallops I vomit.

I can't say there is any food that has been offered to me that I would not eat. There are foods that if offered however, that I would not eat...dog...cat...horse..duck bills, animal feet, insects, bugs of any kind, animal internal organs - I'm sure there's more. The past few years I've done extensive reading on corporate food and have drastically changed the sources of my foods. All produce I buy is in season and purchased locally, or if traveling, we search out Farmer's Markets, always. My meats for the most part are organic and as local as I can get. I buy organic chickens raised in CA. Eggs are local. Even our dog eats locally grown foods and at ten years old, he is still a puppy and looks beautiful. I'm not into wild game, that is not to say that I don't like it, I've never had it, with the exception of venison, pheasant, when dining at friends or given to us. Seafood is another story. I buy at a local fish monger who sources from Eureka and San Francisco, Alaska and elsewhere. I try to follow Monterey Bay Aquarium's guidelines for eating the right types of fish, in season and from the right places. The exception is Sea Bass. If I come across some excellent pieces of it, I buy it. It is my favorite fish. We always get our crab from Humboldt Co.
I just finished reading The Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver and have the Fishes and Dishes Cookbook, Seafood Recipes and Salty Stories from Alaska's Commercial Fisher women, and Mediterranean Summer: A Season on France's Cote d' Azur and Italy's Costa Bella here to read. I love these types of stores and learn so many interesting things. Our son worked in Alaska three summers as chef assistant and on his last year as chef during the salmon runs, to help us out with his college education. He has many stories to tell also. I love adventures in food!

Erevy time I eat scallops I vomit.

Why is that..allergic? Too bad, they are delicious.

Wow, this is a big subject. I don't have time now to reply adequately, but I will at some later time. But I am sure you will receive many thoughtful replies. What made me reply immediately is that just last night we went out for dinner and as soon as we saw *seared foie gras with braised apples " on the starter menu, we HAD to have that. So from the get go I am not at all deterred by what I already knew is the method of producing foie gras. So further reflection will be on my plate.

I suspect that the only edible item to which I would fully object on moral and perhaps aesthetic grounds is human flesh. With regard to meat, I do consider the suffering of animals and have so reflected that in many of my writings. I do, however, admit (even in those writings) to being weak in this. Thanks, for example, to the defense mechanisms of repression and denial, I manage quite comfortably I confess to the thorough enjoyment of goose liver in almost any form.

The only food I actually avoid, although I love them dearly, is soft shelled crabs which on two occasions have caused near fatal allergic reactions.

Best
Rogov

I don't eat whale meat, or turtles eggs (although I have tried the latter at a very young age). I also don't eat horse, which I have for some strange reason been offered a couple of times. I don't eat baklava, but that's not for any moral or ethical reason.

My never eats list:
eyes of any creature, goat (because I had them as pets and for milk and thought of them almost as a dog), dog, cat, brains, insects, snake, and most reptiles are what come to mind. I don't mind others eating things on my never eat list.

There are other foods I avoid because I just don't care for them.

[Robin Garr]

This has led me to my resolution of only eating local, free-range meats from producers I can trust.

That's what we do with meat, poultry and eggs, Melissa, for reasons of ethics, quality and health.

Every time I eat scallops I vomit.

Why is that..allergic? Too bad, they are delicious.

I don't think it's an actual allergy, but somebody on Chat (Mark Lipton?) suggested that some people do not have the ability to digest certain specific seafood proteins or fats. Yes, they are delicious going down.

[Jenise]

I'm going to look like such a ninny, but here goes:

eggs
milk
whipped cream
custards/puddings
yoghurt
salads with creamy white dressings (notice a trend here?)
brains
kidneys
the heart of any living creature
pets
fish skin
porcini mushrooms (severe allergy, could be fatal)

I'll spare you all the story about chasing sheep eyballs around a bowl with chopsticks!

Brain and spinal cord are two that come to mind right away. The whole mad cow thing pretty much put me off of any of that sort of thing. I'm not sure that I could put an eyeball into my mouth, either.

There's not much else that I wouldn't at least try, though.

When the eyeballs are cooked they are not that bad. At least for fish, which is my only gastronomical experience with the body part. And of course it was less delicious than it was not-revolting. At least to me.

The mention of "internal parts" calls to mind a meal.

Until about a decade ago the restaurant named Pini BaChatzer (Pini being the nickname of the owner, BaChatzer meaning more or less "in the garden") was a well beloved landmark in Jerusalem and the specialties of the house were all kinds of internal parts and organs.

At one meal taken there (in August of 1994), my lunch companion and I managed rather easily to finish off several skewers each of grilled kidneys, liver, heart and brain. From there we went on to offerings of diaphragm (in German rottfleish) and sweetbreads, and from there to grilled foie gras and more or less traditional lamb kebabs, those with pne nuts woven into the meat.

With the meat dishes a variety of Middle-Eastern salads, those including cold cauliflower with amba sauce; hot baby eggplants grilled over charcoals' a salad of pursane (known here by its Arabic name of ridgelah);
a cold cabbage salad served with bits of sun-dried tomatoes (those dried on the roof of the restaurant); crushed Syrian olives; and (need it be said) the customary accompaniments of tchina, three types of hot sauce, and pickled radishes.

As may be seen, I am one of those who does enjoy various internal organ meats.

Best
Rogov

I suspect that the only edible item to which I would fully object on moral and perhaps aesthetic grounds is human flesh.

Best
Rogov

Yeah... Right

You lying stack of crap. There was a thread on your old forum in which you were advocating just this very thing. You went in to the merits of this in some detail.

Tim

[Robin Garr]

and sweetbreads

Nothing to fear there! A local Argentine place does a version on the grill that's da bomb.

and sweetbreads

Nothing to fear there! A local Argentine place does a version on the grill that's da bomb.

The first time I ate these I was at an asado given by an Argentine couple. They were served between homemade bread with chimichurre! Before that day I have never had either. I went to heaven that day!

Things I won't eat for moral or ethical reasons ...

Well, I try not to eat intensively farmed animals and poultry, and seek out free range where possible. If it's had a good life, I'll feel OK about it being eaten. Of course, I don't know where a lot of the stuff I eat comes from. I know what I buy ... but I don't necessarily know what the restaurant or pub or cafe buys ... or my friends at whose tables I eat, for that matter.

I won't eat anything that's still alive. That's disgusting. If we are going to eat something at least we can show it some respect by killing it first. (I don't like oysters so I haven't even bothered to think through the moral logic on eating them.)

A fun topic for un-fun items!

The list of foods that I prefer not to eat have basically evolved from the following:

1. Foods I've tasted and simply KNOW I don't like. These include tomatoes (for the most part), beets, liver, candied cherries, candied coconut items, hard pretzels etc.

2. Foods I haven't tried either from "lack of nerve" or high suspect of dislike due to their scent or nature. For me, this includes things like "bizarre"/ strong cheeses, ceasar salads, many "creature delicacies" (for lack of a better suspicious term)

Then, there are the "gray area" foods which seem dependant on their manifestation. I think I might have touched on this curious topic once before. These "Jekyll & Hyde" foods for me include:

1. Tomatoes
The Good: In Sauce form (a la pizzas, spaghetti or most Italian foods)
The Bad: Fresh (plain)

2. Cream Cheese
The Good: Thick seductive Cheesecake (a la Eli's in Chicago)
The Bad: By itself (plain or on bagels etc) Yuck...

3. Onions
The Good: Finely diced, sauteed, carmelized
The Bad: Whole or in thick, chunky, stringy rings (its amazing that just the cutting and styling can make a complete difference, but with onions it truly does!)

4. Fruits
The Good: When fresh and in their nutrients-rich state
The Bad: When pieces are added to candies, ice cream or chocolates etc. Yikes!

5. Grapes
The Good: Fresh and natural (or fermented into great wine)
The Bad: Raisins

Well, there's probably a few more for me but that should give a good overview probably.

Jeff

Tim, Hello...

Commenting on my observation about dining on human flesh you wrote:

You lying stack of crap. There was a thread on your old forum in which you were advocating just this very thing. You went in to the merits of this in some detail.

I may or may not be "a lying stack of crap" but certainly not in regard to this issue. The article in question went into a historical and sociological analysis of cannibalism and did give a few "recipes" from historical and literary sources. I agree that the article was meant to be provocative and piquant but I did not, nor would I ever, advocate such dining and went far as to mention that in nearly every society cannibalism is not only a taboo but is illegal and thus not recommended.

If you are curious enough to re-read that article, please post on the Culinary Side of my portion of the forum and I will be glad to post it there.

Best
Rogov

Many, many years ago I went to a Philippino wedding banquet where each guest got a cup of traditional soup made with goat intestines. Since I eat chitterlings I assumed this would taste much the same and would be no problem for my culinary sensibilities. I took a swallow and my stomach flipped. This was nothing like the dish I make using pork intestines. It was only recently when I watched an episode of No Reservations that I discovered one of the essential ingredients in this dish is bile, which Tony's host said was an acquired taste (even Tony retched). I hope to not have this experience again.

Never say never.

Along with the general consensus here, I also don't tend to enjoy/eat organ meat. I'll try most anything once, but to me it just doesn't seem like a good idea to eat the guts - most of that stuff houses and/or extracts waste from the body, so why would you want to eat something that is essentially a sack of poo?

On another note, I was reading about endangered plants the other day and it got me wondering whether there's certain fruits and vegetables I should avoid because they are endangered. But then I encountered another source stating that the best way to SAVE a plant is by starting to eat it, since popularity as a food will guarantee its cultivation and survival.

I think with plants, often the issue is not so much that you shouldn't eat a certain plant because it is endangered, but rather that you shouldn't eat it because of how it was produced - i.e. we should only drink fair trade coffee, or only buy sugar from respectable sources, because often these crops are produced by essentially slave labour. Another issue to think about is how many native plants in an area are cleared out and possibly rendered endangered/extinct, to make way for the popular food crops. Think of all the species that were evicted to make room for the huge fields of wheat and canola in the Canadian prairies or the corn belt in the States. I guess this leads into the issue of sustainable farm practices, which then leads us to the conclusion that the best way to avoid all these negative issues is to eat local, organic, and sustainable.