# I Want My Masai Cows, Dammit! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 3, 2002, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151 "2002-06-03T14:17:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2002, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151/21 "2002-06-03T23:06:34Z")
i just saw the cattle on the evening news. very, very, beautiful cattle. i say, send them to nyc. there is enough grass in central park. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151/22 "2002-06-04T00:41:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Carter of Mars \* > \*\*According to _National Geographic Magazine_, Discovery Channel, and other various sources, the Masai live totally with their cattle. Cattle are their unit of measuring wealth, and the main portion of their diet is cow’s milk mixed with cow’s blood. (The cattle are routinely bled for this purpose.) > So their offer of 14 cows is very significant from their standpoint. > > **Eve** , when you get your cow, are you going to invite us over for a milk and blood party? :eek: \*\* My nephew is an ophthalmologist, and he worked for a year as a volunteer in an eye clinic in Tenwek, Kenya. I asked him once about this milk-and-blood diet business. He said the main part of the diet of a Masai is grain, about a handful a day. The milk-and-blood meal is reserved for ceremonial occasions. It’s hard to say if the cholesterol of that occasional treat affects their health. Not many of them live long enough to die of heart trouble. My nephew once showed some of them a picture of a cattle farm in the US. They said, “Those are our cattle! Where are they?” They do indeed believe that all the world’s cattle belong to them. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151/23 "2002-06-04T01:18:37Z")
This is such a sweet story. I feel that only bad things will happen to the Masai now. Like Starbucks. > [@](#): > > \*\*Spears never run out of bullets." \*\* Yogi Berra has landed… ---
**Author:** ![Darwins\_Finch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darwins_finch/32/20304_2.png) [@Darwins\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darwins_Finch)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151/24 "2002-06-04T04:24:53Z")
From the [Contra Costa Times](http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/news/nation/3389844.htm) version of the story: > [@](#): > > “We had heard about a disaster in America, but we didn’t know much about it. Now we feel the same way we would feel if we lost one of our own.” > > There are three cherished things that a Masai can offer as a gift – a child, a plot of land and a cow, which is far more than a source of meat and milk to a Masai. ---
**Author:** ![Tedster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151/25 "2002-06-04T04:43:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Carter of Mars \* > \*\*According to _National Geographic Magazine_, Discovery Channel, and other various sources, the Masai live totally with their cattle. Cattle are their unit of measuring wealth, and the main portion of their diet is cow’s milk mixed with cow’s blood. (The cattle are routinely bled for this purpose.) > So their offer of 14 cows is very significant from their standpoint. > > **Eve** , when you get your cow, are you going to invite us over for a milk and blood party? :eek: \*\* yep, that was my first impression – proportionally it’s quite generous, and probably exceeds any other country. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151/26 "2002-06-04T18:11:50Z")
Not only are the Masai tough, gentile, no-nonsense people, they have a tremendous sense of humor and dignity, and are genuinely generous. God bless 'em! ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151/27 "2002-06-04T18:31:20Z")
That would be “gentle”… :o ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151/28 "2002-06-04T20:45:45Z")
Well, they’re probably Gentiles as well. ;j ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151/29 "2002-06-04T21:27:44Z")
This is a great story, followed by RT’s little guy that absolutely busted me up. Now I can go home smiling. ---
**Author:** ![SwimmingRiddles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@SwimmingRiddles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SwimmingRiddles)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151/30 "2002-06-04T21:42:22Z")
They use the dung from the cow as a builing material and a fuel for fires, too. One could argue that these 14 cows would really impoverish the villiage, and the last thing our country needs is more cows. But the gesture is beautiful. ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151/31 "2002-06-05T03:31:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AskNott \* > \*\*He said the main part of the diet of a Masai is grain, about a handful a day. The milk-and-blood meal is reserved for ceremonial occasions. It’s hard to say if the cholesterol of that occasional treat affects their health. Not many of them live long enough to die of heart trouble. My nephew once showed some of them a picture of a cattle farm in the US. They said, “Those are our cattle! Where are they?” They do indeed believe that all the world’s cattle belong to them. \*\* I had a anthropology prof in college who claimed to have lived with the Masai for a few years (studying them I guess). He claimed that the Masai’s diet consisted only of meat and that they had a very low blood cholesterol level. He also claimed that they had no formal leadership structure and that they abhorred gift giving. I have no idea how much of this was true, but he seemed to believe it. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151/32 "2002-06-05T14:21:29Z")
Tony Blakely wants you to have your cows too: [http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20020605-22134963.htm](http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20020605-22134963.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151/33 "2002-06-05T14:37:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shirley Ujest \* > **This is such a sweet story. I feel that only bad things will happen to the Masai now. Like Starbucks.** Too late. We’ve already done our worst with Survivor: Africa. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151/34 "2002-06-05T15:02:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dragwyr \* > \*\* > I had a anthropology prof in college who claimed to have lived with the Masai for a few years (studying them I guess). He claimed that the Masai’s diet consisted only of meat and that they had a very low blood cholesterol level. He also claimed that they had no formal leadership structure and that they abhorred gift giving. > > I have no idea how much of this was true, but he seemed to believe it. \*\* Hm…you’re in Michigan…wouldn’t be surprised if we had the same prof. The anecdote sounds quite similar. Evidently there’s an enzyme in cattle blood that helps metabolize cholesterol. Professor Alan “…pastoral Masai who subsist solely on the meat, blood and milk of their cultivated livestock” Jacobs, right? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![agentfroot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/779978/32.png) [@agentfroot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/agentfroot)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151/35 "2002-06-05T16:23:51Z")
you know what? those masais are sweethearts for donating cows! it’s just heartless not to accept them or trade for jewelry! i’d take a cow, but it wouldn’t keep well in my dorm room in the fall 😛 ---
**Author:** ![booklover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@booklover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/booklover)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151/36 "2002-06-05T17:06:02Z")
I’m all for letting them graze in Central Park! That’s so cool. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-want-my-masai-cows-dammit/112151.md?page=1)