# Serving animal dishes with the head attached...ewww...why? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 17, 2021, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156 "2021-02-17T19:40:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/81 "2021-02-18T20:38:58Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > …Oh. Yeah, I think this is a “you” issue. Totally legit for you not to enjoy eating nondecapitated meat if you have this reaction, but I think you’re assuming that the reaction is more universal than it is. I was about to say this. I miss red meat. Lousy Lone Star tick! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/82 "2021-02-18T20:41:04Z")
Here’s another take on the anatomy lesson inherent in eating certain parts of certain critters: > [@I guess I \_do\_ cause animal deaths when I eat pre-killed meat.](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/718450/20): > > Related mini - tangent … In college back in the Olden Dayes we once invited the girls from the apartment next door over for a cookout. Stereotypically, all four boys had hamburgers or steak and all four girls brought various chicken parts. I was dissecting my medium rare sirloin & chatting with my favorite neighbor who was eating a chicken breast with rib meat & ribs attached. This was back before Tyson had discovered the “boneless skinless” or “tender” portions of standard chicken anatomy. … Agree the OP has a particularly bad case of skeleton anguish. Back in college I bought a sheep head at the Latino grocery store, cast it in clear fiberglass resin, and used it as a doorstop. It was quite a “conversation piece”. The older it got inside that hermetic plastic block the more interesting it got. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/83 "2021-02-18T20:48:55Z")
> [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](#): > > > [@Odesio](#): > > > > When you say roast I’m picturing a cut of beef. It would be very, very unusual to see a cow’s head attached to a roast at most Christmas dinners. > > Although I’m now quite impressed with what must be the size of his roasting pan. ( Does it fit inside a regular XL appliance stove/cooker/oven/jitney? Did you build a specialty brick oven for it like some of the high-end pizza places do…? Charcoal or wood burning…? ) …or because I was tired and didn’t proof read the word “salmon” was left out of the paragraph… ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/84 "2021-02-18T20:49:43Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Head cheese is just meat jello with spices added. Yum! And here I thought you liked it because it has the word “cheese” in the name… ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/85 "2021-02-18T21:08:19Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > My point was not that seeing the animal’s head made me feel guilty or queasy about eating something that had to be killed. I have no moral qualms with eating meat. It’s just that seeing the head on makes your food UGLY and makes it look like “something dead” rather than like “something good to eat”. It’s merely a nasty, unappetizing visual. Well, OK, I get that it’s not something you find pretty and I’m not going to argue with that. Butchering meat is a nasty, bloody chore, too. But, you know, refried beans and tootsie rolls look somewhat like varieties of poo, yet I don’t feel repulsed by seeing them. Likewise, yes, a butchered/cooked animal with the head still attached does look like a “dead thing” but it doesn’t bother me either. But because I’m aware others feel different I try to be sensitive towards my dinner guests. Especially since my husband was squicked out by any food that had recognizable anatomy, so nothing on bones, much less with heads on. ---
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/86 "2021-02-18T21:17:39Z")
Ooops, sorry. Still, for a few hours I was in Total Envy of what seemed to me like God’s Gift to Kitchens! Roasting entire sides of beef at once… having the cooked meat put on a tray-table with castors and rolled into the kitchen for to be put on the large presentation plate for final garnishes and seasoning… and then rolled into the dinning room where the plate is placed on the table between two candlesticks and in front of your dozen guests! Three bottles of the exact same wine opened at once to fill all of their glasses. For the sides, their choice of crisp green beans, asparagus, or to take what they wish from an entire pasta-pot of mashed potatoes ( with your own secret ingredient beef gravy ). (I was just imagining to myself, "Wow… now These guys know how to live…!) ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/87 "2021-02-18T21:24:06Z")
I actually have been to an honest-to-goodness ox roast at a county fair in Michigan. Which is just what it sounds like: an entire bovine turning on a spit. Yes, it was recognizable as a former bovine (gender not apparent, but I took their word for it that it was an ox). It was quite a production, and the biggest spit I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![ElDeLuxo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@ElDeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElDeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2021, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/88 "2021-02-19T01:47:39Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > And let’s not even get started with “[head cheese](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_cheese)”. > > Sorry I even mentioned it. I beg to differ with you. Head cheese, aka souse meat, is delicious stuff, either fried up for breakfast or sliced on a cold sandwich. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2021, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/89 "2021-02-19T02:29:37Z")
I live in a mixed neighborhood so you see all sorts of interesting things in the meat aisle like the time I found a whole pig’s head cut and wrapped on a tray and chased my brother and mom around the store with it like it was coming back from the dead … actually, when I’ve had pork or beef brains it was scrambled with eggs …my foster parents in the 80s were old enough that he served in WW! and 2 so they were used to having to make do with “scraps” in fact because of said foster parents I’m immune to watching live animal butchering … one incident was the Mrs was away because her relative was ill … So he walked over to us and told us he needed wood for a fire …we gathered the wood and he filled a couple of pots with water and began boiling them and says " hey boys I need some help in the coop … so we walked over and he goes " so which two would make us a good fried chicken dinner … The one I pointed to was sort of old and fat but mean as hell and had clawed and bit me more than once …so he picked her up and we pointed to another one which he had me and my brother hold… .walked over to the tree stump and just chopped the head off casual as can be and let it run around for about 3 or 4 minutes and did the same to the 2nd one plopped them in the water pans and started us digging a hole when we dug one to his satisfaction he handed us some pliers and told us to start plucking after he pulled the chickens out and put them on a board … best and freshest chicken I ever ate, Now the rabbit version of this story was somewhat a bit more traumatic tho… ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2021, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/90 "2021-02-19T11:13:24Z")
> [@themapleleaf](#): > > I can only describe the experience as attempting to eat a Martian. No thank you. Wow! What do Martians taste like? I had some distinctly odd culinary experiences in Japan, but I have never seen Martians on any menu. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2021, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/91 "2021-02-19T17:01:41Z")
I’ve been trying to forget for the past 36 years, but as I recall, suspiciously sweet for a piece of meat, yet with a skunky undertone. Chewy to the point of being unpleasantly soft. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2021, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/92 "2021-02-19T17:23:18Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > After the cases of BSE in Britain, does anyone really think it’s all that safe to eat the brains of any mammal? Andrew Zimmern (Bizarre Foods) ate brains at times but in one show he had to turn down something with the spinal cord as it was against his contract to consume it. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2021, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/93 "2021-02-19T23:35:48Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > … but in one show he had to turn down something with the spinal cord … I think you mean > … but in one show he _got_ to turn something down with the spinal cord … That had to be a relief for him. Eating weird is one thing; eating dangerous is something else. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 19, 2021, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/94 "2021-02-19T23:59:31Z")
People eat ox tail soup. That’s spinal cord. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/95 "2021-02-20T00:49:44Z")
Are you sure? No doubt there’s a nerve in there somewhere, but it’s quite small. I think it’s just a peripheral nerve and not true spinal cord. This reference says no spinal cord: [Are oxtails safe from Bovine spongiform encephalopathy? (usda.gov)](https://ask.usda.gov/s/article/Are-oxtails-safe-from-BSE) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/96 "2021-02-20T01:20:00Z")
Well, I’m 0 for 2 today. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/97 "2021-02-20T01:21:29Z")
Don’t let it bug you. I was wrong earlier in the thread. You admit you were wrong and people move on. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/98 "2021-02-20T03:31:27Z")
Mike Rowe went to a fish processor in one “Dirty Jobs” episode, and one of his jobs was to separate out the stomachs, because in IIRC Japan, cod stomachs are a popular ingredient in soup (and he found a just-swallowed cod in one of those stomachs!). ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/99 "2021-02-20T03:48:06Z")
The oxtail probably contains the filum terminale, which all of us have in our own tailbones; it’s a ligament that anchors the spinal cord in place. I’ve had pork neck bones, and the spinal cord is visible in the canal. I don’t remove it, but I don’t deliberately eat it either. This is a classic scene from “Babette’s Feast”, one of my favorite movies. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Bjkpht_cMV8/hqdefault.jpg "Cailles en sarcophage") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjkpht_cMV8) I saw it when it was in its theatrical run in the late 1980s, and had worked the Evening From Hell at a pizza place. I got off in time to catch the late show, and as I walked towards the theater, people were getting out of the early show, and EVERYONE was raving about what a great movie it was, an experience I have never had before or since. And they were so right! ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2021, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156/100 "2021-02-20T04:10:36Z")
I was unclear: I have prepared oxtail soup several times. I’ve never seen anything that looked like a spinal cord. And I have sometimes found bits of spinal cord attached to lamb chops and beef ribs – I’m pretty sure I know what it looks and feels like. I’m sure there is some nerve running through the tail, since the animal can move it. But it must be quite a small nerve, since I’ve never noticed it when handling ox tails. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/serving-animal-dishes-with-the-head-attached-ewww-why/933156.md?page=6)