Or if from Frostbite Falls, MN
At any reunions, offer her salad instead. In a bag. With arm outstretched.
And with your weight on your back foot… in case you need to run. /s
In my universe, “headcheese” is something else entirely.
A Vietnamese restaurant I used to go to had grilled whole prawn onna stick. I mean, it even had its antennae. I’d take it off of the stick and eat the head, then the tail, and then the middle. Delicious. Most shrimp we eat are peeled, but with the tails on. My wife thinks I’m a little weird for eating the tails. I like them, and I figure I’m getting some extra calcium.
I always feel a little guilty/sad when I kill crabs for dinner. But not enough that I’ll give up eating them.
And cow tongue tacos are amazing.
Sorry if I missed it upthread but I’ve heard some Europeans leave the heads on in market so consumers know what they’re getting. Like I can tell a poodle from a schnauzer, some know breeds of chicken…and which are best to get for a stew or for grilling etc.
IIRC there was an episode where Anthony Bourdain ate at a restaurant that had a special “invitation only” section. The build up was something like, “After chefs have had a hard day of cooking, where do THEY go to eat?” Anthony is seated and they serve him a sheep’s head. He skewers an eyeball with his fork, eats it, says it’s awesome, and keeps on going.
Barbacoa is from the cheeks…yes please.
Lengua (beef tongue) is very good when prepared right.
My gf ordered the special at a brewery, Tacos de Lengua. I got pulled pork nachos. I asked her how her tacos were and she told me they were fantastic. I asked her if she knew what she was eating and she admitted she did not. As we finished our lunch, she looked up Tacos de Lengua on her phone and her jaw dropped.
As is a cold tongue sandwich, on rye bread, with mustard.
Available at your local old-fashioned Jewish deli.
And there’s something met about tasting a tongue. (Also, eating tripe.)
I’m not a fan, but I’ve known Hispanics who trust menudo as a hangover cure.
Another issue (sorry if I missed it upthread) is showing respect by using the whole animal, exercising conservation, and so on.
I think you are a little weird for thinking shrimp shells are made from calcium carbonate. (It is chitin, a sugar polymer.)
I’ve never seen lady fingers served with the lady still attached.
I’ll be the first to admit that it’s irrational, but I could never bring myself to eat something with head still attached. If it isn’t a part I want to eat, I don’t want to see it. Chicken feet? I think not. The idea freaks me out. Food that requires dissection is out for me, so I won’t consider crab, lobster, etc.
It should be ‘meta’.
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. The biggest issue I have is when you’re looking at an actual SKULL, I.E. a skinned head (rabbit, sheep, etc.) or one that has been cleaned of its meat. It looks like some demonic monster. Since early adolescence I have been freaked out by the sight of animal skeletons. They scream “uncanny valley” - they arouse a “fight or flight” reflex in me; the bared pronounced teeth; the hollow eyes; the naked pate…a skinned sheep head is just about the ugliest thing imaginable to me; a veritable bat out of hell! If given the choice between visually appealing food and such as looks back at me, I’d obviously choose the first for purely esthetic reasons.
I actually don’t mind the pig’s head on a roast pig so much, as the pig’s face tends to not look altogether grim when dead. That is, as long as people don’t start eating it. I’ve been present when people picked apart a pig’s head down to the skull and I found that pretty nasty; I’ve also been served meat from the pig’s head (by a morbidly stingy friend of mine) and it definitely didn’t seem like the choice delicacy described in some of the replies above.
I was given brain to try by my grandmother as a kid (she had cooked it for herself). It was hands down the WORST meat I have ever eaten. I can only describe the experience as attempting to eat a Martian. No thank you.
Just to add - I have absolutely no problem eating e.g. lobster whole. Not only does the face of an invertebrate display no emotion when either alive or dead, it’s comforting to know that there is no skull or skeleton underneath.
I had brain once. The flavor was okay – sort of nutty and rich – but the texture was icky. And I was a little put off by the idea it was a brain. I like tongue, and I like chewing on chicken feet, but I didn’t enjoy eating brain.
I get what you are saying about the uncanny valley, but I don’t feel that way at all. I think skulls look neat, and I like chewing on bones, and I’m perfectly happy to be served meat with the head attached.
Okay, not saying you have to like it, but why would you assume that any other meat-eater would necessarily have the same…
…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.
Brains are okay. I’ve had them both in tacos (a number of taquerias round here have them) as well as in a curry-like dish in Mumbai (it was called “goat brain fry,” I think.) It’s decent, but nothing that really sticks out and makes me think of it as particularly delicious. Eyeballs I’ve also had, once again, in tacos. Those were a big meh from me. Gelatinous texture, a vaguely organy flavor, but otherwise bland. I didn’t find them actively offensive, just kind of a letdown.