# The awful racist attitudes of Americans against offal, fair or unfair? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 2, 2014, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724 "2014-01-02T18:41:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kstarnes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4da419/32.png) [@kstarnes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kstarnes)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/41 "2014-01-02T21:14:11Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > ‘Racist’?! I do not think that word means what you think it means. How can one be racist against meat? Yes, I was doing satire. I meant to elicit only chuckles but the issue of offals is serious business! ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/42 "2014-01-02T21:19:40Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I will go on record as being unabashedly racist when it comes to food. I refuse to eat humans. So, better a vegitarian than a humanitarian? ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/43 "2014-01-02T21:21:45Z")
> [@GaryM](#): > > I like liver, kidneys, chitterlings, pig ear, tounge, sweetbreads, and heart. I’ll pretty much try any others offered if it looks and smells good. So I guess I’m not racist. Same here. I’ll try damn near anything once. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/44 "2014-01-02T21:29:44Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > And what exactly is poor food changes from decade to decade. When I was a kid skirt steak and ribs were poor people meats. Now they’re kind of pricey. Sadly true. Skirt steak is pretty much my favorite beef cut. I’d take a skirt steak at a good Argentine parillada over dinner at Peter Luger’s any day. Years and years ago, it was pretty inexpensive (when you could find it). Now it’s up there with porterhouse. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/45 "2014-01-02T21:31:02Z")
OK, let’s see… Fish with the head on, check … I was actually surprised to learn some are repulsed by that. Sweetbreads, check beef tongue, check mondongo (tripe), check Gizzards & livers of various warmblooded vertebrates, check various sausages, check Gandinga (stew of everything else that was inside of the pig), check pig trotters, check haggis… yeah but I can wait until I’m actually in Scotland for the next time headcheese… no, sorry, I have my limits. Then again I’m about as far from WASP as anyone (except for being dancing disabled). Still I would not have detected a “racist” component. ISTM more like some classes and cultures within the overall American middle class became stuck at the finicky-eater phase, and American abundance enabled that. Now, eating sparrow tongues or sprinkling roast bug bits on your salad just out of hipsterness? Meh, it’s your money. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/46 "2014-01-02T21:40:36Z")
I love offal. Then again I’m Chinese, so that doesn’t count I guess. I can probably win the Fear Factor eating portion of the contest with no problems. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/47 "2014-01-02T22:00:02Z")
I’d eat organ meat in restaurants, but my stomach lurches when I see the dishes listed on the menu under the category of “offal”. Or maybe I wouldn’t eat it anyway. I handle so much offal in the course of my work that it gets to be a real turn-off. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/48 "2014-01-02T22:07:53Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I’d eat organ meat in restaurants, but my stomach lurches when I see the dishes listed on the menu under the category of “offal”. > > Or maybe I wouldn’t eat it anyway. I handle so much offal in the course of my work that it gets to be a real turn-off. You’re an attorney for the banking industry? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/49 "2014-01-02T22:28:20Z")
I personally despise offal because of experience with it. My father had been a butcher at one time and had acquired a taste for organs. So, I was often asked to “just try a little bit” of whatever nasty organs were merrily bubbling away on the stove. It all tastes horrible. That said, in my experience, older Americans tend to associate offal with poverty. The attitude being “I had to eat that stuff when I was a kid, because it was all we could afford. Now that I’ve got money, I eat normal meat.” ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/50 "2014-01-02T22:43:47Z")
Offal is awful. Don’t need it. Don’t want it. Although I did eat my share of fried chicken livers with beer in the bar we went to when I was doing some business in OK. All you could really taste, though, was the fried batter. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/51 "2014-01-02T22:48:49Z")
From the title I thought this was going to be some rabid racist claiming that “_\_ are just walking offal, so why is it wrong to hate such disgusting creatures?” ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/52 "2014-01-02T23:28:48Z")
We ate all the parts growing up - we weren’t farmers but my grandparents were - so my parents had a taste for it. On my own I don’t eat offal, other than in Menudo, or as sausage casing. Interesting (well, interesting to me, anyway) - a couple of years ago we went to dinner at Chez Panisse. They don’t have a menu to select from, you eat what they are serving that night. The night we were there the main course was liver…alrighty, then! But the preparation was amazing and it was quite tasty. I’m sure no one was disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/53 "2014-01-03T00:14:53Z")
Cow and pig insides are great fresh from the slaughter. One hour past that and I pass. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/54 "2014-01-03T01:08:17Z")
It’s best served live. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/55 "2014-01-03T01:33:24Z")
> [@pancakes3](#): > > Liver, kidneys, tripe, even fish with the head still on - and white Americans moreso. White Americans are OK if you take the time to prepare them properly. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/56 "2014-01-03T01:34:39Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > From the title I thought this was going to be some rabid racist claiming that “_\_ are just walking offal, so why is it wrong to hate such disgusting creatures?” No, you didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/57 "2014-01-03T02:53:30Z")
I like the Spanish method (callos) best in preparing tripe (among western countries that is.) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/58 "2014-01-03T04:04:54Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > I like the Spanish method (callos) best in preparing tripe (among western countries that is.) I gotta go with Mexican menudo. The red pepper, Mexican oregano, lime, fresh onions and cilantro. Yum! I grew up with Polish tripe soup, which is a more delicately flavored version usually made on a light chicken and/or beef broth and laced with marjoram, allspice, nutmeg, and pepper. Also quite nice. But callos, with its hodgepodge of meats and sausages and chicke peas, is quite nice, as well. At any rate, I’ll take tripe any of these ways. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Blackberry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@Blackberry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackberry)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/59 "2014-01-03T04:18:48Z")
I’m so racist I don’t eat any kind of meat. Because being a vegetarian is pretty white. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724/60 "2014-01-03T12:09:58Z")
Annette Funicello assured us that Skippy peanut butter had more protein than liver. Was that a hidden advocacy of Uncle Walt’s racist agenda? And why were there no persons of color in the beach movies, just a self-hating Jew leading a neo-Nazi motorcycle gang? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-awful-racist-attitudes-of-americans-against-offal-fair-or-unfair/677724.md?page=4)