vegetarianism

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 8/5/2004 7:01:28 AM Pacific Standard Time, Downwardog

writes:

Prescribed for rapid uptake of nourishment in invalids: bone broth enemas.

Correction: it's not an enema, it's *administered rectally* to be absorbed

by the colon.

smells like a nourishing tradition.

B.

[Guest guest]

Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka says in his book " The One Straw

Revolution " (1978) that he doesn't eat meat or dairy because they are

not indigenous to Japan and cost a lot of money to import. He eats

produce from his garden, supplemented with fish in season. People

all over the world came to his farm to learn his ways of farming,

living close to the land and taking his knowledge home with them.

Now here's the interesting part. Early on he extolls the virtues of

eating insects: lice and fleas in particular taste delicious, he

says, but you should dust off the moths before you eat them. And

they must be alive to get all the goodness from them.

So I started thinking about the Yanoamamoa native groups in South

America and remembered that they too eat bugs and even raise

maggots. In fact, their consumption of protein was higher than in

America. Then I remembered seeing a documentary about another

indigenous people in which two girls were walking along the beach

when one stopped, picked up a worm and ate it.

Where am I going with this? Well, just maybe a lot of the so-

called " primitive " or poorer peoples are not necessarily vegetarian

and perhaps observers have not considered bugs as an important part

of their diets. Fukuoka explains how vital insects used to be in the

Japanese diet and talks about specific ones for certain ailments.

It makes sense if one considers a hungry person. He won't limit

himself to stuff he can grow because darn it, he needs to eat! So

maybe there isn't as much " natural " vegetarianism around as we are

led to believe.