aesthetics of meat fat

[Guest guest]

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> really, it's not as bad as you think. you can swallow ONE bite of

anything,

> ya know? really you can. it's easier with salt, too. but i'm

tellin' you,

> just take it a little bit at a time. also, you can make it a

contest

> between you and your son! dare each other outlandishly! get really

crazy

> with it! especially boys - they make it easy. if his friends dared

him to

> eat a worm, prolly he would. why not fat? you can do it! just

remember -

> the crazier and zanier you are about it, the more it will be fun

and the

> less it will be gross.

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I was thinking about this the other week when I got a quick

convenience meal from Chinatown in NYC. I had my own kimchi and

veggies, but I wanted some fatty meat or organs to round out the

meal, so I stopped in one of those small shops and for about $3 I got

some pork blood, fatty pork chunks, prawns, and another pork dish (or

maybe it was beef?), all very tasty. I noticed that the fatty pork

chunks were like 90% fat, huge greasy chunks of pure fat with thin

pieces of meat attached. I ate a golf ball's worth of the pure fat

and then didn't want to continue, leaving a small bit uneaten. It

tasted good, but I noticed it was not a typical mouth feel for me and

a little fat can go a long way. Also, I was in a rush so I wasn't

optimally chewing, etc.

It reminds me that many years ago, maybe about 7, way before I ever

had a single thought about nutrition or health, I had fatty duck at a

restaurant and was totally grossed out, with some gag reflex action

if I recall, avoiding duck for years afterwards. It was

incomprehensible to me that people could eat chunks of fat, like

mouthfuls that are predominantely fat. I was infuriated that the

restaurant would even serve such a thing. Through those years I even

occasionally ranted about my incomprehension. But now it's something

I don't think twice about and I'm always worrying that I won't have

enough fat in the rare meals I don't prepare myself. I get excited

when I see chunks of meat fat in a restaurant dish. At Vietnamese

pho shops one of the choices always seems to be a really fatty cut--

flank something I think--very yummy.

But the main point I want to make here is that the atypical feeling

of eating those chunks of pork fat relates to the fact it was cooked

(and maybe that it was pork). I more typically eat raw meat, mostly

beef, and early on in doing so I discovered that the fatty outer

layers of steaks are excellent raw, a really delicate, sweet flavor

and pleasant texture, not oily. I didn't enjoy that cooked pork fat

nearly as much as raw beef fat, so my advice to the person having

aesthetic problems with pure fat is to simply try some raw beef

fat. The kidney fat from cows is also very nice raw too. I like to

sprinkle some on salads because it's very dry and crumbly. I don't

mind eating plain butter, but it's not a preferred food for me (not

to mention something I have no reason to eat anyway), just so so

aesthetically; I think raw beef fat is much more pleasant to eat.

Given that many people enjoy plain butter, this suggests to me that

many people might enjoy raw beef fat.

Finally, I should point out that raw bone marrow has always been a

popular food for humans, and most people find it fantastically

delicious. It's almost pure fat. Of any pure fat I've eaten, it's

definitely the tastiest, so there's another option for people facing

aesthetic challenges.

Hmm, that reminds me of CLO!! Pure fat! And of course very

delicious... to some people! One of the highlights of my day is

always that little serving of plain CLO. I always eat it alone so I

can savor the delicate flavor. That reminds me that there is an open

poll for this group on the enjoyment of CLO:

/polls

There are 960 members of this group, but only 8 have voted!

I don't think I have any special preferences for fat, but rather an

openness to the particular qualities of every food item or other

sensory input, realizing that " pleasure " is culturally relative and

very adaptable. This contributes mightily to my quality of life,

and I recommend a similar approach to others. (Kefir is my favorite

food in the world, even if it's made with skimmed milk, so that puts

the fat thing in perspective.)

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. --Alan Kay