Brain is Food, but what isn't?

I agree that they certainly can be taught, and like sexual tastes there will be a social component of assumed correct/incorrect cuisine. Then again I think there are some which appear and disappear for reasons I cannot figure out.When I was very young I pretty much ate anything. My parents were both open to everything, and indeed my dad was one of those guys that would pretty much eat anything and everything.Suddenly I began changing, much to the anger of my parents. Certain foods, including foods I used to love, became not just uninteresting but repellant. My "edible food" list shrank to a very small list. Picky eater is almost too kind. The sight and smell of people eating eggs was as nauseating as if they were eating grubs.This remained until somewhere in late puberty. One by one I'd become "open" to eating something new. This process was very slow and I did not become a relatively nonpicky eater till over a decade later. Of course by then I had a physical condition which screwed up my desire to eat anyway.This may be why I am fascinated with the diversity of diets. I went from open, to almost total revulsion, back toward "normalcy". I figure I can learn something I am unlikely to learn first hand, from those that devour the world around them.I have to admit, I always (and this is probably cultural) found the ideas of brain eating repulsive, but when I heard "fat" and thought "sweet", I became... curious.

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holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

Fair enough. I assumed you were discussing your diet for knowledge anyway, and its first come first served... I mean finders keepers... here for names.

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holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

You assumed correctly--that bit of doggerel was just for fun.Hmm...doggerel. I think I ate that in Hong Kong.

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Yes FliesOnlys’ my name, but my diet it can vary
As schrafinator has said, I’ll eat all but the hairyI’ve head-cheese too, and have encountered a fluke
If I see either again, I’ll most likely pukeWhile eggs can be good, I know not of élan
As for dogs and a snake, they’re not part of my plan.I’ve had Rocky and Fluffy, and even Bulwinkle
I’ll finish this later, but first I must tinkle.I’m back from the can, I feel much better now
And I agree with omnivorous, I much prefer cow.Actually that’s not true, I was just looking for a rhyme
It is food that was wild I prefer most of the time.ABE: I added that last line just to clarify my position This message has been edited by FliesOnly, 12-23-2005 10:33 AM

Oh we've gotta drink some beers, Flies. It'll be a beautiful thing.

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It is not unusual for children around the 5-12 age range to become very conservative in what they eat, even if they were very accepting of new foods previously.There might be an evolutionary basis, as this is the age where children are independent enough to start to forage for food themselves, but have not learned enough about how to identify what is wholesome to eat and what is not. It's safer to limit the variety.This must be combined, though, with the cultural reality in most western societies which almost always have a relative abundance of foods available, and the tendency for parents to cater to the whims of their children instead of persisting with introducing them to new foods. OTOH, control issues can lead children to limit their food variety because they know it drives their parents nuts. Kids also have spending money and can eat all sorts of junk food, and we also have all sorts of body image pressures and health fears wrapped up in food choices, too.

We all wild, Flies.

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Well I recently had fresh venison tenderloin for dinner. My wife got another deer (with her bow) on Dec 30th. Ya know . it's a weird thing. We both love venison and we both love to hunt, but we both feel bad when we walk up on our kill. I guess that is a good thing though. The day either of us start acting like most of the people you see on TV hunting programs is the day I think I'd stop hunting. Many of you may not understand, but my wife actually apologizes and thanks the animal she has just killed. Guilt is maybe not the correct word, but it's as close as I can come to describing how we both feel when we are successful at taking a wild animal. We don't do it for trophies, we don't do it for the superior feeling some people get, we do it because we want the food.Anyway, fresh tenderloin and a glass of good beer...WOW!

I do understand--it is an ancient and honorable tradition, one we see little of today.This message has been edited by Omnivorous, 01-04-2006 09:18 AM

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What I refuse to accept is your insistence that your beliefs about your beliefs constitute evidence in support of your beliefs.

Standard practice among many of the Plains Indians and Navaho. You won't eat meat at all next time if you don't make proper amends this time.Back closer to topic, I read somewhere that children tend to prefer foods that their mamas ate while the kid was in utero and nursing. Enough of at least a few flavors carry over for the baby to get a foretaste, so to speak. I've seen the converse of this when my wife was nursing our oldest and ate sweet potatoes at Thanksgiving (about the only time we eat them.) The baby would take about two big slurps and then push away and spit the milk out.

I believe I have had venison and buffalo. I was sort of young at the time but it was something different than usual fare. It didn't seem different enough for me to note as it was a "normal" part of the body and seemed almost like regular beef to me. That's pretty cool and I've heard it is customary in a few cultures (someone mentioned Native Americans, but I believe there are some African tribes as well). Frankly it makes sense to me. I've never gone hunting (well I did but we never saw anything), but did a lot of fishing and I pretty much always felt like apologizing to the fish.

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holmes
"...what a fool believes he sees, no wise man has the power to reason away.."(D. Bros)

I certainly am not accusing you of a falsehood, but I find this difficult to believe. While it is true that some things can cross from mother to child, I fail to see how food prefernces can be one of those things. Did this study suggest how this may occur? Could it not be better explaned more form a genetic relatedness standpoint? Now this one I can believe.

I'll see if I can find where I read that... New Scientist, perhaps, in the last two years? Don't stay up tonight waiting for me to find it, though.

Buffalo (Bison?) is something I have never had. Most are now "farm raised" so their similarity to beef is not too surprising. Yes, I believe that many cultures do similar sorts of things. I just didn't want to give the impression that we pretend to act as they do. It's just something that comes from a proper hunting and fishing background, I believe. You have taken another animals life and a little remorse is not a bad thing to have at all. Quite the contrary...a joyful, jump up and down, high-five your friends, sort of response is actually quite disturbing to me (and my wife).Not to stray too far off topic (but hey, find me any thread that doesn't wander on occasion), but we look at hunting differently than many others. Like I said, we absolutely do not trophy hunt. We are also pretty much against hunting as a control mechanism for both "game" animals and predators. We hunt for food. We are totally opposed to predator control and I have been in more than one discussion with many a TV Hunting Program Host and their endorsement of using hunting as a mechanism to control predator numbers. Cougar, Bear, Coyote, and on and on. In reality, most of them simply do want the competition for “their” game animals. Seriously . .do we really need to control Polar Bear or Grizzly bear numbers? Are they so common that we need to “cull” their numbers? Bull shit. Some dude just want to show how big and bad he is by killing such a magnificent animal . from a long-ass ways away . with a very very large gun, and with the aid of airplanes, guides, snowmobiles, etc.I listened to one host talk all about the fun and skill of being a successful hunter, and how he was brought up to "eat what he kills" when it comes to hunting, and he then went on to do segments about crow hunting and coyote hunting. He did mention that many people eat crows, but in this particular segment, they were simply shooting them. He even had the gall to suggest that crow hunting can be used as a way to hone ones shooting skills. Basically, he used crow hunting as a surrogate for skeet or clay pigeon shooting. What an asshole!And the segment on coyote hunting was no better. He mentioned the skill required and how difficult it is and the satisfaction one gets from the success of such a hunt. How did they "do it”, you wonder? Well with an electronic "wounded rabbit" call, a high powered rifle mounted on a tripod, complete camouflage clothing and the benefit of being able to hide behind some shrubs. They called the coyote in and shot it at about 200 yards. And then did absolutely nothing with the animal. They simply killed it and let it laid there to rot. I was pissed, to say the least. Skill . what skill? We (the host and I) got in to a bit of an e-mail discussion, the details of which I won't get into.It’s this sort of stuff that I think gives hunting a bad name. Hell, just watch OLN and see the pathetic hunting and fishing programs they have recently added to their line-up. All this crap about the dangers involved. Bull shit. Go hunt the friggen thing with a handmade primitive style bow or a spear and then talk to me about the dangers (and eat it dammit!). No high powered rifles with 200 zoom scopes, tripods, and the benefit of guides, bait, and camouflage. Anyway, that’s probably enough of my self righteous ranting about hunting. As of now, it's a relatively free country when it comes to hunting (obviously there are rules and ethics . many of which a few completely ignore). I (and my wife) just happen to disagree with how some hunters conduct themselves before, during, and after the kill. I’m not trying to come off as “better” than them . just a bit more respectful when it comes to taking an animals life.