Please Happy

I’ve been thinking a lot about meat recently. About packaging. About how real and natural it felt in Australia to kill a lobster (called a “cray” over there) and eat it. About how when we went fishing with Dad as kids, we would thank for the worm for giving its life and thank the fish we would eat that night. Been thinking about the disconnect between people and food. Glad this issue is so publicized. Glad movies like The Cove and Food Inc. have brought this thinking to the fore.

On that note, Jake found this response to The Cove winning an Oscar. I think it’s worth re-posting his blog entry.

From More Perfect Market:

“Everyone around here knows about it. The water nearby turns red during the hunt. The actual killing is done in a concealed area because it is unpleasant to look at, as is true of killing cows or pigs or any other animal.”

Hisato Ryono said that. He’s a town councilman in Taiji, Japan. And he doesn’t think it’s fair that the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove calls Taiji “a little town with a really big secret.”

While I’m sure he’s downplaying the secrecy, he’s right to compare what happens in his cove to what happens in slaughterhouses worldwide.

So I hope we don’t dismiss him entirely. I hope we see that he’s accidentally reminding us to look.

Saturday’s Wild Game Night featured Tom’s Tatonka Balls, elk quesadillas, elk and deer loaf, elk backstrap, tuna tartare, trout and some tongues and butts mashed into sausages. The meat got grilled and scarfed, the chocolate fountain got knocked over and everyone got drunk on whiskey and scotch.

Overall, a successful evening in a palatial log cabin near Snow King.

I take for granted these quintessential Western gatherings where the company enjoys both snowmobiling (which I’ve always scoffed at, but will now try) and skinning up mountains, shooting guns (again, never tried, but will soon) and singing around a campfire. There were cowboy hats in the corner, guys in wranglers as well as visitors from Boston, hard-core cyclists. One of the hosts is a lawyer, sailor, hunter who loves his big black truck.

Before leaving, I emailed a doctor friend about Wild Game Night (which I think next year should incorporate Cranium and cards into the flesh-eating). The friend, a Wisconsonite and elk hunter, herself, is living at a monastery in France for a few months spending her days with monastics meditating, walking mindfully and eating vegan.

Here’s the exchange:

Me:
Eat some tofu for me. Tonight, I’m going to a Wild Game dinner, where everyone brings the things they’ve killed this year. I’m most looking forward to wild boar. I’m bringing a salad.

Dr. O:
I am laughing so loud and hard right now! Thank you for the wild game teaser! I would actually kill for some elk, that’s my favorite! I’ve had tofu and rice up to my fucking hat.

I guess we can’t all be mindful all the time. And despite my Buddhist tendencies, I have to say that the backstrap – seasoned with Stefan’s special French spice concoction – was juicy, tender and delicious.