| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| bernie-woman |
Could you eat an elephant?Could You Eat an Elephant?Wednesday 14 January 10:00pm - 11:40pm Channel 4 Two of the UK's leading chefs test their steel and their stomach eating the world's most taboo foods Fergus Henderson and Jeremy Lee are two of the UK's most daring chefs. At Fergus' celebrated restaurant, St John, 'nose to tail' eating means including everything from pigs' ears to bone marrow is on the menu. Jeremy's position as head chef at top eatery Blueprint Café, puts the two friends on the foodie frontline. Now Fergus and Jeremy are being sent on an epic culinary journey across Europe, Asia and Africa to truly test their own limitations. To find their culinary ceiling, the duo attempt to eat their way up through the ladder of animals considered taboo for consumption in Britain but very much part of the daily diet in other parts of the world. Starting with very small creatures and working their way up to the very big, Fergus and Jeremy visit places where these meats are local and seasonal, to see if they can eat them in the traditional way, from beetles and maggot-infested cheese, through rat, snake and dog to horse, elephant, and finally monkey. They start their journey in Tuscany, Italy to sample birds, but of a smaller variety than the sort that usually makes it onto British plates. Jeremy stays in Italy to sample Marcetto, a maggot-infested cheese that is said to be an aphrodisiac. Then it's on to Hanoi for a spot of cobra and a dish of rat; Namibia in southern Africa, to feast on jewel beetle paste and back to Italy for some lovely horse. The pressure is on for the chefs as they are faced with meats that have an emotional impact of the pair. Dog in Vietnam, elephants in Namibia and finally, the hardest challenge of all - monkey. Through the increasingly difficult dishes, the programme takes a serious look at British food taboos, culinary revulsions and dining preconceptions. |
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| Behemoth |
Gumf! 
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| boisdevie1 |
I couldn't eat a whole elephant. But seriously I don't see how we in the West can dictate that others can eat, especially when our own practises are not very well thought out. For example, we happily eat pork but would not eat dog. Yet pigs are more intelligent than dogs. | ||||
| Nick |
Should we eat items in order of their intelligence? |
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| Silas |
I'm going to wait till Robs got a half price offer before I order mine. | ||||
| sean |
The Zimbabwean army are ahead of them. BBC News | ||||
| Silas |
Would be an interesting excersise for cannibals on the DS list, who would you eat first (or last)? |
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| Rob R |
Get your half elephants here. Was £1m, now only 500k! 
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| Bebo |
that's 'cos you don't get proper crackling on a dog! Anyway, I thought the general tendancy was not to eat carnivores due to fears of disease - although I gather this is nonsense and you just have to avoid their livers because of the very high levels of Vitamin A. |
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| Rob R |
What about people with a deficiency, Dog Liver Oil anyone?
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| Bebo |
The other reason for not eating carnivores is that they'd be an awful lot more expensive to farm. Feed costs would be dramatically higher. | ||||
| Rob R |
Nah, you could feed them on pigs heads & rabbit guts, or tinned dog food, as it's known in the shops. | ||||
| Bebo |
Not if you farmed them on any scale you couldn't, there wouldn't be enough pigs heads and rabbits guts to go around. | ||||
| Rob R |
There would if you get your dog from a sustainable farm 
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| Treacodactyl |
I was going to say it's fine as long as it's sustainable but then much of the meat we eat in the UK isn't sustainable. | ||||
| Barefoot Andrew |
Good tip-off; I shall record it.
A. |
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| mihto |
Elephant Stew
1 medium sized elephant 1 ton salt 1 ton pepper 200 bushells carrots 500 bushells potatoes 3000 sprigs parsley 1500 gallons brown gravy Cut elephant into bite sized pieces(this will take 2 about months). Cut vegetables into cubes (another 2 months). Place meat in pan and cover with the brown gravy. Simmer for 4 weeks. Shovel in the salt and pepper to taste. When the meat is tender, add the vegetables. Simmer for another 4 weeks. Garnish with parsley. This will serve 3800 people, but if more are expected, add 2 small rabbits. Make sure you use rabbit and not hares as most folk dislike getting a hair in their dinner. |
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| Rob R |
For a five tonne elephant, that's a lot of salt
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| mihto |
Not to mention pepper. Seems this is a dish to put haires (or was it hares?) on your chest. |
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| yummersetter |
oowww don't like it  half my family are dogs
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| Bebo |
That's being very uncharitable to the female members of your family isn't it? |
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| 2steps |
Don't think I could manage a whole elephant... I am only small afterall 
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| yummersetter |
we e e ll let's say close family then
thinks 'did I give any relatives a link to DS?' 
Here's my tip to newcomers. Don't tell anyone about this forum. |
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| mihto |
No problem. you eat elephants the same way you eat everything else...bit by bit 
Anyone need a recepie for whale? |
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| Rob R |
Not for a whale, I'm still getting through the elephant. Excuse the pun, if you've spotted it. |
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| Jamanda |
That's truly awful Rob
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| mihto |
Sure
We'll get bak to the other big pets once you have sorted out the salt- and-pepper problem. |
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| Rob R |
Up to my usual standard, me thinks 
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| dpack |
dog is a bit like sweet mutton
how much marinade do i need for jumbo? i recon a big skipful once it is boned |
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| Jamanda |
Is this an offer for a workshop for the foody weekend? We've so many coming I think we might need an elephant
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| mihto |
......or a whale......... |
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| BethinPA |
Oh, I thought that pun was just a fluke.
Beth |
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| BethinPA |
There's a show in the US that's similar:
http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Bizarre_Foods The only thing he hasn't been able to stomach is durian. I can't make it past the brains.  (doesn't that look like a zombie?)
Beth |
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| Jamanda |
What's durian? | ||||
| dpack |
it would be different
any zoos going bust ? plump it up and then it's time to hang and marinade nelly bacon ? seagulls are off my list on taste grounds and hares cos one saved me but most other things i will give it a go snail or jumbo i still take it's life to eat it ,apples scream as well but i need dinner and i have a pan |
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| BethinPA |
link The smell is so, ummmm, pungent that there are "no cutting open the durian" signs (a durian half, with a red slash through it) in Asian markets in Seattle. Like ripe dog poo. Only not as pleasant. B. |
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| Jamanda |
Mmm. No, I think I'd prefer elephant.
Don't think I could eat whale though Mihto. |
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| dpack |
i will get hate mail but
oily ,fishy in a not good way crossed with off beef ,the blubber is closed cell foam soaked in fish oil that is a good reason not to eat whales nourishing though maybe i should try some better recipies but i recon i'll have the peeler crabs today |
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| Jamanda |
I know it's traditional in some places, and there's no logical reason not to (other than conservation and welfare issues obviously) - but, nope - beyond my line in the sand. Welfare isn't the right word is it? |
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| mihto |
Not hate mail. Just sad mail 
Two of my whale dinners are among the ten best meals I ever had. You need properly hung meat and a cook who knows how to prepare the dish. I had your kind of memories from childhood, and I was a bit uncertain when I was re-introduced to the food in 2001. The first bite was an incredibly pleasant shock. Since then I have eaten it many times. Not an easy dish to serve foreigners, though. Tried it once. Will be more careful next time. 
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| ros |
yes but it's delicious you just have ti hold your nose until it's in your mouth - after that it's wonderful
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| mihto |
Not welfare, no. Certainly conservation issues for threatened species. In my opinion none of the large whale species should be hunted. The small whales are numerous though. I see no reason why we cannot hunt whale when deer, elk, reindeer and boar are normal and generally acceptable game. Of course I'm aware of the attitude of many people and I'm on thin ice as far as the Animal Rights people are concerned. Then again, if these people should rule the world, many Downsizers would be on their lynching list. If you wait for long enough even lines in the sand are washed away
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| dpack |
my liking for invertibrates has taken many lives
a big critter feeds a lot of folk in one go i have seen a knowing look in a trouts eye but he sent his kids to eat little critters then ate his children 6 in a day no lines in sand , ones with hooks good life kind death =dinner ps the dog says get the bloke to give him sauasage |