Very good piece. I wanted to eat a mountain lion this year but by the time i bought my tag the season's quota had been reached in my territory.
I totally agree with you on the tragedy of a dead horse going to waste. I am happy to live in a place where when i must shoot one of our Clydesdales or they die otherwise they are left out there for the wild beasts. I drag them off to a rise we can view from the kitchen window. We've had eight eagles on a horse at one time. Grizzlies come at night. I don't feel good about a horse dying, but i feel better about it this way than i would the way many are mandated to dispose of bodies. Some visuals you may enjoy here:
Terrific writing. In my experience, a taboo is but one culture removed. I can vividly remember the anguished look on my soldiers’ faces in Korea when they realized the caged dogs weren’t destined to be household pets. As you note, taboos migrate — the Republic of Korea passed a law in 2024 that will ban the breeding and sale of dogs for consumption by 2027. Perhaps Nietzsche was on to something: “If you crush a cockroach, you’re a hero. If you crush a beautiful butterfly, you’re a villain. Morals have aesthetic criteria.” Perhaps recipes do, too.
I love that Neitzsche quote, very telling. I didn't go entirely down the rabbit hole of eating domestic dogs or cats simply because it felt too big to touch. But it is strange to wonder how we can love one thing and eat it, and how we can love one thing so much that we can't eat it, and that's probably worth exploring, too.
Wow, beautiful article. Thank you!
Very good piece. I wanted to eat a mountain lion this year but by the time i bought my tag the season's quota had been reached in my territory.
I totally agree with you on the tragedy of a dead horse going to waste. I am happy to live in a place where when i must shoot one of our Clydesdales or they die otherwise they are left out there for the wild beasts. I drag them off to a rise we can view from the kitchen window. We've had eight eagles on a horse at one time. Grizzlies come at night. I don't feel good about a horse dying, but i feel better about it this way than i would the way many are mandated to dispose of bodies. Some visuals you may enjoy here:
https://theatavist.substack.com/p/death-of-a-horse
Terrific writing. In my experience, a taboo is but one culture removed. I can vividly remember the anguished look on my soldiers’ faces in Korea when they realized the caged dogs weren’t destined to be household pets. As you note, taboos migrate — the Republic of Korea passed a law in 2024 that will ban the breeding and sale of dogs for consumption by 2027. Perhaps Nietzsche was on to something: “If you crush a cockroach, you’re a hero. If you crush a beautiful butterfly, you’re a villain. Morals have aesthetic criteria.” Perhaps recipes do, too.
I love that Neitzsche quote, very telling. I didn't go entirely down the rabbit hole of eating domestic dogs or cats simply because it felt too big to touch. But it is strange to wonder how we can love one thing and eat it, and how we can love one thing so much that we can't eat it, and that's probably worth exploring, too.