paintermujer

Vegetarianism aside

Can somebody tell me why when we buy meat in Spain we are constantly reminded of the animal we are eating by lovely live photos or outlines on the meat package.

Puts me off a bit.

How many of you have bought the little suckling pigs,cooked them and can still eat the meat.Probable tasty when its meat but the whole dead animal is too much for me.

cricketman

But why pretend that the meat is not part of an animal?

The English way of calling the meat and animal different names is strange and has left people out of touch and confused about what they are eating. In English we use the French name of the animal for the meat, this is from times when the ruling class in Britain spoke French (shock, horrer!).

lynnxa

it's just something you get used to

when we first came you had to ask specially to have your chicken 'cleaned', or pay extra for a 'clean' pre-packed one

I haven't bought a whole suckling pig here, but I dare say I'll get around to it


I found it much harder to get used to them showing dead bodies on the news


and have you seen the ads about erectile dysfunction on daytime TV?


I can't wait for the 10 year old to ask me to explain that one


I think the spanish (oops generalising) are just more open & realistic than us brits

paintermujer

Yes I absolutely agree with you.

But its easy to shrug it off when you do not have to be faced with the full on dead animal or pic of it.

We are buying 3 chickens soon so I dont fancy my chances with eating poultry in the future.

paintermujer

Yes I agree with you as to being more open.

Seen the dead bodies

but not the other

May check it out for a laugh-without the d seeing

fionamw

And maybe a bit less wasteful with the bits of an animal we nowadays tend to chuck, whether it be the wonderful morcillas, various bits of gland & offal, tripe of various guises, etc etc. Of course the suckling pig is only really a (small) extension of that........ What I've never quite understood is why the pig is king; or is it simply in Andalucia, where maybe cattle & sheep are less likely to be bred successfully?

If you're getting hens for eggs just remember they won't lay for ever......what happens then? & if you get a cockerel & there are eggs what happens to all the little cockerels? Rather than let poultry keeping affect in a sentimental way, I've always looked on it as the best possible way to let children see real life (& death) in circumstances in which the hens are kept in reasonable conditions rather than cooped in cages, etc. Not half bad for letting them get used to chores such as cleaning out, fetching eggs., too!

cricketman

I think its something you get used to.

When I first came to Spain, I dreaded the thought of eating things like prawns, lobster, fish, octopus and squid becuase of their little faces and their eyes looking at you

Soon got used to it, especially when you're enjoying the food.

The healthy way to think of it is that you must respect the food more because you are reminded that something has lived and died in order for you to have a good meal!

Dick Dasterdly

Normally I don't even think about it.
Chop its horns off,wipe its ass and I'm ready to eat......

However having been used to eating my battered fish out of an old News of the World for many years,I don't much care to have them presented on a plate, looking just as they left the sea, and staring back at me with their horrible beady eyes.....

Bri and Katee

You really need to see the BBC series, Kill it Cook it Eat it. Follows various animals from farm to slaughter to butcher to cook. Very informative and very graphic, especially the slaughter scenes.

I think it should be made compulsory viewing, the english have become very sensitised when it comes to meat prep, almost to the point of thinking that animals are human beings and should not be killed for food. The Spanish have it right, kill everything and anything and eat it. Don' think of the animal as a pet, more a way of feeding the masses.

paintermujer

My problem isnt with fish and I love prawns,octopus etc. no problem with them.

I hate having to search through a meat section for beef and find pony steaks-sorry not my thing either.

I would like to buy the meat but without thinking always of the living animal.

I think Im some hypocrit actually but its just some cultural difference I have to come to terms with.

lynnxa

pony steaks?

not seen them, though I do remember eating horse on a school trip to France

I really enjoyed it, though I probably wouldn't have if I'd known what it was in advance

paintermujer

cricketman

I think that may be a Catalan/Valencian thing. I remember seeing horse meat at a market in Barcelona. Never seen it elsewhere in Spain.

lynnxa

not here in Javea either


lots of rabbits though

paintermujer

And those starey eyes from the fridge cabinet.

I have eaten so much paella over the years.

Would never order conejo but what are all those chickeny bits in paella???