Food Bytes

If Kossowan wants to feel connected to these animals and the process of killing them, he should stop referring to them as "the product."

Why is it that the people, like Kevin, who know the least about living off the land full time are the ones who bleat continuously about "connecting to nature"? People like him make me ill.

Ouch Sam and Sue...such jugdmental bitterness! I guess it is hard to face the fact that 95% of Canadians are now urban. Those people often DO want to connect with nature. From your comment, I would assume the only real nature people are rural. How insular and short sighted those comments are.

The anonymity of this type of correspondence does spawn the bitter critic!

Perhaps Kevin should make the effort more sporting by confronting his prey completely naked and armed only with his bare hands. Then he might feel even more connected. He complains about the field dressing process which he then passes on to his father. For what it is worth, I lived in a subsistence hunting culture for the first 31 years of my life, and consider Kevin to be someone who does not need to hunt to survive. He does it for pleasure. He probably spends more in fuel driving to and from one kill sites than my father burned in 10 years, beating across the prairie on snowshoes to bring home the rabbits and occasional deer we ate. By calling his game "product" he disconnects further from the food aspect.

Sam – I can see how that terminology could offend. I suppose I think of it in terms of the result of ‘producing’ food - meat, vegetables, fruit, etc. for the kitchen. I think you’d have a hard time finding that word used as many times in all my posts as it has been on this page.

Colette – have to agree in general, but I’m guessing that I could pick any activity I do and find somebody out there who would take offense. Not surprised at all that hunting would be a littler hotter topic than most.

Sue and Daria - I don’t think that Andree implied, nor would you find it in my blog that I claim to be subsistence hunting, gardening, foraging, etc. Not even close. I do all of them because I enjoy some part of activity, and because I enjoy the foods [see, I’d use the term ‘product’ and offend, but I mean it in the same context] to feed myself and my family. Please don’t assume that because I write about my food escapades that I’m implying I’m an authority on any of the topics. Andree got it correct that it’s simply an online diary of things I learn as I spend time in the kitchen, and I think that's fairly clear to those who read it.

Sam, how does referring to an edible product as a product remove from the same experience? He's harvesting food. Would you prefer he name the animals he takes home? Do you name carrots as they’re picked from the garden? I do. It makes me feel more connected to pretend this Onion is Joe, as opposed to a product. “La la la la la,” *skips*

There’s a slaughter house in Calgary, one of the largest in North America, which slaughters thousands of cows a day. Thousands. Because you’ve deemed yourself worthy of choosing the dietary source of others, in this case, implying Kevin should buy beef like everyone else, it’s somehow less of an ethical burden to pass the buck to the slaughter house. Because we all know how well the cows are treated. That’s far more humane. I feel so much more whole, now; thinking of how someone else is slaughtering an animal as opposed to doing it myself. Glad I can sleep at night because of this. Someone point me towards to nearest Beef kiosk. I hope there’s not a picture of a cow, anywhere.

The problem I have with the general population of anti-hunters is not their beliefs, but the arguments they make. Like, killing an animal with their bare hands would teach us a lesson, for example. I’ve heard that one a hundred times. That’s an inhumane way to treat an animal, Daria, killing it with one’s bare hands. It’s disconcerting you’d propose something like that, and would suggest that you might want to reconsider how you view animals, as opposed to seeing them as sporting targets, fit for games.

God forbid a city dweller actually know precisely how their food gets to their table?! That's insanity.

I find it difficult to swallow some of these comments, mainly because of their highly critical and hypocritical nature. Take the poster whose "father... beating across the prairie on snowshoes to bring home the rabbits and occasional deer we ate." I think that you are missing the point of the post.

The author did not grow up in the "subsistence hunting culture" as the commenter did, but he also is doing more than your average Joe in connecting to what it means to have a carcass at your table.

What disturbs me is the judgement people pass off, while eating a 4$ a pounch chicken that lived packed in a crate for most of its natural life. How dare the author try and understand where his food comes from. Perhaps it is more civilized to eat the salmon that is farmed in a habitat that is polluting the ocean and killing off oterh species of fish. Better yet, go to McDonalds and try and connect with the beef that was raised in huge feedlots to furnish the huge corporation.

For the "Veggie" types that claim they have no onus for their food choice, consider this: unless you are buying local, from farmers YOU KNOW, you have no right to be critical either.

The author is at least honest in what he writes about, which is far less than what I can say about you all.

Great points of discussion revealed here - anyone want to continue to conversation in person?

i am on the steering committee for Slow Food Calgary and we are organizing our annual Slow Resolutions dinner on January 12th at the Cookbook Company, 6:30pm. hostess for the evening is local poet and author dee Hobsbawn Smith. btw, we'll be eating local piggie.....

these are the kinds of discussions that we love to foster and cultivate, especially in meet/meat-space. care to join us?

~eric giesbrecht
slowfoodchef@gmail.com

I actually loved field dressing my moose. Yes it's a big, messy job but I actually can honestly say that I loved every minute of it.