Thinking about "Real" Food

As I was reading "Undercover in a Chicken Factory", I found myself thinking about the way in which we interact with food in our culture. In particular, the way in which we think (or don't think) about meat.

I grew up in rural Nebraska and my dad is a Game Warden. Most of the meat I ate growing up was butchered in our garage. That's not to say that I'm some grand hunter. I was good at shooting rabbits (or plunkin' rabbits as they say where I'm from) and I have tracked and killed a deer. It should also be noted that I sobbed uncontrollably after killing the deer.

The process of field dressing a deer and then getting it home and butchering it makes meat both more "normal" and more exotic. It becomes more familiar because I actually know where the meat came from. It's not like the chicken and it's elaborate set of belts and breading and re-breading. There is an amazing simplicity to the way muscle attaches to other muscles and bones.

But the meat also acquires a history that is lacking in processed foods. I followed the deer, watched it first through binoculars, then a rifle scope. I saw it eat and interact with a small group of does. Because most of the food I eat in a day comes from a grocery store, I don't have that sort of familiarity with it. This piece of meat stands out on the plate.