Yes, I suppose you're right.

Post #212,689 by bionerd 6/27/05 10:44:44 AM Reply	Yes, I suppose you're right. I wonder how that all evolved- why some animal parts (or animals/insects) are delicacies in some parts of the world and taboo in others? (My Monday morning musing.)
Post #212,691 by boxley 6/27/05 10:51:38 AM Reply	offal spoils quicker than meat so availability being timewise shorter makes offal somewhat of a delicacy. Now the other reason is that if you ate a diet consisting of venison you would quickly starve to death unless you ate the glands, tongue, liver etc because of the fat content. Non refrigerated americans understood this and used fat as a condiment as well as offal as a delicacy. thanx, bill All tribal myths are true, for a given value of "true" Terry Pratchett [link\|http://boxleys.blogspot.com/\|http://boxleys.blogspot.com/] Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free american and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 49 years. meep questions, help? [link\|mailto:pappas@catholic.org\|email pappas at catholic.org]
Post #212,692 by Another Scott 6/27/05 10:56:11 AM Reply	"The Genius of China" talks a little about this. [link\|http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?isbn=1853752924\|Here]. It's a 1 volume summary of a larger work that discusses things that the Chinese are believed to have invented first. Some things wouldn't work (like using an eggshell as the first hot-air balloon), but there's lots of interesting things there. E.g. Many people believed that if you ate parts of a strong animal, then that strength would be transferred to you. Similarly, if you ate (small amounts of) mercury, then the magical properties of mercury would be transferred to you. Mercury was thought to [link\|http://www.answers.com/topic/mercury\|prolong life]. Keen observation led them to notice that certain plants grew in areas where mercury was found. AFAIK, the food taboos have more to do with religion. Cheers, Scott.

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