October 17, 2018, 12:46:41 PM by Lester Curtis
I think a lot of that 'cultural' cuisine may be a holdover from the days before we humans had invented reliable means of long-term food storage, like canning and refrigeration. So we were often scavengers; we ate, and still do, things that were decayed and rotten, and called it delicious, because compared to eating rocks and mud, it might have been. And we might have gotten the idea of burying things from watching large predators; they'd take down an animal that was too big to eat all at once and bury the rest for later. Hey, it works for them, why not? Keeps the flies off, at least.
The French have built a cultural snobbishness around rotten food, especially meats and cheeses. I have my own idea about how this came about. Amid all the colorful clothing and golden gewjaws in the palace, the royal chefs were running out of fresh food to serve the king, so one day they just gave up and threw some rotten carcass on a platter and smeared it with as much pungent spice as they could find.
Of course, the king gagged and yelled, "What the fuck is this shit? I'll have your heads!" but the chefs put on a show of offended pride. "Your Highness! This is the pinnacle of our art! We would never think to serve such exquisite fare to anyone but Your Self! We would never bring this before the lowly peasants!" (Which was true; the peasants would have thrown it in their faces and said, "YOU eat it!")
So the king was tricked into eating it, and the chefs left the dining hall and all breathed a sigh of relief, because they hadn't been hauled off to the chopping block, and because the air was a lot fresher elsewhere.
Snails, too. The closest I've ever been to barfing all over a dining room table was when I saw a guy eating snails.
I think all of this has something to do with the amount of wine the French consume. After all, if I knew I was going to have roadkill for dinner, I'd want to be falling-down drunk too.
And yeah, that squirrel brain was about the size of a baby lima bean, I'd guess. And it was fun watching how carefully the guy split the skull open before he pried it out.
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I had a good day yesterday; it was bright and cool, and I went for a bicycle ride. Just right.
This morning I got up to see a shower of tiny hailstones outside, along with the rain. No cycling today.
I was raised by humans. What's your excuse?