Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Times (UK): The secret life of cows; Also, cannibalism in china

March 1st

there have been a number of sniggering news stories about the bjp selling medicines derived from cow-urine and cowdung. the subtext is: "these primitive hindus and their superstitions about cows!"

granted.

but what about the civilized non-hindus who eat cow's kidneys, intestinal linings, 'sweetbreads' (what a lovely euphemism for strange internal organs)? or, in the us rural south, pigs' feet? or in east asia, dogs, snakes, etc.?

and when will all these civilized people start eating their own dead parents? why not trendy cannibalism? will help control the population, too. when will we start seeing packaged human body parts on sale, first in china, no doubt? i have seen some photos of aborted human fetuses being prepared and turned into soup in a chinese kitchen. truly abhorrent. see also this link and this link. i guess if the indian english language media were to come across these, they would praise china for its advanced 'stem cell research', and the use of fetal stem cells for rejuvenation!

moral of the story: it is easy to poke fun at others' consumption habits, but consider your own, which might be equally disgusting or even worse.

and besides, here is evidence that cows aren't exactly inert as most of us imagine. next time you bite into a steak, remember Bessy's large, imploring eyes, asking, "how could you eat me?"

i am not a vegetarian or a radical about food, but i believe radical vegetarians do have a point.

2 comments:

hUmDiNgEr said...

Rajeev,

Dead Human Fetus is a "delicacy" in Southeast nations..esp in Thailand.
One of my colleagues who was there in Thailand tells me that he even saw people ordering live monkey to eat.

And what do whites eat?? Pigs?? Isnt cow urine better than Pigs' testticles???

Anonymous said...

Dear Rajeev,

You are quite right about the chinese. I know chinese people who proudly say they eat bugs of every kind including lizards,cockroaches,beetles,earth worms etc. Also snake is a delicacy for the chinese and they drink snake blood...raw. I have personally seen this nauseating scene when I was in Taiwan. Also the middle eastern people especially arabs, eat tounges,kidneys,eye balls,testicles of sheep which is a grourmet food for them. You can acutally see these animal organs neatly packed and for sale in any lebanese or middle eastern store in america.

Regards,

Guru