Eating a zoo

Chatting on twitter about my tea, a zebra burger, led me to think of all the animals, birds and fish I'd ever eaten.

I often talk about "eating a zoo" and although being vegan is probably more common now, in the past zoophagy was a far more popular pastime. Groups of wealthy Victorian chaps sat around and munched on rhino, eland, elephant and bear.

In the UK now we happily eat pigs, sheep, cows and chickens but once past those people get oddly squeamish, 'oh no!' they squeal ' I couldn't eat a horse, I just couldn't' , but why? why couldn't we? Society has enforced within us 'rules' about what is, and what isn't, food; but our bodies are happy to override that and use the fuel we give it. I'm happily eating all sorts of interesting things...
 

Image credit: yamix / 123RF Stock Photo

Here is a list of the animals I've eaten.(if I remember any more I'll pop back and add them)

Starting with the mammals...

1. Cow
2. Sheep
3. Pig
4. Buffalo (bison) (delicious)
5. Water buffalo
6. Rabbit (tender, lean)
7. Deer
8. Giraffe (similar to zebra, like mild beef)
9. Zebra (not bad)
10. Camel
11. Llama (tasty)
12. Chicken (tastes like chicken)
13. Turkey
14. Duck (not keen)
15. Ostrich (yummy)
16. Crocodile (not as exciting as I'd hoped, bland)
17. Cod
18. Haddock
19. Salmon (don't like it)
20. Plaice
21. Anchovies/whitebait
22. Sardines
23. Tuna
24. Swordfish
25. Caviare (various types, liked the bright green and orange best, sea urchin I think)
26. Trout (delicate, lovely)
27. Pollack
28. Monk fish
29. Octopus
30. Squid (excellent fried in batter)
31. Crab
32. Prawns
33. Lobster (with chilli and spaghetti...one of my favourite meals)
34. Mussels (lovely with garlic and chips)

Image credit: saddako / 123RF Stock Photo

I thought the list would be longer I admit.

I love animals so I feel a bit odd also enjoying eating them. But I have killed things (with my bare hands, don't ask), I'm not one of those "oh it's ok if it doesn't look like an animal" carnivores. I've eaten fish with eyes on...whole.

I shall continue to try and eat my zoo, though I'm avoiding carnivores as I've heard they taste bad. I shall draw the line at endangered species too, no panda sausages. But pretty much everything else is fair game (pun intended)

Next on my wish list, goat (preferably in a curry), kangaroo, some other birds maybe, quail, pigeon, goose?

(for those keen to join me, check with your local butcher, Lidl or ExoticMeats online)

How about you? Vegan, vegetarian, reluctant carnivore or keen zoo eater?

If you eat animals what's on your list? Any I need to try?

Desert Island Books

Image credit: vicnt / 123RF Stock Photo

Many people listen to music a lot and use it as a form of comfort, escape or cheer. Maybe some use it as a memory device, a wallowing in a mood thing or just an entertainment thing. I like music, but I don't love it and the words are always the important bit for me. Going onto a desert island I would be hard pressed to think of music that means that much to me, maybe I'd pick the latest albulm I'm enjoying (would be something by Stornoway as they have the most amazing lyrics and great tunes)

Books on the other hand...books. They are full of words, awesome, awesome stories, poems, memories, worlds..things strange or normal. I love books.

So I picked books rather than tracks for my desert island, here are my desert island books.

1. The Life of Pi - many people don't like it, but it changed the way I think about things, it is beautiful writing, a strange tale and a curious finale. Well worth a read but you must read to the final page, none of this 'it was too long' lark. If you start it, finish it. I could reread it forever on an island.
2. To Kill a Mocking Bird - a true classic, set in middle class, middle town, middle America, a story of growing up and discovering both the horror and the joy the world can contain.
3. Night Watch - a comedy, and a fantasy and there is religion and time travel, good and evil, love and truth, it's all therein this frankly amazing book by Terry Pratchett. A detailed take on the history of one of my favourite discword characters, Sam Vimes.
4. Rebecca's World, Journey to the Forbidden Planet - now out of print although maybe available on CD. A children's story, with a young girl as the lead, telling the story of travel through a weird land, meeting unusual people, discovering friendship, and often very very funny. A great read for young and old, I'd take it to read alound to my goats.
5. The River World Series - a whole series of science fiction books, dealing with the themes of life after death, but also alternative lands and human nature. With some famous historical figures thrown in. I love these books and plan to reread them soon.
6. The Neverending Story - Another children's book that has a mystical feel. Lose yourself in this book (hopefully not as literally as Bastian does) the original printing was in two colours, one for this world and one for Fantasia. Explores the themes of bullying and friendship.
7. The White Dragon - I've always wanted a dragon, by reading any of the Pern books by Anne McCaffrey you can have one, if only for a book's length. This is my favourite of all the stories. her dragons are marvelous.
8. Anything (possibly Everything) by Oscar Wilde - proper clever wit, some horror, some poetry. Perfect to read and reread.
9. 1984 - we were forced to read this at school for A level but oddly it didn't put me off. A brillaint political horror/satire and a terrible view, not so much into the future as into the here and now. Nice to read it on a desert island where I would be the one in power...
10. Guess How Much I love you - a silly picture book is my last choice. I used to read this to DD when she was small and it would remind me of family, home and love. I would read it through tears to keep me connected to my daughter. I love her...to the moon....and back.

Tits, never around when you want to photograph them

I was asked to review a bird feeder from Presents for Men. Luckily my other half, the lovely Mr TM is quite keen on bird watching, we have a garden full of  feeders of various types and shapes. One of the reasons we have so many is that we have a resident grey squirrel (or two) and these are ninja squirrels, they have eaten through metal, they have broken entire feeders by gnawing through branches so the feeders fell, they are,  in short, pains in the arse.

The new feeder that Mr TM was excited to receive is a new type to us, it fixes via a suction cup to any window, so that you can watch the birds from the warmth of your own conservatory or kitchen etc. It's a Swedish design and looks very stylish.

Mr TM duly attached the feeder to the kitchen window. He was happy to report that it fixed easily and firmly to the glass. The view from the kitchen was perfect, a lovely clear globe of bright seeds, I was tempted myself! But the tits (and all other garden birds) were unimpressed. Maybe they thought the movement in the kitchen (and therefore near the feeder) was too close for comfort? Who knows, but they ignored the glamorous new feeder. Not so the ninja squirrel who spend a fun afternoon trying to first scale the kitchen wall upwards toward the nutty prize and later kamikaze style leaps from the extension roof in an attempt to dislodge the feeder entirely.

Mr TM gave up with the kitchen window and moved the feeder to the front of the house, away form the evil squirrels. Sadly the birds have not (yet) been attracted to it there either. So while I can vouch for the fact that it is well made, attached firmly and safely to a window and looks lovely both inside and out, I can unfortunately not vouch for the birds using it.

We wait hopefully. For tits.

• Looks 10/10 
• Value For money 8/10 
• Usability/Usefulness 8/10 
• Fun 7/10