The Burned Flesh of Dead Animals

We went to Bertucci's on Beacon Street on our first date. I mentioned how much I loved their veal marsala. Her lovely blues eyes rolled. Her lips scrunched. She took a breath and then told me the real story about veal. I ordered the Fettuccine Alfredo with a side of sauteed broccoli.

I have a friend who hasn't eaten meat for half a century. He does enjoy fish, and getting stoned, and walking his dog, and also carries about 40-50 pounds of excess girth. His approach is simple, "I don't eat anything I can pet."

My current partner says that she grew up eating what her father declared were only the best cuts of beef. Left-handed and naturally athletic, she swam competitively, was a cheerleader and played first base with a right-handed mitt. But then she hooked up with a macro-biotic herbivore. Today she'll eat a fish and enjoys my roast chicken. She rarely spoke with her father over the last ten years of his life.

Me? I'll eat almost anything. I really shouldn't say that considering the organs and critters gleefully devoured by Anthony Bourdain, and other gastronauts on TV. I admire Mr. Bourdain, his wise-ass persona, cultural insights and his "I don't give a crap what you think" approach. I'm just not interested in asking my digestive track to deal with the glands and mystery parts of another mammal.

My choice to enjoy the burned flesh of dead animals floats up from my choice to believe in reincarnation. This life in this body is temporary. There have been and will be others. Other times, other places, other life forms, families and species. This time around I have enjoyed a steak, steamed crabs, roast turkey, escargot, chicken sausage, lamb chops, and a Cuban sandwich. I am not a hunter although I have killed spiders, and trapped mice. I have loved dogs and cats. I have also been bitten by a small dog and infested with body lice. I feel connected to all God’s creatures. We share this space. We share resources, breathe the same air, and eat each other.

And then there's evolution. Change happens, sometimes on its own, and occasionally as a result of the choices we make. At some point, most of us have chosen alternatives to cannibalism. As our sensibilities evolve, we can see beyond the cave, the clan, the tribe. True, we get stuck every so often on race, religion and politics. But we all eat, and we pretty much eat stuff that at some point was alive. We don't, like seahorses, eat our young. We don't eat our pets, although some do raise, adore and eat their chickens or pigs. We grow, hunt, harvest and eat living things because that's how life is sustained. There is no life in sand, rocks or metals. Trust me, if there was, we would eat that stuff too.