Guts.
Recently I posted a photo of myself online. The photo depicts me right smack dab in the middle of gutting a pig. Knife in hand and smiling. The somewhat startling nature of this photo, for the uninitiated, resulted in a few comments from friends and family. But I’d like to start from the beginning.
One of my goals in this food system’s journey I find myself on is to cut meat. I want to slaughter, harvest, gut, cut, cook and eat, animals. And the closer I can be to the animal, the better. To love, raise, provide for an animal is not the entire picture. To love, raise and provide for an animal- before slaughtering, gutting, cutting and eating is my entire picture. To make sure that the animal has the cleanest death, is a priority.
All of that sounds well and good to most, makes sense. And even those that can’t handle any sort of animal death but eat meat can recognize the merits of what I’m saying. However, here’s where I go a bit further down the path than most. My appreciation for the animal, my gratitude for the internal systems that kept it healthy, for the energy that pumped the blood into it’s heart are never ending. So while most are scouring packages in a grocers’ meat section comparing prices while never even looking at the actual meat, I’m touching, smelling and soaking in the reverence of the incredible life that ended but is still providing.
The animal in the picture is a pig I raised. I got to slaughter it in my back yard. I got to gift the entire head, hearts, lungs and feet to my neighbors that use all of these parts, parts that are ‘gross’ to others, parts that are generally discarded in our conventional food system. I got to keep the kidneys and leaf lard. I get to eat the meat and render the fat for uses beyond food. Once it’s time to cut the pig into beautiful roasts and chops, I’ll also be able to keep the extra trim.
When told by friends ‘It’s a little much for me”, or “I’m glad I’m in pastry” it’s hard not to call out the hypocrisy of their statements. You eat sausages, do you know where traditional casings are from? Lard is a fat used in dessert recipes for generations. But, because the photo shows intestines while they were still in use. Or because they can’t see the meat, only the corpse identifying the animal, it’s an issue. I invite anyone reading this to try and change their perception of what’s ‘gross’. To imagine life beyond a grocery store. And to believe you’re capable.
If you choose to, you can raise animals for food, to keep your food local, to raise it well and minimize damage done to the earth. Love it. Or them. You then harvest them because you want to be responsible for your own food, to give them the best in everything, as you always have.
I did share the photo with my father, who has mentioned many times how pleased he is with my capabilities and growth. Upon seeing the photo, he said “You look very happy with a knife in your hand, you prairie butcheress”. He knows it truly is a happy moment for me. And that it isn’t gross.
