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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1973-02-14, Page 2Sugar and Spice . by Bill Smiley As many a sage has remarked, man is a curious animal. He is the only species that will kill others of his own type in. either hot or cold blood. And he is the only animal, including the much- maligned hog, that will eat anything and drink practically anything. Carnivores eat meat. Herbivores eat herbs. A few species like to vary the diet with some nice, ripe carrion. But man. will eat anything that groWs, walks, swims or flies, including himself, if he's hungry enough. ThUS we haVe a prOliferation of such 'delicacies as seal flippers, cod's tongue, canned snake, fried grasshoppers, frogs' legs, beeS and ants in chocolate. What other spiecies could stomach birds' nest soup or year-old eggs? Not to mention haggis. Prince Hamlet said: "What a piece of work is man! how infinite in faCulties! in form and moving hOW express and adMirabler in action hoW like an angel, n in apprehenSiOn how like a god! the beauty Of the WOridl the paragon of animals!" What a piece of work indeed! Man will eat anything from guts to nuts. For many, there's nothing tastier than fried liVer, ba ked stuffed heart ; kidney pie and - almost unbelievable - tripe, that exotic dish made froin the lining of a cow's stomach. not hard to figure out where the expression "That's a lot Of tripe" came from. Those are just a few categories in the guts department. At the' Other end of the scale ; among the nuts, are such things as hiCkOky,. hazel, Cheat; wal, pea and sweetbreads, No self=respecting gat would eat and drink Seine of the things the "paragon of animals" StUffS, into his quivering, re= inetant stomach, Dill pickles, kiPpered herring,, cold tongue, hot, tufty. Never mind the juice of fermented grapes) and cheese crawling with maggots. No wonder we smell pediiiiar to Other animals. Ever noticed hoW dogs and cats sniff us and walk away with a disgusted leek?' bow cavalierly we treat those tong,. suffering ttonikdlis, of whidli,We are issued Only one for the duration, breikidst. What a way to start a day!' A glass of icy Orange -nice; f011eWed by scalding coffee. Then some cereal, the rougher the better. Then a few slices off a pig's bum, accompanied by a couple of hens' • children. Toss in a couple of vitamin pills, with dear-only knows what poisons in them, and we're ready to face the world. No wonder the world looks pretty grim. When I was in prison camp, there were rats about. The Germans kept quite a few cats around to control the ratpopulat- ion. One day the camp commander, who had' a sense of humour, posted a notice in each barracks: "AnybOdy caught eating long-tailed rabbits will be severly punish- Yep. The boys were eating the cats. The French have horse-meat butcher shopt. SoMe Asians consider there's nothing sweeter than boiled, baked or fried dog. Some Arabian tribes cook a whole sheep, and the most succulent part' of 'the meal . is sucking out the: eyes. An Eastern version' 'of oysters on the half-Shell. Of course, Canadians would never touch such things. We confine ourselves to such treats as shepherds' pie, con- sisting of ground-up, uSed-Up shepherds; toe nails and all. At least they seem like toe nails When you crunch down on one. This may all seem irrelevant to the great issues of the day, and it is. But giti'ans c, ae lot deeper than it seems first I began thinking of man as guts when Somebody' told me a chap had spent 32 daYS' or something in a cabin Up north and had survived by eating mice. It was an intriguing thoUght. Can't you see him sitting there ; dr.°, tiling, as he turned a mouse on ,a spit? Can, you. understand him deciding to haVe, , a cold lungh of haunch of mouse; with a salad Of pine needle8 and cedar buds, served On birCh bark? Can you see, him muuching a mouse drumstick for a: bed-time snack? Or worrying i like any perplexed housewife, about Whether to have a rump reaSt of mouse, or a standing rib roast,, Or hot sliced mouse tongue? And-, debidihgthe hell with it, he was 0114 to splurge tonight and have filet of thouset It boggles the ESTABLISHED 1672 gBrussels Post WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 1973 -Serving Brussels and the surrounding community published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario by McLean Bros. Publishers, Limited. Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Tom Haley - Advertising Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association. , Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $4.00 a year, Others $5.00 a year, Single' Copies 10 cents each. Second class mail Registration No. 0562. Telephone 887-6641. A flock of beef lust flew over High-flying beef on the hoof from Western feedlots to the tables of Eastern restaurants?. It may not be far off if current tests prove successful, The Financial Post says. There is nothing new about moving livestock by aircraft. Pure- bred horses and high-priced purebred cattle have been getting that kind of VIP treatment for a number of years. But before long, there may be a considerable amount of com- mercial cattle shipped by air for domestic markets, and perhaps even more overseas. According to Charles Leask of Regina, director of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool's livestock division, volume air transport of cattle will be a paying proposition just as soon as some hitches can be 'ironed out of crating problems. What was believed to be the first air shipment of commercial cattle in Canada took,place last year when the pool flew 90 head of feeder steers from Saskatoon to Toronto on an Air Canada DC-9.Asses- sment of the test now has been com- pleted, and although it showed it was more expensive for', that first trip than if the cattle had been sent by rail, air will be cheaper when ways are found to improve crat- ing. In the tests, bulky wooden crates were used. Now being .con- sidered are collapsible aluminum crates that would allow the cattle to be walked onto the aircraft, rather than hauled on in the. wooden crates. It costs about $4,600 to ship 90 head by air, vs only $1,450 by rail. The rail Saving has a price tag: loss of cattle weight. During the four-day rail trip, the cattle lose from 6 per cent to 12 per cent in weight. Shrinkage is almost nil by air. (St. Marys Journal-Argus)