571
animals, as well. The great unknown in that psychological data pool concerns the
behavior of those who don’t do the killing, but simply eat the remains.
According to food history consultant, Dr. Annie Gray, “the range of animals and
birds consumed in Georgian Britain was astounding – nothing that moved was safe
from the cooking pot.” From beavers to the hedgehog, all was fair game. In addition,
there was “extravagant medieval culinary diversion: fantastic beasts” including “the
cockentrice” which “comprised half a pig sewn to half of a capon (a castrated and
fattened chicken).”
3
Japanese have long had a dietary tradition of Ikizukuri, meaning prepared alive
and, in the case of octopus, still moving on the plate as the diner consumes it. The
varieties of torture meted out to marine invertebrates and vertebrates, to frogs,
snakes, enchinoderms like sea-urchins, decapod crustaceans (shrimp and prawns)
and to insects, including the live larva of numerous grubs, continue unabated
throughout the world
4
(Fig. 60.4).
3 “Pig-chickens, beavers’ tails and turtle soup: 8 weird foods through history,” Dr. Annie Gray,
HistoryExtra, BBC History Magazine, August 27, 2015, https://www.historyextra.com/period/
roman/pig-chickens-beavers-tails-and-turtle-soup-8-weird-foods-through-history/.
4 See “11 Foods Eaten Alive That May Shock You,” by Brent Furdyk, Food Network, October 19,
2017,
https://www.foodnetwork.ca/fun-with-food/photos/foods-eaten-alive-that-may-shockyou/#!irish-garlic-oysters; See also, “It’s time to ban eating live creatures on I’m A Celebrity, Get
Me Out Of Here,” by Alice Wright, METRO, November 22, 2017, https://metro.co.uk/2017/11/22/
its-time-to-ban-eating-live-creatures-on-im-a-celebrity-get-me-out-of-here-7080860/; and “10
Animals That People Eat Alive,” by Simon Griffin, ListVerse, June 21, 2018, https://listverse.
com/2013/03/06/10-animals-that-people-eat-alive/. Accessed April 1, 2020; and “Anthony
Bourdain took people on a journey of the world – often by eating really strange things,” by Michael
Collett, ABC News, Australian Broadcasting, June 9, 2018, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-0609/anthony-bourdain-weird-things-hes-eaten/9852966, Accessed April 1, 2020.
Fig. 60.3 Pigs served whole at a banquet at West Lake, Hangzhou, China. (Photo © M.C. Tobias)
60.1 Human Diet in History
animals, as well. The great unknown in that psychological data pool concerns the
behavior of those who don’t do the killing, but simply eat the remains.
According to food history consultant, Dr. Annie Gray, “the range of animals and
birds consumed in Georgian Britain was astounding – nothing that moved was safe
from the cooking pot.” From beavers to the hedgehog, all was fair game. In addition,
there was “extravagant medieval culinary diversion: fantastic beasts” including “the
cockentrice” which “comprised half a pig sewn to half of a capon (a castrated and
fattened chicken).”
3
Japanese have long had a dietary tradition of Ikizukuri, meaning prepared alive
and, in the case of octopus, still moving on the plate as the diner consumes it. The
varieties of torture meted out to marine invertebrates and vertebrates, to frogs,
snakes, enchinoderms like sea-urchins, decapod crustaceans (shrimp and prawns)
and to insects, including the live larva of numerous grubs, continue unabated
throughout the world
4
(Fig. 60.4).
3 “Pig-chickens, beavers’ tails and turtle soup: 8 weird foods through history,” Dr. Annie Gray,
HistoryExtra, BBC History Magazine, August 27, 2015, https://www.historyextra.com/period/
roman/pig-chickens-beavers-tails-and-turtle-soup-8-weird-foods-through-history/.
4 See “11 Foods Eaten Alive That May Shock You,” by Brent Furdyk, Food Network, October 19,
2017,
https://www.foodnetwork.ca/fun-with-food/photos/foods-eaten-alive-that-may-shockyou/#!irish-garlic-oysters; See also, “It’s time to ban eating live creatures on I’m A Celebrity, Get
Me Out Of Here,” by Alice Wright, METRO, November 22, 2017, https://metro.co.uk/2017/11/22/
its-time-to-ban-eating-live-creatures-on-im-a-celebrity-get-me-out-of-here-7080860/; and “10
Animals That People Eat Alive,” by Simon Griffin, ListVerse, June 21, 2018, https://listverse.
com/2013/03/06/10-animals-that-people-eat-alive/. Accessed April 1, 2020; and “Anthony
Bourdain took people on a journey of the world – often by eating really strange things,” by Michael
Collett, ABC News, Australian Broadcasting, June 9, 2018, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-0609/anthony-bourdain-weird-things-hes-eaten/9852966, Accessed April 1, 2020.
Fig. 60.3 Pigs served whole at a banquet at West Lake, Hangzhou, China. (Photo © M.C. Tobias)
60.1 Human Diet in History