Our Friend the Dolphin
Apparently, and any loose biologist might be able to give more information on the matter, dolphin meat is not that good for humans. It contains certain toxins that can cause an increase in estrogen levels in women, and can lower the level of sperm in men. It doesn't surprise me... If I were an animal, I would try by all means to concentrate and develop some trait that would make my meat unpleasant to their palate, poison to their systems. Like animals do: don't eat me, I'm bad for you.
But Man is a stubborn spoilt child, and this is the Extravagant Era. People travel to uncommon destinations, practice weird sports, and eat really odd things. Ants, grasshoppers, dogs, ostriches, sharks, etc. No problem with that, every region has its own natural balance. The problem comes when people in the middle of the continent wish to eat shark (fresh, please), people in Northern Europe decide they want to prepare some ostrich, and the Japanese come sweeping the whole of the Cantabric Sea because they're running out of fish for their sushi. Yes, it is the global era for the gourmet too. The natural elegant harmony of eating according to the geography you inhabit is no more.
There is a festival in San Sebastian, the 20th of January (Saint Sebastian), where we eat baby eels (a little olive oil, garlic, parsley and a local type of spicy pepper). Now, that is the only time when it's eaten (it's too precious, too scarce, too limited to a certain time of year). And not everybody can afford it. Then came the Japanese, for whom baby eels are the ultimate sushi, apparently, and listen to this: the price of baby eels now is never less than 240 pounds per Kg. Result: the Japanese take it all, because they are big companies, against a bunch of Basques flocking together to cook for a festival. Luckily, someone thought of a way out: fake baby eels. And that's what we eat now. Fake baby eels: all year long, with their eyes painted and all, at a democratic price that allows for everybody to celebrate, with the added bonus that you are not exhausting nature. Not the same flavour? Well, most of us could not get to taste it before either...
I remember when the kiwi did not exist. Apparently it existed in China as the "gooseberry", where it was used as a tonic for children and women after childbirth. It was exported as an ornamental vine, and got to USA and New Zealand. New Zealand saw its potential as a common fruit, and it invented the popular Hayward variety. And now we all eat kiwis. There were no kiwis before. I guess there were no potatoes, coffee, or chocolate before either... But there was no global market then either, not to the extent of today's, and we were not aware of the exhaustion of Mother Nature...
All of this is to say that I find it gross to make a market of eating extravagantly, I find it elegant to know what products are local, what products belong to each season, and act accordingly. Ecological eating is not only about GMP-avoidance.
And talking about GMP, if I were that dolphin with the toxins, I would not trust my luck. With a little gene modification in the pot, I'm sure in a couple of years we will be eating our friend the dolphin. It's obviously in someone's mind, if they are testing the meat for human consumption...
But Man is a stubborn spoilt child, and this is the Extravagant Era. People travel to uncommon destinations, practice weird sports, and eat really odd things. Ants, grasshoppers, dogs, ostriches, sharks, etc. No problem with that, every region has its own natural balance. The problem comes when people in the middle of the continent wish to eat shark (fresh, please), people in Northern Europe decide they want to prepare some ostrich, and the Japanese come sweeping the whole of the Cantabric Sea because they're running out of fish for their sushi. Yes, it is the global era for the gourmet too. The natural elegant harmony of eating according to the geography you inhabit is no more.
There is a festival in San Sebastian, the 20th of January (Saint Sebastian), where we eat baby eels (a little olive oil, garlic, parsley and a local type of spicy pepper). Now, that is the only time when it's eaten (it's too precious, too scarce, too limited to a certain time of year). And not everybody can afford it. Then came the Japanese, for whom baby eels are the ultimate sushi, apparently, and listen to this: the price of baby eels now is never less than 240 pounds per Kg. Result: the Japanese take it all, because they are big companies, against a bunch of Basques flocking together to cook for a festival. Luckily, someone thought of a way out: fake baby eels. And that's what we eat now. Fake baby eels: all year long, with their eyes painted and all, at a democratic price that allows for everybody to celebrate, with the added bonus that you are not exhausting nature. Not the same flavour? Well, most of us could not get to taste it before either...
I remember when the kiwi did not exist. Apparently it existed in China as the "gooseberry", where it was used as a tonic for children and women after childbirth. It was exported as an ornamental vine, and got to USA and New Zealand. New Zealand saw its potential as a common fruit, and it invented the popular Hayward variety. And now we all eat kiwis. There were no kiwis before. I guess there were no potatoes, coffee, or chocolate before either... But there was no global market then either, not to the extent of today's, and we were not aware of the exhaustion of Mother Nature...
All of this is to say that I find it gross to make a market of eating extravagantly, I find it elegant to know what products are local, what products belong to each season, and act accordingly. Ecological eating is not only about GMP-avoidance.
And talking about GMP, if I were that dolphin with the toxins, I would not trust my luck. With a little gene modification in the pot, I'm sure in a couple of years we will be eating our friend the dolphin. It's obviously in someone's mind, if they are testing the meat for human consumption...
posted by Teresa at 10:28
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