Talking to Mom

I am talking to my Mom about food in 1949. She is looking at this blog, and we are discussing the ethics of eating meat, and 'alternative' cuts, such as heart. In 1949, when she was a young bride and her and my father had little money, she had to be careful to stretch the food dollar. One whole beef heart cost 25 cents! She learned to cook tongue also, since no one else used these cuts they were cheap, as well as being nutritious and lean. Later, as immigrants came in from post-war Europe who also had little money to start with, the demand for offal increased and prices went up. I often wonder aloud to my students about the difference between eating bugs, innards, or other 'yucky' things and eating 'normal' muscle meat of beef, pork, veal, lamb etc. It is my opinion that once you have made the decision to be a meat eater, all bets are off, it is wide open; the idea that eating a heart, a veal, or what have you is less ethical than any other food such as free-range chicken is odd in my view. However, since my daughter Rachel took Mr. Raoul's Environment class at Kitsilano Secondary when she was in grade 9, our family has eaten only free-range eggs and chicken.