First things first. Salon's Diary of a turkey killer is decidely not the daily musings of someone who works in a slaughterhouse. It's a thoughtful piece by a former vegetarian turned carnivore who decides to raise and kill her own bird. The author is also quite an engaged gourmand. She grows her own heirloom tomatoes, and thus chose to purchase a heritage bird. A Heritage Bronze, like the one pictured here, to be specific.
Given how much I love meat, I also found the following quote pretty cool, "...despite a vocal minority of die-hard vegetarians and vegans, it's carnivores who are chic." But I shouldn't even be allowed to write that. First of all I'm hardly chic, and, unlike the intrepid author, I've yet to come to terms with my killer instinct. One of these days I'll watch or help slaughter an animal, not that it's something I look forward to. But I'm sure it will give me a more profound understanding of how meat comes to my table.
Second Helping of Slashfood - June 19
Competitive-Eating Contest to Pit Humans Against Elephants
The Backyard Boom - The Hungry Bride
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-21-2006 @ 2:26PM
Kiwi C. said...
Strictly speaking, most people are omnivores, not really carnivores. I wish people would write and speak more precisely.
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11-21-2006 @ 7:39PM
bbum said...
Coincidentally, I harvested our thanksgiving turkey this year, killing, plucking, and cleaning the bird.
It was quite an educational and valuable experience.
Full write up and photos here:
http://www.friday.com/bbum/2006/11/21/how-to-harvest-a-turkey/
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11-21-2006 @ 9:35PM
Spencer said...
What a fantastic read! And so heartfelt. It had me going for a bit.
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11-21-2006 @ 11:27PM
Emily said...
Oh well then, if it's now chic to kill and eat animals then I best toss aside my convictions and hop on board the slaughter train with Sergeant Slaughter and the gang, lest I not be chic...
Parish the thought!!!
*rolls eyes and goes back to sipping Soy Latte*
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11-22-2006 @ 11:06AM
Baron said...
You do know that Sergeant Slaughter was/is a wrestler with a spinoff as a popular addition to the G.I. Joe cartoon, right? Anyway, speaking as someone who has helped cows give birth to eating his fair share of meat, I wish that everyone (well, those of us who choose to eat meat) would do something similiar to this person. It is, in many ways, a very insightful experience to hunt (which I know she raised this one and didn't hunt it), clean (by far the worst part, very humbling in many respects), and eat what you kill. If I did what she did, I would never name anything I was going to eat though, otherwise, I'd have a lot of pets. :)
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