Thought for food.

Demogorgon — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:20:03 -0800

Like eating brains? I know you do. Why not add some new dishes to your collection of recipes that use the "fifth quarter?" Despite some negative cultural stereotypes, the practice of eating brains is common in cultures all over the world: Kat-a-Kat is a traditional Pakistani dish containing brains Maghaz Masala is an Arabic course Here is a recipe for Toscano calf brains In France they are known as Cerveaux Chef Mario Batali's restaurant Babbo serves a popular lamb's brains ravioli Sesos in Mexico Some great recipes for Spanish Tortilla Sacromonte Fried brain sandwiches can be found in St. Louis and the Ohio River Valley Australian Slippery Bob This recipe for carpetbag steak would be great with some brains subbed for the oysters Here is an ancient Roman recipe for calf's brains custard German brain soup and brains au gratin Croquettes Lebanese, Syrian and Jordanian recipe for brain omelets Vegan Mock Brains You may be wondering if eating brains is entirely safe. Besides being high in cholesterol, the brain is the main area where prions known to cause transmissible spongiform encephalopathy congregate in the body. In cows it's called Mad Cow disease (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy), Scrapie in sheep, and Chronic Wasting Disease in deer and other wild game. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and Kuru are two forms of spongiform encephalopathy in humans. Kuru was intensely studied among the Fore tribe of Papua New Guinea from the 1950's to the 70's and it was determined that the high instances of it in the tribe were due to their ritual endocannibalistic funeral practices. It has been posited recently that a resistance to prionic diseases may have been selected for in our ancestors, suggesting that cannibalism was not uncommon. Also of interest to cephalovores may be the effects of aerosolizing pork brains and inhaling them, as were recently demonstrated in a pork plant in Austin, MN.

Come a little closer now....

troutfishing — Fri, 11 Apr 2003 11:10:59 -0800

I yearn for your tasty flesh

[ Gene Study Finds Cannibal Pattern ] - "Deep in the recesses of the human heart, lurking guiltily beneath the threshold of consciousness, there may lie a depraved craving — for the forbidden taste of human flesh. The basis for this morbid accusation, made by a team of researchers in London, is a genetic signature, found almost worldwide, that points to a long history of cannibalism" (NYT)

MetaFilter posts tagged with kuru

Thought for food.

Come a little closer now....