Meet Meat

 

This morning, I had to get to the U very early to get ready for one of the biggest, most labor intensive on my part, and most elaborate and complex of my face-to-face labs of the semester.  I was rushing around so much that I did not have a chance to eat.  So, now the lab is done, I am taking a brief, 15 minute reprieve to eat and write here before I get back to cyborging for my online classes.... because I have a helluva lot to do for them as well.  So, this post will be a bit rambling and chaotic, as it is just thoughts and now polish.  And, it is not yet in reply to Pat or Gap... as that will take considerably more thought to get the complex ideas down onto the page.  

First... some food, before I type.  

One young female student came up to me and mentioned that she heard that I was vegan.

I looked at her quizzically, my eyebrows arching in surprise.  

"No, I'm not vegan, nor am I vegetarian." I replied.  "Why did you think that?" 

She recounted a scene she observed where I was with a group of other faculty at a local watering hole having a dinner meeting.  She was working at this establishment, and it was before I knew her or had her in class.  But, she remembered me (due to my "big grey beard" she said... and because of "what I ate").  There were about nine of us at the meeting, and this place is renowned for its burgers in our region.  She recalled taking our orders and eight of the folks at the table ordered a burger, fries, and a pop or beer or some such beverage... except for me... she specifically recalled that *I* had ordered..... *gasp*.... a salad, with dressing on the side, and a tall beer from the tap. She found my order amusing and presumed I was a vegan or some such thing.

I smiled when she said this (she could not technically see my smile as it was behind my mask, but she could see my eyes crinkle up in bemusement).   

I then explained what is basically my "food philosophy".... and I use that term only because I have had people ask me similar questions about what I eat:

• I am NOT vegan or vegetarian, even though probably ~95% of my meals are either vegan or vegetarian
• I am not opposed to hunting, and I am not opposed to eating meat.  In fact, I have dressed many a deer at deer camp over the years.  I am good at it.  I long ago stopped actively trying to get a trophy buck at deer camp and instead I began to go to deer camp.... not to bag a deer myself, but for the camaraderie of deer camp (drinking, smoking, playing cards,etc).  But over the years, I have helped a helluva lot of relatives and friends dress and quarter their deer, because I am fairly adept (as a biology should be) at dissection.  
• I do eat meat, but it almost always is turkey, chicken or fish, because I like it.  I am not really fond of pork, beef, venison.... because I really do not find the flavor all that interesting, and I am not particularly fond of the texture either.  
  
• I do not eat meat often because I do not like to cook meat, myself. 
• Most of the meat I eat is in the form of soups, stews, or crock-pot meals.... other than turkey at Thanksgiving.
  
• I do not like fried foods in general (other than french fries, which I still do avoid) and I do not like fatty meats... so that basically leaves burgers off the menu for me.  
• And truth-be-told.... as a biologist, with extensive experience in comparative vertebrate anatomy... it is difficult.... if not impossible for me to enjoy eating any sort of "bone-on" meat products.... not because I am squeamish, which I am most assuredly not.... but because it feels like "work".  For instance... when I see a chicken drumstick .... I do not see it as FOOD as much as I actually see the various bone groups, the specific cartilages, the specific ligaments, I notice and can identify the various blood vessels, the nerves, and the various muscle groups ... and the names and functions for each begins to rattle around in my mind. More than something enjoyable to eat... it becomes a "lesson plan" that rattles around and around in my mind.  

So, after I explained the above to her, she seemed to understand.  But, it is not the first time someone has "accused" me of being a vegan or vegetarian..... even though there is nothing wrong with that.  It just seems funny to be lumped into that group.   

Ok, my 15 minutes are up.  Back to cyborging for my job.

PipeTobacco