Silly food snobbery

So today as usual, I purchased a free range whole chicken from the local Whole foods at 3rd and Fairfax, Los Angeles. Came home, happily butchered it. Every part of it will be used, neck and spine for soup, bones and fat and plenty of meat to add to the German Shepherd puppy's kibbles, the liver and heart : special delicacies to be sauteed, and of course the regular cuts of muscle meat. I grew up like this, when I was a kid and visited India, I remember dad going with my uncles, buying fresh live chickens from the neighborhood small shop, the hired help plucking and butchering the meat, and the whole chicken being used. Lamb we would purchase from the neighborhood butcher who would slaughter fresh ones every day, and we would go early in the morning and pick the cuts we liked best. Move to Europe, where I spent quite a few years, my girl friend was from France and another from Lithuania. Be it in the markets of Paris or Stockholm or Vilnius, buying meat and meat products was not an "anti-septic" affair. We purchased regular cuts of meat from butcher, and selected organ meat or bones for special dishes. Fish was always purchased whole, scales and all. We brought it home, descaled it, and cut it and cooked it. And NO, we never cut it in to filets without the skin. The skin was the best part, fried and crispy with its unique smell was delicious! Not to mention sucking the brains out of the fish skull was considered a delicacy and saved for favored children or honored guests. However in the US, the scenario is completely different. Every thing here is sanitized, and presented in neatly packaged cellophane and styrofoam packages in grocery stores. Maybe once in a while, you will find "Chicken Livers and hearts" in small plastic containers at the local Ralphs. And it really freaks the hell out of me, when I some times open these packages and find deformed pieces of meat. Bones with cartilage missing, glaring calcium deficiency signs - porous and missing bits. It makes me think of the factory settings, these animals are grown and butchered in. What an awful way to treat your food! But do we care, since the packaging is nice? It surprised the heck out of me, when my American friends would not touch what they called "Gristle" or organ meat. At Thanksgiving dinners, my ex's family used to give me strange looks when I asked for the "Dark meat" when everyone wanted the "White meat" from the breast. I hate the breast meat! It is dry, bereft of any flavor, and a bitch to cook. You have to literally stand right by the pan while cooking it, a quick sautee and it is done. A second more and the juices evaporate and you are left with a cardboardy unappetizing mess. But surprisingly ALL my American friends (or girl friends) LOVE breast meat. And I have yet to eat breast meat in any American restaurant or home, which is cooked right! Back in Europe, a Terrin or a liver pate was a much sought after and super expensive treat. I am lucky to have a French grocery store Monsieur Marcel at the Farmer's market near the Grove at Los Angeles. I can buy my foie gras, pate du canard, terrines, and all the prosciutto's and dry salted / smoked meats and sausages I want. I don't understand it. Lets take an example: when you feed your dog "raw" meat as compared to store bought dry kibble, you make it a point to add bones, joints with cartilage, unwashed intestines (so they literally look green and have the essential chlorophyll) and other organ meats along with the meat. People in the US spend hundreds of dollars on expensive calcium or glucosamine supplements for bones and joints, when they regularly throw out the richest natural sources of those in their everyday food (in this case - Chicken bones and joints with cartilage). Where do you think the pharmaceutical companies get the ingredients for these tablets? Did you think they have magic unicons and ponies which fart rainbows and poop nutritional supplements? Or did you think these supplements are made in a laboratory with chemicals? They use animal bones and remains to make these supplements, and you are actually paying more for chemicalized (if that is a word) nutrients which have preservatives and what not, and throwing away the natural food and nutrition your body needs. Compared to the muscle meat we are used to eating, organ meats are more densely packed with just about every nutrient, including heavy doses of B vitamins such as: B1, B2, B6, folic acid and the very important vitamin B12. Organ meats are also loaded with minerals like phosphorus, iron, copper, magnesium, iodine, calcium, potassium, sodium, selenium, zinc and manganese and provide the important fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. Organ meats are known to have some of the highest concentrations of naturally occurring vitamin D of any food source. Organ meats also contain high amounts of essential fatty acids, including arachidonic acid and the omega-3 fats EPA and DHA. Guess what is the best known effect of DHA? It is literally a brain and sex food! Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is an omega-3 fatty acid that is a primary structural component of the human brain, cerebral cortex, skin, sperm, testicles and retina. And DHA is found the most in Fish oil ... yes the crunch fish skin and heads, that Americans throw away right at first! Is it any wonder that we have so many dumb people in our society and we spend so much on Viagra? Liver is known to be one of the most concentrated sources of vitamin A of any foods. In addition to containing dozens of important vitamins and minerals, it is an outstanding source of Vitamin D, Vitamin B12 (and other B-Vitamins), copper, potassium, magnesium, phosphorous, manganese, and iron, which is in a form that is particularly easily absorbed and used by the body. Kidney is particularly high in Vitamin B12, selenium, iron, copper, phosphorus and zinc. Even though heart is technically a muscle, it also is also a superfood. Heart is a very concentrated source of the supernutrient, Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10, important for cardiovascular health and also rich in kidney and liver), contains an abundance of Vitamin A, Vitamin B12; folic acid, iron, selenium, phosphorus and zinc, and is the number one food source of copper. Heart also contains twice as much collagen and elastin than regular meat (which means it is rich in the amino acids glycine and proline), which are essential for connective tissue health, join health and digestive health. In this article I am not even mentioning the processed meats most people buy and eat, like sausages, hot dogs, hamburgers, etc - be it in a grocery store or from fast food joints. Because that is outside the scope of this article and the discussion I hope it encourages... since that is not "Silly food snobbery" but "Stupid death-wish decision making". I hope you will pay heed to the message that I am espousing in this article and pass on this article to anyone you care about. We do waste a lot of food. Literally 60 to 75% of all food is wasted due to bad storage, transportation or (you would be surprised) because they dont "Look good"! When people are starving, jobs are less, and Scientists are predicting a dire food shortage within the next 30 years due to the effects of global warming, I implore you to not waste food. Also try to consider the moral and ethical side of things, a live animal died to provide that food for your family. Honor its sacrifice. Don't waste food, and no food snobbery! Kaz. May 6th, 2013. Los Angeles. PS: This is original content that I created. References for nutrient information taking from Scientific journals. It does take effort to create a scientifically accurate and true article. Donations would be much appreciated through Pay Pal, on the right side of this webpage. P.PS: Thank you to the kind person who donated $1.10 to me by paypal through Live leak. I do not know who it is. But it made me very happy. :)