{"id":51620,"date":"2016-04-14T14:23:17","date_gmt":"2016-04-14T18:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wanderlust.com\/?p=51620"},"modified":"2016-05-16T16:27:38","modified_gmt":"2016-05-16T20:27:38","slug":"whole-animal-whole-meal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wanderlust.com\/pt-pt\/journal\/whole-animal-whole-meal\/","title":{"rendered":"Whole Animal, Whole Meal"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is part of a series<\/a> that explores the idea of mindful meat consumption.\u00a0<\/i>Have a question about nose-to-tail eating? Fill out the form below, or\u00a0<\/i>click here to submit<\/a>. We’ll build an article answering your best questions in fall, 2016. Stay tuned!<\/i><\/p>\n

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When I was kid, my favorite type of meat came in the form of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets. I was appalled at the meals my grandfather would order: <\/span>Liver and onions?\u00a0Tongue?!\u00a0<\/i>Nope. Not for me. Little did I know, those seemingly bizarre foods were far\u00a0healthier than my ultra-processed, Maltodextrin-layered nuggets. Turns out Grandpa was on top of his meat-eating game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Not So Strange<\/h3>\n

It’s pretty\u00a0simple: Tossing out valuable parts of the animal doesn\u2019t make sense environmentally<\/a> or<\/em> economically. Using the whole animal is a practice that is still common in many countries around the world. Aside from ultra-foodie trends<\/a>, however,\u00a0sometimes called\u00a0“nose-to-tail eating<\/a>,”\u00a0it has largely\u00a0slipped from the Western mindset. This could be due to\u00a0the lack of connection we feel from our food sources, or because of attitudes (like the one I had as a child) that prevent\u00a0us\u00a0from trying unfamiliar things. The truth of the matter is that it’s not all that unfamiliar to use the whole animal. As a species, humans have been doing it for centuries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many examples of whole animal use in traditional dishes around the world. Haggis<\/a>, a traditional Scottish dish, is made from sheep organs. Even more well-known is p\u00e2t\u00e9, traditionally a French delicacy. Native Americans stuffed animal intestines with dried berries and boiled it, making a delicacy known as \u201cBlackfoot Pudding.\u201d<\/p>\n

But whole animal use is actually steeped in American culture as well, though we may not even realize it: Think a good ole’ fashioned Southern pig roast, or a\u00a0bag of pork rinds.<\/p>\n

\"EPIC_WholeAnimalProject[1]\"<\/p>\n

Other Whole Animal\u00a0Treats<\/h3>\n

EPIC Provisions is one company that promotes whole animal use, through their Whole Animal Project<\/a>. \u201cBy seeking ways to use more materials from these brilliant creatures, we are better honoring these animals as well as producing some of the most nutrient-rich foods we have ever created,\u201d writes<\/a>\u00a0Taylor Collins, founder of EPIC.\u00a0\u201cThrough this initiative we hope to continue moving toward purchasing entire animals and creating economic incentives for ranchers to raise their animals on pasture.”<\/p>\n

Offal, a blanket term that refers an animal’s internal organs and entrails excluding muscle and bone, can generally be used to create a variety\u00a0of densely\u00a0nutrient-rich snacks. According to Collins, grass-fed liver<\/a> is one of the world’s great superfoods, and one of the most underutilized; EPIC uses liver in its beef liver bites<\/a>.\u00a0Bone marrow is another delicious and highly underutilized delicacy that comes from responsible whole-animal use, though the dish\u00a0is<\/em> starting to catch on in high-end restaurants.<\/p>\n

Other whole animal products\u00a0include cooking oils<\/a>\u00a0and bone broth. Using animal cooking oils doesn’t\u00a0just mean adding it to your menu, however\u2014they can also be used<\/a> as a skin moisturizer, lip balm, hand salve, mustache wax, or even to make homemade soaps and candles. EPIC also uses animal bones to make its bone broth. Bone broth<\/a> is rich in protein as well as skeletal-strengthening gelatin<\/a>, and is typically used<\/a> as a base for stews and soups, and as flavoring for other dishes.<\/p>\n

Whole Animal, Whole Environment<\/h3>\n

T<\/span>o maximize the nourishment you can receive from a living creature is to honor that it was, in fact, living.\u00a0By not using the whole animal, we\u2019re not respecting other living creatures, our bodies, or the Earth.\u00a0Giving thanks to the animal for supplying your meal is a good start, but it’s really when we choose to honor the whole animal that we take a step forward in mindful consumerism<\/a> and changing our food supply system. <\/span><\/p>\n

In so doing, we encourage a mindset\u00a0that fights excess waste and increases appreciation for the animals that nourish us. And t<\/span>hat\u2019s something we\u00a0can\u00a0all\u00a0put on the menu.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n