Blog #3: Harvesting Food

I would definitely think that growing, hunting, and gathering your own food would give you a stronger connection to what you are eating. First hand I really only know of the gardening aspect because of my mother’s garden. Although I have had some glimpses of the hunting and fishing aspect. My mother’s family comes from the Midwest and she has always talked about how my grandfather grew up and continued hunting with bow and arrows, fishing, and collecting wild mushrooms during her childhood. Those things sound pretty foreign to me seeing that I had a pretty urban childhood growing up in Seattle. My uncles dabble in the hunting, but fishing and mushroom hunting are still pastimes of theirs.

The connections talked about in those articles all seemed really powerful and important, but I really don’t think I could ever be a hunter. Buying meat in the grocery store is kind of hard for me because I’ve grown up eating organic meats – even if they aren’t that much better – but being a college student with limited funds, I often buy meat that I would not be served at my dinner table at home. I do indeed lament over the fact that sometimes I have to make a bad meat decision, but in a way knowing how badly an animal was raised make me feel a connection with the source, however this connection is one of guilt and sorrow.

I do believe that hunting is moral and that people should have the right to choose and pursue the food that they want, especially considering the environmental and economical gains. Ideally no food would be wasted and the revolutionary neo-American-hunters could change the system and all harmful animal practices would stop, leaving a harmony of hunters and farmers.

In reaction to Steve Rinella’s plan of a feast based on Escoffier’s Guide Culinaire, I say right on! Although some of the things I was reading didn’t quite sit right with me I would be more than happy to attend the dinner oblivious to the procurement and preparation of the food.

Redman, Nina. Food safety : a reference handbook. 1st. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2000. Print.

O'Connor, Jack, and George Goodwin. The big game animals of North America. 1st. New York, NY: Outdoor Life, 1961. Print.