In the Eyes of a Hunter

As a disclaimer, I would like to say that this post may offend some animal rights’ activists, so please read at your discretion. Also, the name of the hunting ranch has been changed, for confidentiality purposes. The following is a first-time hunter’s experience, through the eyes of a Nutrition student:

Having grown up in the typical suburb of Arlington, Texas, I never got to hunt when I was a child. In some ways, I wish I would have been a minimalist country boy. Life would have consisted of sitting around, eating hearty food, and shooting animals. Heck, I would love to be able to pee off of my back porch.

I recently went with two friends on a private hunting trip on Marietta Selleck Ranch (MSR) in Cotulla, Texas. The hunting trip was not exactly what you might imagine. The package we paid for included a whitetail buck, a doe, and unlimited hogs and whatever else they thought we could shoot. Along with that, we had all meals cooked for us, excellent lodging, and pretty much full range to do whatever we wanted on the 3000-acre property. Aside from the abundance of open, dry, South-Texas fields, the owner of MSR had built a large slaughtering barn, an apartment complex for paying hunters, a 4-person luxury lodge, and a personal farm-style house with an outrageous “trophy room” (more on this to come). The ranch has 500+ white tail deer, your typical Texas game (hogs, javelinas, etc.), and plenty of exotic animals for really big spenders. Aside from the delicious meat that I took home, I left the hunting trip with a lot of perspective on food systems, specifically in the meat sector.

The Main Attraction in the Trophy Room

Upon arrival, we walked into the “trophy room” and were absolutely blown away. The professional hunters travel to Africa quite often to hunt the types of animals you see in The Lion King. The mounted animals include antelope, lions, leopards, hippos, crocodiles, and pretty much every African animal you can dream up, mounted 3 stories high. They want to bring back a giraffe eventually. Even crazier, we got to watch the guys work with the fresh zebra skin. They purchased the zebra with the intent to have them around the house as pets. The zebras turned out to be wild and not too friendly. In effect, the wife said that she would prefer them to be turned into rugs! The week before my friends and I arrived, a group of nine hunters from Michigan shot about $300,000 worth of animals. MSR threw in two zebra kills as a bonus, but the ranch kept everything, of course.

Storing the zebra skin in a cooler

After some initial rifle practice, a hunting guide and I went into the deer blind, which is a closed-in stand on top of a tower from which you scout the area. I was thinking there would just be an abundance of deer surrounding the corn feeder after it went off, but that was not the case. A few does and bucks may walk by, but they do not flock to the deer feeder. You may sit for hours and only see a couple of deer, but there is something very calming about waiting for the perfect animal. I sat in the deer blind a few times over the weekend and just cleared my mind as I waited for my championship buck to make his appearance.  Just sit quietly as the wind bites at your face, and a sense of stalking your prey will overtake you. A few deer trickled in, here and there, but I think I only saw about 5 bucks total. As a first time hunter, I was obviously anxious to shoot the first potential buck.

GMOverdramatic

Its a common axiom among some people interested in food that Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are a bad idea. This sentiment ranges in intensity from those who think organic food is simply more nutritious to people who believe GMOs are destined to destroy the human race. Much like Brittany’s post about local food, I think this opinion might need a closer look. The following is by no means the whole discussion on GMOs, but hopefully it will raise some questions and lead to some good discussion.

I think the biggest reason people mistakenly demonize GMOs has nothing to do with the crops themselves, but rather the companies that produce them. The predatory nature of companies like Monsanto has been lamented by farmers and activists around them globe. Perhaps these business practices could be a topic of another post (or five or six posts!), but they really have nothing to do with the product.

It is also likely that the incredible rise in the popularity organic foods might have led some to dislike or distrust genetically engineered (GE) foods. The logic here seems valid at first glance: organic food is better, so GE food must be worse! But a closer look reveals several inconsistencies. Consider the Bt pesticide. Bt is a bacterium that has insecticidal properties but is considered safe for humans. Because Bt is naturally occurring, it can be used on organic crops without risk of losing organic certification. Not long ago, scientist discovered a way to insert genetic information from Bt into the genome of certain crops like corn and cotton. These “Bt crops” produce the same insecticide as the Bt bacterium and have been very successful since becoming available in 1996. Bt crops cannot be considered organic because of this genetic modification. So which is really better? Humans are still ingesting the Bt byproducts that have been proven safe (even the Europeans use Bt as a pesticide!), but the Bt crops do not require the additional environmental burdens of using water and burning fossil fuels that are required for pesticide application.

Waste Not Want Not: Lessons from My Grandparents

 A typical Mexican Jewish meal with my family

This Thanksgiving I reflected on the hundreds of times I have gathered around my grandparents’ dining room table.  I thought of the all the meals we had prepared and eaten together, the homework assignments tackled, and the hot cups of coffee enjoyed while sharing stories of the past.  Their early experiences with food have shaped the way I view food and waste, and the lessons they gave me as a child are still the most valuable I have ever received.

My grandfather was born to an upper-middle class Jewish family in New York City a few years before the stock market crash of 1929. When he was still a toddler his father died unexpectedly, and his mother was left to care for four children. The stress, compounded by the failing economy, was too much for her and she descended into madness. My grandfather and his siblings were left to fend for themselves. He would tell stories of growing up on the streets of Brooklyn, but mostly he spoke about being hungry. These childhood experiences with hunger would shape him. He was an excellent cook, spoke of his favorite foods with religious zeal, would eat crumbs off the table, and became very upset if food was thrown away. He was also the most thorough chewer I have ever met. He chewed everything at least forty times (including Jell-o!), believing it was both good for digestion and that it made the eating experience more enjoyable. He died last year at the age of 85 and I am sure his appreciation for good food was responsible for his longevity.

My grandmother was born to poor farmers in Northern Mexico. Their knowledge of the land combined with thriftiness meant she never experienced hunger. She taught me how to cook and the only time she scolded me was when I wasted food. “You cook like you’ve never been hungry,” she would say if I cut too much off the end of a chili or tomato. One time I cleaned a knife that still had some chopped onion on it and she said, “Chefs waste so much food…better to be a cook.” Her inability to say anything directly has always frustrated and fascinated me, but the message was clear: Food is sacred and cooking is an act of love.

Hunger

I enjoy food. Everyday I respect it more and I want to share my food studies with others. Currently, I am interested in hunger. Hunger can mean a lot of different things, but for the shake of this post I going to focus on the traditional understanding: hunger is the lack of food intake. I want to know what it is like to be hungry. So, I have started experimenting with my eating patterns. I quickly learned that it is hard to starve yourself.

Religion and Food

“Business underlies everything in our national life, including our spiritual life. Witness the fact that in the Lord’s Prayer the first petition is for daily bread. No one can worship God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach.”

Woodrow Wilson on Poverty in America – (Speech, 1912)

When I first read this food quote, I agreed full heartily since Maslow’s hierarchy of needs came to mind. I tend to agree with his pyramid stating shat one can not begin to worry about religious needs until his or her physiological needs are satisfied. But, then I stopped and remembered my experience with impoverish people both here in the States and abroad, many poor people seem to be very religious; it obviously assists the hunger. Also, many cultures practice fasting as a form of devotion in their religion. Could have that come from scarcity or abundance of food?

I see that food has tight connections with religion, but why would I make this my food studies focus? Anyone out there studying the topic of food in religious studies? What other things should we focus on when we talk about food and religion?