Sounds like scampi.

Oooo I love shrimp. The raw-er the better. I used to go to a sushi bar in La Canada, CA. I went there so often, I didn't even order. Just sat down and the sushi chef prepared whatever he wanted me to eat. There was a tank of big live shrimp, and he'd pull one out, remove the tail and set it in front of me, then drop the body, legs, and head into a deep fryer. As soon as I was finished with the tail - which was incredibly fresh, sweet, almost alive ;-) - I'd have the rest of the shrimp to crunchily chomp chomp.

There is something primal and atavistic about raw, fresh seafood. Even better in the right context. One time we paddled six hours in high waves and a headwind to reach San Martin Island, off the coast of Baja. While everyone was laying wet, exhausted, and hungry on their kayaks in the sand, our leader slipped off with his speargun and returned with a fish (a big rockfish I recall), We cut it up with a pocketknife on a flat rock and handed the pieces around on a upturned frisbee. I've never had sashimi so good.

I speculate that eating raw just-killed birds and mammals might be similarly satisfying, if one were in the right circumstances. I grew reading the "Tarzan" stories, and Lord Greystoke seemed to mightly enjoy his hunks of still-warm beast. Incidentally, I recently bought one of the original Edgar Rice Burroughs Tarzan books, "The Beasts of Tarzan" I think, and it isn't all that readable to adult eyes.

Lantau Island in Hong Kong is known for its seafood restaurants. It's probably true in other locations as well but at the one I went to, the drill is that diners pass by a parade of tanks with all kinds of stuff (from lobsters to prawns to fish of many kinds to many other things, like anemones and the like) accompanied by a restaurant employee. One picks what's desired to eat and they get it out while you watch. No not that one, the other one. Then after a short discussion about choices and preparations they suggest, the customers return to their table to await delivery of the selected items.

It's traditional Chinese (and, I suspect) Cantonese cuisine, so no sushi. But deliciously fresh well prepared seafood.

“I used to go to a sushi bar in La Canada, CA.”

John, just curious…did you live in La Canada or nearby? DH grew up there…Sierra Madre for me.

Primal descriptions indeed….so it’s not far fetched to eat fresh monkey brain while the animal is alive and tied up next to your table?

A group of us visited Hong Kong on a business trip few years before the turnover. We went to Victoria Peak, then took a ferry to see the Big Buddha on Lantau island. Beautiful sceneries. Foods were delicious but psychologically I have never enjoyed seeing animals butchered and boiled alive or eaten alive at the table, that would include octopus tentacles squirming in a serving bowl.

The place I went to on Lantau Island, the food was prepared in the kitchen, out of sight of the dining room. I have no problem tossing a live lobster into boiling water, would rather not see the rest.

I'm not sure I'd like live octopus but I have to tell you, charbroiled octopus tentacles (a common preparation in Portugal and Spain) is out of this world.

In Korea it’s a thing to eat octopus tentacles while they’re still squirming (I’m not sure if they’re still attached to the octopus or not, but I think they aren’t). Occasionally the tentacles will suction onto the insides of the diner’s throat and choke them to death. I don’t really care for octopus but even if I did I don’t think eating them that fresh is worth the risk.

I wouldn't shed a tear if someone ate a living octopus and choked. Karma! No one should be eating these intelligent creatures.

This will not reflect well on me, but when we used to fish from pangas off Baja, I'd look at the fish gasping in the boat and think hmmmm. Then I saw a video of sashimi being cut from a still-living fish and thought hmmmm. In nature, fish usually get eaten while still alive. I never did carry out my fantasy of cosplaying a grizzly bear chomping a live salmon. Now I only fish for trout, catch and release style.

Lily, I do not eat octopus for the same reasons. Squid, okay.

It seems that some cultures are gruesomely cruel about preparing meals from fish or animals.

Cultural values and practices are different from place to place. The differences should be recognized without being criticized. There are many practices accepted in our culture that others from a distance consider to be cruel and wrong. There's no high ground to claim.

I beg to disagree. When groups of a culture keep cat and dog farms and kill and eat them, I can call them barbaric and hate them. That is a high ground to 9999999999% of the world.

Just thought of another thing I loved as a kid, but haven't eaten since: fried frog legs. Makes me a bit squeamish now to think of it.

I love fried calamari, never had octopus; never had any reason to.

And when I was kid, I used to catch grunts off the dock, clean them and make ceviche - the raw kind. We had a Meyer lemon tree, and that's what I used, IIRC. I also liked raw bacon and nowadays I don't eat any pork at all.

I try really hard not to hate anyone, but I do make an exception for a tiny number of folks in positions of power who intentionally do harm.

Grunt:

" I wouldn't shed a tear if someone ate a living octopus and choked. "

Sorry, you lose any high ground you might think you've claimed with an attitude like this. If you call others barbaric, how you you react if some think of you as being foolish or barbaric in their eyes, applying their own values to different ones you have?

The word ethnocentric applies, look it up if you don't know it. Racism is a related attitude. I doubt you embrace such attitudes like that too.

There are cultural practices around the world that are barbaric and cruel to both animals and humans and if someone isnt a voice for them, then nothing will change. Genital mutilation, women beng forced to cover every inch of their bodies, no longer being allowed to step outside, being denied an education, little girls being forced/sold to marry (the USA could improve on this, as welll), women being killed for having been raped-yes, the rest of the world must take the moral high ground, and there is one.

Sorry I lost my high ground, but I will always take up for all animals and against the people who abuse them. They are voiceless, and people who eat dogs and cats are barbaric. Why are there so many rescue groups trying to save them? Why IS the culture evolving, albeit slowly? If you have a dog, picture the life it would have in a dog factory farm and then taken to market to be skinned alive and cooked up for dinner. Like that picture?

Cultural imperialism and dictates from people in other cultures abroad are ineffective.

Let pick two things to work on to improve human conditions in less developed countries.

Hunger, lack of clean water and poor/non-existent waste handling, lack of electricity, lack of medical care, over-domination and blind following of religious leaders, political corruption, lack of adequate education and economic opportunities. Genital mutilation.

(olychick seems to like to bring her extremist views to any possible conversation.)

Which two do you pick for us to focus on to do the most good for the most people?

I pick olychick.

If you're squeamish, you might skip this.

I took a laboratory technician course right out of high school (and quickly learned it wasn't for me). I interned at a VA hospital and they took us to see an autopsy. The deceased was rotund and when they cut his stomach open, it was full of blood clots. An ulcer, I was told. But what really bothered me was he had a layer of yellow fat that reminded me of chicken fat. I couldn't eat chicken for awhile afterwards. Even today I won't eat thighs because of the yellow fat.

^^^Hear ya. some of these things take getting used to.

EF wrote: Cultural values and practices are different from place to place. The differences should be recognized without being criticized. There are many practices accepted in our culture that others from a distance consider to be cruel and wrong. There's no high ground to claim.

~~~~

Cultural values and practices are different from place to place.

OKAY

The differences should be recognized without being criticized.

Since I don’t work for National Geographic, the UN, or The Committee to Accept Everything By Everyone, I’m going to confine thisto my very own provincial sensibilities.

I am not a global lawmaker or jurist. There willlikely always be things that don’t sit well with me (I hold these truths to be self evident…). Some of these include torture, the vile mistreatment and abuse of children, elderly and infirm, animals, other humans.

I would object if i saw someone chopping of a child's fingers to eat, or slicing open a monkey’s skull to consume it’s brain while it was alive and sentient.

I do not need (for these sorts of matters) anyone else’s approval or recommendation for me to be honored with some high road award.

Cultural variations, within reason, but this is not akin to hair styles or furniture design.

There are cultural practices around the world that are barbaric and cruel to both animals and humans and if someone isnt a voice for them, then nothing will change

Exactly. Respect for cultural practices matters, but what truly sets humans apart from animals is our capacity for higher reasoning and moral responsibility: the ability to disseminate knowledge, practice compassion, and bring awareness to all sentient beings, including those still in the dark.

Most eating of animals involves various levels of cruelty. People and cultures decide what’s palatable to them. Most Americans tune out the realities of factory farming as they prepare their meals. There are certain practices though that appear to be cruel for the sake of being cruel, and even as an omnivore I feel no hypocrisy or loss of moral high ground to denounce those practices and those who practice them. Even when they try to hide behind the shield of ”culture.”

Heard somebody say last week, they wouldn't eat a rabbit because they considered it "Fluffy", as in the name fluffy. Either you shouldn't eat any animals, or you can eat all animals. Pets to us, shouldn't be the issue. How was one animal better than another? However, I can see the point, because I would never eat a horse? I'm not really sure why, but I couldn't eat a horse. Mind you, I would eat a rabbit, I've eaten squirrel, etc. Don't know that I would eat a cat or a dog, but an animal is an animal? Or not??? It's hard to say.

I'll eat any muscle, or organ, except brains or intestines. I don't know why not, but I won't eat either of those. And there is absolutely no reason why.

It's each person's choice to make.

Yes! I agree. I just mean it's really hard to navigate. Even within one's own mind 😏 that's why I vacillate even within the one post. I'm not sure I have made any real decisions except I won't eat those two organ meats, of any animal.

I think if we grow and evolve over the years, the more we learn, we can adjust our actions, thoughts and feelings accordingly. I used to think my feelings were etched in stone. That was not the case, of course, as I lived and learned. People are very complicated beings. I think being flexible is a wonderful way to live.

I don't know that refraining from eating animal brains is wholly without reason, since there are serious diseases that one can get from doing so. Remember mad cow disease?

And what about sausage casings, rob?

I would totally eat it! There is no rhyme or reason to my food stupidity. Whatever it's encasing, just better have it "snap!"

“No rhyme or reason” just reminded me of a college girlfriend. She was a vegetarian except for McDonalds burgers. 🤷‍♀️

That makes me think of Big Bang Theory. What did they eat?

"Howard: The double bacon cheeseburger, breaking two Jewish dietary laws at once"

I have always thought that vegetarians who eat fish are strange. Why fish? Some will even stretch to chicken. I can see chicken, Maybe it is both fish and chicken would eat me.

No. I do not. I am logged in forever on one device, and another I log in every time. That may be the difference. And if you felt so strongly, you should take it to management.

ETA: Actually, I think one is my GardenWeb login and the other is my Houzz login.

Speaking of which, Elmer, haven’t seen you post c/p’s from your MDLN account in a while.

Relax, I’m kidding. 😉

I think people end up with multiple accounts when Houzz experiences one of their infamous glitches and people suddenly can’t log in, or post, or both. They creare new accounts either inadvertently or out of frustration.

Speaking of glitches, has anyone notoced thr search functkon go from bad to completely useless? Here are my top search results for ”salmon” in the cooking forum:

FOAS - at least it is consistent. I did the same search and got the same results as you.

I can't count how many posts I've read where long time members discuss the issues they've had on this site, along with how many people have posted with an HU- number instead of their usual name because they couldn't get their login to work.

I have a couple of accounts at least. This is my normal one, and then there's one that I wound up with because I logged in with Google - once.

Some glitches affext us broadly, some seem to be isolated to smaller groups or even individual users. The latter tend to be longer lasting. I did have an incident a while back, I don’t remember what it was but it was very frustrating and lasted months. Many tried to help, nothing worked, then finally one day it was just better. I think wr’ve seen enough regular posters suddenly show up with HU accounte, to realize this site is problematic.

I think it’s pretty obvious that people here have varyijg reasons and needs for being here. And in general it can be hard to break a social media habit. I see no need to jusge.

As for Rob’s answer, clearly she didn’t realize she was on two sccounts. Then she corrected her post when she realized the error. Honorable. It’s quite obvious by the two user names she’s not trying to hide anything or be devious.

Ok, then back to food!

As a child my mom would sometimes serve sunnyside up eggs for dinner. One evening there was a little burnt/crispy spot on the white. I thought it was a stick. And refused to eat fried eggs for years thereafter.

" I have always thought that vegetarians who eat fish are strange. Why fish?"

I've always thought the fact that most people don't consider fish to be meat is strange too. Also poultry. They're all meat of an animal - I don't get it.

As for vegetarians who eat fish......Maybe they think fish don't feel pain, or can't suffer from bad husbandry?

I think the designation of fish as non-meat comes from the church, way back when. Catholics aren't supposed to eat meat on Fridays, but fish is acceptable.

And I prefer my fried eggs to be extra crispy, sunnyside up 🙂

And since when does a boy reject a stick? 😄

And some restaurants often mention fish dish on their menus as “vegetarian-friendly” because it contains no land-animal meat. That may propagate such misconception. Those “vegetarians” are more likely considered pescatarians.

I figure there is a continuum from rocks to algaes to plants to insects to shellfish to finfish to bird to mammals to primates to humans, and everyone can decide for themselves where they draw the moral perspective line. From a culinary perspective, I find vegetarian and vegan cooking increasingly interesting. Nutrition and health is another perspective, which I confess to not thinking too much about.

I've always said I'd be a strict vegetarian if I had a live-in cook. Maybe even a vegan. As I have said the 1/2 pound of salmon and the chicken thigh I eat every week make me not a true vegetarian, but making meals is pain enough without eliminating them. But a chef could whip up delicacies, and I wouldn't miss the chicken and fish. I did it with red meat easily and haven't eaten any in 45 years. But today on my creek hike, I passed the little flock of free-range chickens I stop and talk to every time I see them, and of course, there are the 15 very large 25-35 year old koi in my big pond that I hand-feed in the summer and worry about them especially in this winter.

Whether people consciously think about it or not, better nutrition and overall health often come as part of the package when they shift toward a more plant-based diet. Simon Cowell is certainly on the same page, but going plant-based doesn’t mean everyone has to become a strict vegan. What really matters is consuming an adequate amount of daily protein to maintain or build muscle.

As for psychological food aversions, I don’t share the common hesitation toward tofu or soy products. In fact, I made a vegetable stir-fry with super-firm tofu and mushroom sauce yesterday—and I couldn’t get enough of it.

I feel like I am changing from liking a lot of things - beef, chicken, fish, vegetables - to where I want it to be prepared really well and usually by someone else. I am not a cook. I fix things simply - steamed vegetables, chicken breast either in the oven or in the crockpot. So I don't do a variety of things. I appreciate going out for dinner on occasion. I used to not understand why older people didn't care about food that much. At least the ones I know. But the older I get, the more I get that shopping and fixing meals is more work and less return. I think, at least for me, that that is the order of things and I am ok with that.

" better nutrition and overall health often come as part of the package when they shift toward a more plant-based diet. "

"Often" is carrying a lot of weight there.

@Patriciae vegetarians don’t eat fish. They don’t eat anything that had eyes or a mother. If someone claims to be vegetarian but eats fish, they are not really a vegetarian.

I rarely like tofu. I did enjoy a chilli tofu dish a coworker brought to a work pot luck, and I tolerate it in pad Thai, but otherwise I just don’t care for it.

Pescatarian. That's the word for someone who eats fish and vegetables. They're not vegetarians.

Both my kids are now pescatarians. I love all seafood, but I think I'd run out of ideas for meals.