Great words from great writers.

"The culture and civilization of the White man are essentially material; his measure of success is, "How much property have I acquired for myself?" The culture of the Red man is fundamentally spiritual; his measure of success is, "How much service have I rendered to my people?"  Ernest Thompson Seton

"Growing up, my grandmother cooked everything from scratch. She had an innate wisdom about foods and cooking that still amaze me to this day. Though I love cooking, the task of cleaning and cooking an animal with its feathers and fur intact makes me queasy to my stomach. But not my grandma. She knew how to slaughter a chicken, debone a steak, and gut a fish without batting an eye (or making a mess). When it came to cooking from scratch, my grandmother had nerves of steel (but the delicacy of an artist!).

In our household, nothing was ever wasted when it came to food. Animal protein was scarce. Chickens were roasted whole, the gizzards fried with onions and the feet tossed into stews. And when all the meat is gone, the bones were saved for to make a rich broth with the Five Pillars of Asian Cuisine*: ginger, garlic, rice wine, salt, and star anise. Eating the animal whole was as normal as going outside and inhaling fresh air. It was one of the things you never think about. When I was growing up, almost no one drank milk. Instead, children were encouraged to drink lots of bone broth and “suck out the bone marrow” to build strong bones.

When I first came to North America, I was surprised (and a little bewildered) at the family-packs of cleanly diced chicken breasts on sale at the supermarket. It was a culture shock because back home, the chicken breast was considered an inferior cut of meat due to it being so lean. During the New Year Feast my grandparents would prepare a whole roast chicken – and the children would be scolded harshly if they were to pick the skin off before eating (which, incidentally, rarely happens). My cousins and I always fought over who would get the fat-soaked drumsticks and wings over the chicken breast. Though no one knew about the fat-soluble vitamins and the essential fatty acids back then, it was a general “rule” that the fat contains all the nutrients and should never be discarded."

Today  a comment came in from someone called Almond. I checked this person out and read the above from a brand new blog. I hope to read much more from this person.

Almond can be found here.

Eddie