On this journey of learning as much as I can about lifestyle and health, an important discovery I made was regarding the consumption of the not so popular parts of an animal...
Offal is a word originating in England, meaning the edible entrails and organs of butchered animals. Many people see these as the 'waste' parts that are thrown away. Today, we mainly eat the muscle meat of animals - like steaks or chicken breast, but in the past the organ meats were praised for their flavor and nutrition. Weston Price, a dentist who went around the world in the 1930s researching the diets and health of "primitive cultures" discovered that they placed great importance on the organ meats of animals they ate. Our Hunter gatherer ancestors consumed the whole animal, not just the muscle meats like we do today.
If you asked me a couple of years ago if I would ever eat kidney, heart, liver, sweetbreads, or bone marrow I would've said 'heck no!', and gone back to my brown rice and beans. But now I enjoy these regularly, and if I have learnt to love them anyone can!
So here are my top reasons for eating more organ meats (from healthy grass fed animals ofcourse!)
1. CHEAPNESS!
In todays economic times, people are more interested in cheaper food, and what better way to maintain your health than by getting accustomed to innards. It's true, the sales of organ meats have shot up recently, because they are much cheaper than your regular muscle meat. (organic lamb liver for £5 a kilo anyone?). It's relatively easy to get things like heart, liver, kidney and possibly bone marrow from most good butchers. If not you can usually ask for them to make a special order for you.
2. HEALTHINESS!
Organ meats are some of the most nutrient dense foods you can eat. Liver is a nutritional powerhouse - It's an excellent source of Vitamin A, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, Niacin, Riboflavin, Selenium, Pantothenic acid (a 100g serving of lamb liver will give you more than your RDA for these), as well as phosphorous, iron, Thiamin, Zinc and manganese)
Heart is a great source of Coenzyme Q10, which is very good for your own heart
3. TASTYNESS!
Believe it not, organ meats can be very tasty. Think about rich chicken liver pates, stuffed lamb hearts, soft, melting, tender sweetbreads, rich creamy bone marrow...("gods butter" according to Anthony Bourdain)
One you get past the 'ick factor' and forget about any bad experiences you may have had with tough liver or foul tasting kidneys, a whole new world opens up. If you want a cooking challenge or are already an accomplished cook, you can turn organ meats into delicious gourmet meals. You can pay top bucks in high end restaurants for well prepared organ meats, but I don't think it's too hard to make 'em tasty at home too! (watch out for upcoming recipes that i plan on posting!)
4. RESPECTNESS!
If you care about animal welfare, and make the effort to make sure your meat is well raised and the animals are happy and fed their natural diet, or if you hate waste then it's a terrible injustice to eat only some parts of the animal and chuck away the rest. I believe that if you raise and kill an animal for food, the least you can do is make the most of it and eat all of it. We live in a culture of waste which is unsustainable and harmful to the environment and to our pockets and it makes no sense to me to simply throw away so many good parts of an animal. So you can take a stand by consuming these often discarded parts.
There are plenty more, but its getting late and i need to catch up on my fave blogs..
I hope this will at least convince some people to take the plunge and try something new, or reaffirm what others already know
:)
Offal is a word originating in England, meaning the edible entrails and organs of butchered animals. Many people see these as the 'waste' parts that are thrown away. Today, we mainly eat the muscle meat of animals - like steaks or chicken breast, but in the past the organ meats were praised for their flavor and nutrition. Weston Price, a dentist who went around the world in the 1930s researching the diets and health of "primitive cultures" discovered that they placed great importance on the organ meats of animals they ate. Our Hunter gatherer ancestors consumed the whole animal, not just the muscle meats like we do today.
If you asked me a couple of years ago if I would ever eat kidney, heart, liver, sweetbreads, or bone marrow I would've said 'heck no!', and gone back to my brown rice and beans. But now I enjoy these regularly, and if I have learnt to love them anyone can!
So here are my top reasons for eating more organ meats (from healthy grass fed animals ofcourse!)
1. CHEAPNESS!
In todays economic times, people are more interested in cheaper food, and what better way to maintain your health than by getting accustomed to innards. It's true, the sales of organ meats have shot up recently, because they are much cheaper than your regular muscle meat. (organic lamb liver for £5 a kilo anyone?). It's relatively easy to get things like heart, liver, kidney and possibly bone marrow from most good butchers. If not you can usually ask for them to make a special order for you.
2. HEALTHINESS!
Organ meats are some of the most nutrient dense foods you can eat. Liver is a nutritional powerhouse - It's an excellent source of Vitamin A, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, Niacin, Riboflavin, Selenium, Pantothenic acid (a 100g serving of lamb liver will give you more than your RDA for these), as well as phosphorous, iron, Thiamin, Zinc and manganese)
Heart is a great source of Coenzyme Q10, which is very good for your own heart
3. TASTYNESS!
Believe it not, organ meats can be very tasty. Think about rich chicken liver pates, stuffed lamb hearts, soft, melting, tender sweetbreads, rich creamy bone marrow...("gods butter" according to Anthony Bourdain)
One you get past the 'ick factor' and forget about any bad experiences you may have had with tough liver or foul tasting kidneys, a whole new world opens up. If you want a cooking challenge or are already an accomplished cook, you can turn organ meats into delicious gourmet meals. You can pay top bucks in high end restaurants for well prepared organ meats, but I don't think it's too hard to make 'em tasty at home too! (watch out for upcoming recipes that i plan on posting!)
4. RESPECTNESS!
If you care about animal welfare, and make the effort to make sure your meat is well raised and the animals are happy and fed their natural diet, or if you hate waste then it's a terrible injustice to eat only some parts of the animal and chuck away the rest. I believe that if you raise and kill an animal for food, the least you can do is make the most of it and eat all of it. We live in a culture of waste which is unsustainable and harmful to the environment and to our pockets and it makes no sense to me to simply throw away so many good parts of an animal. So you can take a stand by consuming these often discarded parts.
There are plenty more, but its getting late and i need to catch up on my fave blogs..
I hope this will at least convince some people to take the plunge and try something new, or reaffirm what others already know
:)
18 January 2011 at 12:51
Totally agree
I have liver and or kidneys at least weekly.
kindneys i like the taste of , but i need to marinate the liver with lots of garlic and chilli!