Mark your calenders!
March 15th is International Eat an Animal for PETA Day. I for one can't think of a group I'd rather offend, or a tastier way of doing so. PETA has just launched an ad campaign which compares eating animals to the Nazis' slaughter of the jews. Such a comparison frankly reeks of the 'pigs and monkeys' imagery popular with the worst breeds of anti-semites, and a response from sane and decent human beings is very much in order. The link above has mailing and e-mail addresses for PETA, as well as an apt letter which we are invited to cut and paste. Let's all do so.
The philosophical problem with animal rights is, of course, that rights are meaningless if those who have them can't or won't uphold them in others. Quite simply, I'll stop eating animals as soon as I can trust them not to eat me. Our odious and peculiar cats, Vermin and Horseflesh, show us occasional signs of affection, but I don't doubt that were we dead or immobile they'd be taking nibbles soon enough.
Soooo then... sausages for breakfast, maybe a Cornish game hen at lunch, shrimp with peanut sauce or calamari for an appetizer, then flank steaks for everyone!
Update: Or, if you'd like to get as many animals as possible into every mouthful, I suggest the following, courtesy of the Two Fat Ladies:
1/2 pound good mushrooms, sliced
butter
salt and freshly ground pepper
grated nutmeg
1/2 pound chicken or turkey livers
1 pound each ground beef, ground pork, and ground veal or turkey
1 pound pork sausage meat
1 large onion, grated
3 fat garlic cloves, minced to a paste
10 juniper berries, crushed
1 heaping teaspoon ground allspice
sprigs of fresh thyme
1-2 eggs
1/2 pound sliced bacon
bayleaves
branches of fresh rosemary
Sauté the mushrooms in butter until the juices run, then season with salt and pepper plus a good grating of nutmeg. Reserve. Remove the sinews from the livers and slice. In a large bowl, combine all the ground meats, the sausage meat, the livers, the onion, garlic and juniper berries. Add the allspice and some thyme leaves. Season with salt and about 20 turns of the pepper mill. Beat the egg(s) and add to the mixture along with the sautéed mushrooms. Use your spotless hands to mix this whole lot together most thoroughly.
Oil a roasting pan and place all the mixture in it, molding it into an oval shape. Adorn with the slices of bacon, criss-crossed Union Jack style, tucking the ends under the meat loaf. Strew some bay leaves and branches of rosemary on the top and sides. Cook in a pre-heated oven at 450ºF for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 350ºF and cook for a further 1 1/2 hours.
