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It was the late Leonard Shlain who, in his book on human female biology shaping the history of human culture (an outlier theory by somebody whose specialist field was not cultural theory, but all the more refreshing and thought-provoking for it) posited that both genders in hunter-gatherer cultures specialise in what the other crave.
Blandly, men need relaxation after the hyper-focus of the hunt, so a warm fire and some intoxicating beverage are helpful, hence women (in theory) make homes and collects fruit which can be fermented.
Women need to replenish their hemoglobin which is under a constant strain due to uniquely human biology, upright gait etc. so the men bring home meat that helps against the latent iron deficiency anaemia, helps them to survive childbirth and nourish their young.
The choicest cut of the meat course, in polite society, you offer to the guest of honour, and the lady of the house.
A woman that only eats salad 'for her figure' and rudely eschews the meat course with a sneer distances herself, however consciously or not, from that tradition. She wants nothing to do with the gender roles she feels tied down by, she pours out the baby with the (admittedly stale) bathwater.
Meat is hard to come by. We evolved our brains to hunt it, our intellectual capacities grew with the size and intelligence of our prey (predators are always more intelligent than their prey, which is why humans prefer to keep small predators, dogs and cats, as their companions in the house), then we developed farming and agriculture to keep meat at hand and generate spare time in which to entertain our complex brains and develop culture, even though that might not be such a clear-cut case as formerly presumed, as the proponents of the 'Mesolithic paradise' theory mean to show.
But never mind whether the Neolithic Revolution was a bad move for the species as a whole, meat is still important. It is considered the main course, it is offered to the guest of honour and valued through its production and preparation. Cheap mass production of cheap dubious meat that is sold already prepared beyond all recognition is one of the main perversions of our age and culture, instigated by the Industrial Revolution, another one of those potentially bad moves.
A pig is a pig, made for eating. You rear it in the sunshine, on your own scraps and the acorns in the wood, and then you kill it and eat all of it. Or you hunt wild boar, risk your life taking down the huge brute, and then you eat all of it, smoking parts for later, cure the skin and turn the bones into implements and instruments. Lambs are born in late winter, you spend your nights helping them into the world, and later towards summer, you kill the males because they're not needed in the herd, and eat them.
Care is taken with the meat, attention, skill and tradition applied to it. There are never crude piles of it, apart from cheap factory meat of the kind that isn't really worth the bother of eating and preparing. Let the meat speak for itself one last time. Ready-made hamburgers are offensive. Throwing away the parts which with a little care and expertise would make an excellent bouillon is equally offensive. Meat is hard to come by, and there is not an unlimited amount of it. Theory has it that our planet is still able to feed all of us, provided (among a few other utopias) that the crass piles of cheap unidentifiable meat the West, especially America, insists it must have, shall be a thing of the past.
There is a choice cut, meticulously prepared, for the feast; we know what it is and show our respect through our pleasure. We do not abdicate the position at the top of the food chain yet.
Blandly, men need relaxation after the hyper-focus of the hunt, so a warm fire and some intoxicating beverage are helpful, hence women (in theory) make homes and collects fruit which can be fermented.
Women need to replenish their hemoglobin which is under a constant strain due to uniquely human biology, upright gait etc. so the men bring home meat that helps against the latent iron deficiency anaemia, helps them to survive childbirth and nourish their young.
The choicest cut of the meat course, in polite society, you offer to the guest of honour, and the lady of the house.
A woman that only eats salad 'for her figure' and rudely eschews the meat course with a sneer distances herself, however consciously or not, from that tradition. She wants nothing to do with the gender roles she feels tied down by, she pours out the baby with the (admittedly stale) bathwater.
Meat is hard to come by. We evolved our brains to hunt it, our intellectual capacities grew with the size and intelligence of our prey (predators are always more intelligent than their prey, which is why humans prefer to keep small predators, dogs and cats, as their companions in the house), then we developed farming and agriculture to keep meat at hand and generate spare time in which to entertain our complex brains and develop culture, even though that might not be such a clear-cut case as formerly presumed, as the proponents of the 'Mesolithic paradise' theory mean to show.
But never mind whether the Neolithic Revolution was a bad move for the species as a whole, meat is still important. It is considered the main course, it is offered to the guest of honour and valued through its production and preparation. Cheap mass production of cheap dubious meat that is sold already prepared beyond all recognition is one of the main perversions of our age and culture, instigated by the Industrial Revolution, another one of those potentially bad moves.
A pig is a pig, made for eating. You rear it in the sunshine, on your own scraps and the acorns in the wood, and then you kill it and eat all of it. Or you hunt wild boar, risk your life taking down the huge brute, and then you eat all of it, smoking parts for later, cure the skin and turn the bones into implements and instruments. Lambs are born in late winter, you spend your nights helping them into the world, and later towards summer, you kill the males because they're not needed in the herd, and eat them.
Care is taken with the meat, attention, skill and tradition applied to it. There are never crude piles of it, apart from cheap factory meat of the kind that isn't really worth the bother of eating and preparing. Let the meat speak for itself one last time. Ready-made hamburgers are offensive. Throwing away the parts which with a little care and expertise would make an excellent bouillon is equally offensive. Meat is hard to come by, and there is not an unlimited amount of it. Theory has it that our planet is still able to feed all of us, provided (among a few other utopias) that the crass piles of cheap unidentifiable meat the West, especially America, insists it must have, shall be a thing of the past.
There is a choice cut, meticulously prepared, for the feast; we know what it is and show our respect through our pleasure. We do not abdicate the position at the top of the food chain yet.
