marie:

>As they say, put a bunny and a bunch of grapes in your child's crib with
>him.  Will he play with the grapes and chew into the rabbit's
>flesh....or will he play with the soft, furry creature and eat the
>grapes?

>Marie Betz

aloha!
        marie,
                harvey diamond popularized the old "apple & a rabbit" and
ended it with "if the kid eats the rabbit & plays with the apple, i'll
buy you a new car."  mmm, i don't like to drive anyways, but...

        on "raw-food" someone mentioned a young toddler in a high chair
eating lettuce fresh from the garden.  a snail oozed it's way out from
under a leaf towards the tyke.  before anyone at the table could remove
the shelled critter, the child grabbed it and plopped it into his mouth.
crunch, crunch!  big smiles all around.  no problems evident during or
after this episode.

        also from "raw-food", i remember the reference to adelle davis
saying that young children chose raw brains consistently out of a table
laid with all sorts of food.  i'd love to see some more anecdotal &
scientific investigation of this raw animal food phenomenon (especially
the brainy part).  i hear brains have plenty of lecithin, rich in fats,
etc. (not trying to suggest something silly like "eat oranges for vitamin
c", we'll never know *all* the constituents of our mysterious foods).

        which brings me to another point.  micheal klaper impressed me
during my vegan days with the statement "no element essential to human
health & well-being is missing from plant foods".  well, dr. klaper, with
all due respect, i don't trust analytical scientific methods anywhere
near enough to think we have it all figured out.  whether vitamin d, epa,
cholesterol, or whatever can only come from animal foods, or if we can
get them from the sun, synthesize them ourself, or don't need them, *it*
*doesn't* *matter* (to me).  some unidentified substance may lurk in
animal foods that my body needs.  we may discover it tomorrow, next year,
next century, or never.  but the fact that homo sapiens has eaten
insects, eggs, small game, scavenged from large kills, etc. for our
entire evolutionary history, speaks volumes to me.  all of the large
primates eat insects.  some eat eggs, some eat other mammals.  anyways,
read ward's interview if you haven't already (or read it again!):

                http://chetday.com/ward1.htm

        from a former vegan turned compassionate carnivore: try it.  it
may make you a healthier, happier, more active point of light in the
universe.  i find myself even more concerned about factory farming,
cruelty, needless killing, etc. now that i consume raw flesh.  sound
strange?  try a raw egg yolk and see how it feels (my favorite raf!).

openly,
        bodhi

"i'd forever talk to you, but soon my words,
 they would turn into a meaningless ring...
 everything passes, everything changes,
 just do what you think you should do"
                        _to_ramona_ by bob dylan