On Thu, 5 Oct 2000, Mary wrote:

> How did it come about that most Americans/Canadians no longer eat organ
> meats? Does anyone have the history on that one? Whereas it seems our
> parents or at least our grandparents, ate organ meats regularly.

That's a good question.  In my family, you have to go back to my
grandparents to find regular eating of organ meats.  I have a
theory, but with nothing but my imagination to support it...

Organ meats have a strong flavor, for the most part.  I think we
acquire a taste for foods with strong flavors in early childhood,
and only with difficulty later.  My guess is that during the
Depression meats of any kind, including organ meats, were
expensive and so the kids of that era didn't get much.  When
times improved, they easily adapted to having more of the milder
tasting muscle meats but had no interest in the organ meats.  And
since they didn't eat them, their kids didn't get exposed to them
either.  Once the taste for such foods is gone, I suppose it's
hard to recover it.

Personally, I can tolerate liver in small amounts but I don't
enjoy it.  And my theory wouldn't apply to brains, which aren't
strong tasting anyway.

Todd Moody
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