David Mark Brown

Writer. Novelist. Redneck. Granola.

Follow Me on FacebookFollow Me on Google+Follow Me on TwitterFollow Me on LinkedIn
  • Home
  • About
    • About
    • Writer
    • Novelist
    • Redneck
    • Granola
  • Complete DMB Library
  • The Unofficial Browncoat Drinking Guide
  • Autographed Ebooks
  • Writing Class
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Redneck Sustainability / Redneck Sustainability: Eating your Pets

January 10, 2011 By David Mark Brown Leave a Comment

Redneck Sustainability: Eating your Pets

Twitter0
Facebook0
LinkedIn0
Pinterest0
Google+0

Before you gag from the title of this blog, let me explain that my pets growing up included a pig, a few dozen rabbits, some ducks, a few hamsters, an occasional cat, a dog, a calf and a guinea pig. I’ll let your imagination tell you which ones I ate and witch ones I didn’t. But why should eating pets be such a bad thing?

If anything is out of whack, it’s that we’ve manipulated animal breeding, not that we eat them. What’s worse? Eating domesticated animals or breeding them to belch methane into old age and die a pointless life? There’s a chin scratcher.

Natives to North America, First Peoples if you will, knew that we should have a healthy connection with the food we eat, sometimes even asking the noble beasts permission to extinguish their souls. Now whacking a domesticated pet in the head as it stares up at you with trusting eyes might not be quite the same as hunting a noble beast, but none the less, it’s good to have an intimate connection with our food.

On that note, let’s take another lesson in sustainability from the redneck play book of life.

Like myself as a child, most rednecks share the ins and outs of daily life with animals that later go in through the mouth and out through the arse, each playing a beautiful role in maintaining that daily life. (Now that’s sustainability!)

For this simple reason I could never be a vegetarian. To be so would ignore the noble sacrifice that too many dear friends have made with their lives in order to feed mine.  Who am I to rob animals of the worthy and valuable role they are called to play?

But at the same time, meat should be savored not just for its flavor and taste but also for its value and expense. Rednecks don’t believe in flippant impulses for a BBQ, quick trips to the grocery and casual gorgings on ground beef, hooves and sawdust. When we chomp down on a rabbit pot pie each bite is in grateful memory of the little scamp that made it possible.

Even redneck children know how to reconcile the contrasting emotions involved in connecting with a pet one moment and eating it the next. After all, cooking little Bunny Foo Foo or Miss Piggy over a Smokey Joe does not just a BBQ make, but it’s a somber and religious experience.

(edited from original post, April 1st, 2009)

Filed Under: Redneck Sustainability Tagged With: BBQ, pets, redneck, Slowfood, Smokey Joe, sustainability

About David Mark Brown

Writer. Novelist. Redneck. Granola. Raised on a Texas cattle ranch and schooled at the U of Montana (Berkeley of the Rockies), I am the world’s most self-proclaimed redneck granola and author of optimistic-dystopian dieselpunk, sci-fi thrillers and young adult literature.

Comments

  1. Anna says

    February 5, 2011 at 4:39 pm

    I know we ate some of our pets, but have you lost your gourd?

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Rapturific! The View from the Sky - David Mark Brown - David Mark Brown says:
    May 26, 2011 at 12:01 pm

    […] website. What the frick?It wasn’t that long ago that as a nation we preferred to eat our pets rather than to pay some be-pimpled pickpocket to ransack our valuables while slumping Alpo into a […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Rapturific! The View from the Sky - David Mark Brown - David Mark Brown Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Get FREE eBOOKS!

covercollagesmall
Enter your email address to receive my primer library of ebooks plus notification of exclusive offers!

Fiction Vortex Kickstarter

Number of items in cart: 0

  • Your cart is empty.
  • Total: $0.00
  • Checkout

Be a Dieselpunk!


Visit Dieselpunks

Categories

Tags

Amazon Apocalypse book review Browncoats centerfold critique Del Rio Con Amore dieselpunk DMB Files ebook eBooks evolution of an indie fiction vortex film Firefly Fistful of Reefer fourth horseman Get Doc Quick granola guide to courteous critique Hell's Womb hemp Independent Indie Kindle Kobo lost DMB Files Lost DMB Files McCutchen's Bones Paraplegic Zombie Slayer read review share redneck redneck sustainability reefer ranger review rrs rrs books Serenity Simpsons steampunk sunday centerfold sustainability The Fourth Horseman weird west zombie

About Me

David Mark Brown Welcome to the Green Porch! Yep, this is my blog. It's a meeting place for those interested in the art of conversation, story, community and sustainability. Hey, its a big porch. There's room for all of us, so pull up a chair and I'll pour you a drink (adult beverages after 2:00pm, which where I'm from is also known as the watermelon hour).

Recent Comments

  • David Mark Brown on Confessions of a Dr. Pepper Addict
  • Hurtingwithoutit on Confessions of a Dr. Pepper Addict
  • Laura on Confessions of a Dr. Pepper Addict
  • James on Confessions of a Dr. Pepper Addict
  • Sam on Confessions of a Dr. Pepper Addict

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2019 | Website powered by the Genesis Framework and WordPress | Log in