Unveiling the Secret

One day, my dad and I were watching a movie and one of the character was preparing a meal for family. Set in the developing country of Vietnam, the man had to slit the chicken's throat himself in order to have chicken meat to eat. Seeing me squirming in disgust, my dad asked if I would ever have the guts to do that. Of course, I said no. He then shared how when he used to live in Vietnam, he'd have to do that himself to get meat for his family.

Now I wonder, why do we not have the ability to kill our own food? Isn't it in our genes to hunt? Predators in the wild do it. Why are we so detached from the production of our food? Why can we eat something, yet flinch when we have to see it get killed. (Whenever my sister buys live shrimps home to cook and I see them crawling in my sink, I lose my appetite.)

 I know I'm not the only one that fears murder, but that's the problem: I'm not. Especially in an era of technology, nobody wants to hold the job killing livestock. "A new campaign to bring young people into butchery, about two out of three butchers are facing succession difficulties and the average age of a butcher is now over 50 years old." When the butchers of the past generation pass away, who will then provide our meat? “'It’s a big worry. I’m part of the last generation of old-fashioned butchers, and we’ve brought a generation of customers with us.'” In Xanthe Clay's article, she writes about how a butcher who butchers the animals in plain view of customers. “'We’ve only had two complaints that it’s too in your face. And young kids are fascinated by it,' he says. 'They love seeing the whole carcase and finding out where their chops come from.'” I believe this is a good way to train a generation to be more connected with their food, whereas my generation has grown up being completely sheltered from this aspect of food culture. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/10658135/Are-we-too-disconnected-from-the-source-of-our-meat.html