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On seeing chickens in a French market
“Chickens are food, aren’t they?”
“Well, those chickens were.”
“So you’ll have to take the chickens home and kill them?”
“Yup.”
“Do you eat all the chicken?”
“Not the giblets. Well, a lot of the giblets but not…”
“What are giblets?”
“Liver, kidneys, heart - you can eat all of those. Especially in Japan.” Supermum and I remember a chicken viscera binge in a bar in Japan. I still don’t think she’s entirely forgiven me.
“Can you eat the feet?”
“Some Chinese people do. I’ve tried them but I didn’t like it very much.”
Later, we watch Chicken Run together, the only children’s video in the house. When it reaches the part where the chicken who can’t lay any eggs is killed, dudelet puts his hand in his mouth and huddles against me. But he seems, for the moment at any rate, to understand the difference between chickens in a market destined for the oven and the demands a story makes of anthropomorphized fowls.
Whether he’d feel the same way about rabbits is another question.
He has two bunnies that guard him in bed, The elder, Bunny, is at home at the moment, looking after his room whilst we’re on holiday. Ted, Bunny’s brother, is here in St Hillaire keeping him company at night. We’d seen rabbits in the same market but decided not to point them out.
Yes, we’re wimps. Is that a problem?
Filed under: family, holiday | Tagged: chickens, culture, family, food, France, holiday, market
Oh, we had those enlightening moments. No wonder Buddha became what he became!
I love how children ask the fundamental questions. (And nice photos, by the way, u-dad.)
The questions just get harder and harder.
My gal hasn’t made the connection between the chicken we visit at the farm where our veggies grow, and the chicken on her plate. Or maybe she doesn’t care yet.
Thanks, b-l! The huge toy gun was pretty spooky.
NLG - I’m not really sure how much dudelet has, though he’s really starting to interrogate me about death every now and then.
That food comes from animals and plants has always been something we’ve been very straightforward about with our kids. I think they get it, though they’ve never seen live animals for sale as food!
I don’t blame you for not pointing out the bunnies. One thing at a time!
My parents told me that there were “eating cows” and “moo cows”. I think I was in my tweenties before I realised the stunt they had pulled off! My kids have grown up with us keeping chickens, they are under no illusions as to their destiny, but demand there food comes from “happy” animals (which generally means ones we’ve met/seen reared).
OH, so sweet. Innocence crushed. May I suggest the wonderful video, Babe? About the Pig? Beautiful shots and shots… and such a poignant story. The pig lives.
So, which camera for this cool shot?
“Eating cows” and”moo cows”! Won’t wash w/dudelet! We do try to eat ‘happy meat’, though, and not too much of it.
Actually, he asked in his bath last night “Where does meat come from?” More on that later…A budding camera geek responds: Camera was my Pentax D100 with the ISO set fairly high (indoors) and the kit lens for a change. Setting on Av which I find really useful if I’m moving quickly through a lot of environments with changing light levels.
Weirdly, Kiko has connected his fluffy Easter chicks with the raw roasting chickens in the supermarket and cheerfully points the supermarket chickens out to me: “Chicken, Mummy! Chicken!” I don’t think he quite understands yet…. Bunnies are a hard one, I remember being appalled, as a kid, when I heard that they were edible. Did you see any horse butchers in France? I was scarred for life at age 12 when we went to Brittany and I saw a horse butcher. The shop had a brass horse’s head above the door - yuck!!!!