Jack’s Cabinet of Curiosities – Fascination with Food

Fascination with food.  It’s a lively topic of conversation where ever you go.  We are bombarded on commercial TV, not only the constant ads, but a variety of cooking shows.  Beyond the inundation of the forgoing, we are reminded that we should eat healthy foods.

We live in a country where food distribution is obviously uneven.  This was brought very abruptly to our attention this past year with the on-slaught of COVID-19.  We already had a problem in the US, but when people were laid off from their jobs this food availability was very apparent.

Hopefully, through efforts on the part of individuals, social agencies, and church groups no one is going hungry.

All creatures on earth are faced with the daily finding of something to eat.  Mankind solved the daily search for food when we learned to grow wheat.  This gave people a source of food and then the time spent in pursuit of something to eat would be spent on building permanent dwellings.  Most people were engaged in food production.  With the technological developments we now, in the US, have a very small number of people involved in food production.  This releases the rest of the population to pursue other activities.

A number of centuries ago, an Englishman said, “The power of population is greater than the power to produce food”.  This certainly proves true in some parts of the world.  This might be solved if we could make it economically feasible.

The foods we have today may not be on our daily menu in the future.  We are presented with a challenge of a changing climate.  Thus, how do we address the needs of a growing population?  In the future people may be eating foods we have not produced as of yet.

Our ancestors, that settled in the US, found that in order for you to survive, it was necessary to live off the land, which meant hunting and fishing.   A throw back to early mankind.  Squirrels, rabbits, and fish were a part of their daily diet until a firm grip was had on the land and domestic animal production.

I had a friend that loved squirrel hunting in the Fall of the year.  We could always depend on squirrels cleaned and ready for the pan.  My mother would sear the meat then wrap it in bacon ready for the oven.

When my wife, I, and family moved to a small acreage outside of town my boys were delighted to hunt jack rabbits.  To their satisfaction grandma was visiting and called on to use her recipe for a meal of rabbit stew.

Many days, after lunch, a social gathering takes place at Shephard of Grace.   Recently, the food topic came up and a number of people shared the experience of consuming wild game as part of their family meals.  What is your favorite wild game meal?

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