When it comes to chittlins, I am inclined to agree with... um... the
English on this one...
But then, there's the traditional Scottish haggis, if you've ever
read an old recipe for it, they didn't waste any part of the animals,
ether. It was even boiled in a sheep's stomach, with the stomach
opening out the side of the pan and out from under the lid, to let
the steam out. But my guess is that sheep are herbivores and
"cleaner", but pigs, being omnivores, are far smellier, and their
intestines were probably also pretty stinky. I lived in Smithfield,
believe me, pig waste can get pretty foul.
Nancy
-------
I was never lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.
--Daniel Boone
On Jan 13, 2007, at 10:12 AM, Douglas Deal wrote:
> I would agree wholeheartedly with the posting by Tom (Eastern
> Shore)--the flood of postings about food, cooking, memories, and
> culture
> has been fascinating. We are what we eat, in more ways than one. The
> history of food is a burgeoning specialty. Look at the two fat volumes
> of the recent Cambridge World History of Food if you want confirmation
> of that.
>
> I don't know whether any of the recent postings has mentioned
> "chitlins"
> (I confess I haven't read every word of every posting). I do recall
> some
> discussion of using every part of a pig. Chitlins are made with the
> pig's intestines. I found in the court records of Accomack County what
> may be the first documentary evidence that they were, in fact,
> consumed
> by Virginians of African (and mixed) descent, if not by other
> Virginians
> at the time (1679). A grandson of Anthony and Mary Johnson--Richard
> Johnson Jr.--was working as a hired laborer on a plantation at
> Matomkin
> along with a few English servants. They were busy slaughtering and
> dressing some hogs for their employer. When the Englishmen were
> about to
> dispose of the hogs' guts "a good way from the house for fears of
> stinking," Richard interjected, "I wish I had the... hoggs guts at
> home,
> the fatt and offil would serve me to frey with homine all the winter."
> (You never know what you'll find in county court records....)
>
> Anyway, food is a very important "marker" of culture and object of
> memory, individual and collective.
>
> Doug Deal
>
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