The ethical carnivore; eating the entire animal

Maybe not THE ENTIRE animal but if you choose to eat meat, consuming most of the edible parts from the animal. What could be greener? This means eating the organs/offal, utilising the bones and other remnants. Put simply, the parts considered unpleasant in North America.

Travelling and eating in many developing countries has opened my eyes to the “waste not want not” principle. A walk through a food market in Asia will reveal some delicious gems from various parts of the animal (those euphemistically called “variety meat” in North America). Crunchy chicken gizzards charcoal roasted with spicy dips, beef tripe with salad and stewed ox tendons are just some of my highlights. Some not-so-memorable dishes include chicken rear ends on skewers and chewy pig entrails soup. In the Mediterranean, parts such as ox tail, pig trotters, brain and testicles are eaten regularly. Even the not-so-gastronomic British can pull off a good steak and kidney pie. Here is an article from the Bangkok Post – a Thai’s perspective on Westerners’ approach to offal.

Why is eating innards better for the environment?
We can’t deny that meat production takes its toll on the environment. It takes land, feed, water, transportation and production to get the meat to the consumer’s table. As it takes 10 kg of cereal to produce one kilo of beef, then we should not be wasting any part of the animal. Unless you deliberately avoid meat, eating offal is more environmentally friendly.

Is eating offal safe?
People are worried about contamination and organs being storage tanks for harmful pathogens. There’s probably some truths to this as we saw during the BSE/Mad Cow crisis in the UK during the 1990s. In order to reduce the probability of BSE contaminated meats entering the system, there was a ban on beef on the bone and certain types of offal. We are well aware that industrial farming methods gave rise to BSE. If the entire animal has been raised in factory conditions with low hygiene and upkeep, then the organs are bound to contain harmful substances in increased amounts. Therefore, if the animal is raised in humane conditions in an organic setting, the organs are bound to be safer – as well as the muscle meat. Also, a Swedish study conducted in 2003 claimed that raising organic beef on grass rather than feed, reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 40% and consumed 85% less energy.

Better late than never – join the glorious gut eating masses!
There may be a change amongst those who’d originally turned their noses up at offal. I’ve been seeing calves’ brains and various other organs at the more posh delis around town. Perhaps more people are asking themselves why it’s perfectly OK to eat one piece of an animal and not another. And essentially, that is what meat is – a piece of what was once a living animal, muscle and organs. It’s good to look at the animal and its parts and see our food for what it really is rather than as neatly trimmed pieces wrapped in plastic.

Chris Cosentino is a US-based chef who has given offal a central role in his cooking. His “head to tail” cooking approach is an eye-opener as he is a well-known high-end chef – with numerous appearances on popular television programmes. The sight of this man with a handful of entrails and organs may be strange – or even revolting – for some but the importance of such an approach can’t be missed.



A quick glance through google will yield a rich picking in offal recipes. They really are worth a try as there’s more to life than just pork chops and chicken breasts.