mouths of babes

[chelidon]

My son, who is six, absolutely loves seafood of all kinds. I've seen him devour an entire order of PEI mussels and an entire 1 1/2 lb lobster in one sitting. He especially loves lobster, both the actual taste, and the fun value in playing with one as he eats it. Shoot, it's the original happy meal, dinner *and* a toy.

Still, while he's played with live lobster, and eaten dead ones, he'd never had to go through the process of transforming the one into the other, and that can be pretty traumatic for a kid. Some folks won't ever eat lobster again after having had to boil one.

But one day a couple of weeks ago while I was out of town, my son was with my dad, and at the market he asked for live lobster, so live lobster it was. He's sitting in the kitchen, playing with the lobster while my dad heats the water. What's he going to do when it's time to boil the lobster? The water gets to proper temperature, my dad says so, and my son stops what he's doing, looks down and says (I am not making this up), "Hello, Mr. Lobster! It's time for you to die now so I can eat you."

Frickin' unsentimental Virgos, I swear :> That's my boy...

Comments

[snakey.livejournal.com]

I feel bad eating them because they're quite intelligent. And cute. But not bad enough to not eat them.

Lobster is both food and playtoy. Especially with all the shiny tools they give you to eat it with.

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

Indeed. I'm actually happier to eat meat when either I killed (or the gentler word "harvested") the animal myself, or know who did and how it was done. As a human being omnivore/opportunivore, I don't eat that much meat (and no beef or pork, not from ethics, but because my body tells me clearly not to), but I am healthier when I have a certain amount of animal protein. My issues are not so much with the taking of life (necessary to survive), but the ethical and humane treatment of animals while they are alive, and particularly the effects on animals and the environment from "factory farming."

Charles did a "chicken harvest" at Vermont Camp this year as an optional offering, and they gave thanks and honor to the animals, and we had them for dinner the next night. Very, very powerful for a lot of people, including two vegans who participated.

And of course our "night hunt" at Tejas this year spent a lot of time on honoring the sacred prey, and the prey/predator/prey cycle of life we all embody.

[ravenedgewalker.livejournal.com]

There is a theory that there are 'super-lobsters' out there that are huge and just to bright to be caught.... I'm not sure I could kill one - at least not without freezing it first (puts them in a coma) but I'm happy for other people to do it for me since lobster is yummy!
on the other hand....

>Frickin' unsentimental Virgos, I swear :> That's my boy...

but I'm a virgo and I can be sentimental......:)

[chelidon.livejournal.com]

Super-lobsters? I do know they can grow for 50 years or more, and have heard tale of lobsters with claws as big as a dinner plate. Yow.

Nothing wrong with sentimentality, it's a good happy-warm thing :> I was thinking more along the lines of stepping in and doing what needs to be done, also a good Virgo ability!

[ravenedgewalker.livejournal.com]

it's actually a therory I got off a lobster expert back when I was an undergrad studying fisheries. it's a nice idea!!!