Food Stories

Florida has authorized a python hunt, and 50 have been caught: This invasive species is threatening the local fauna. From MomJones:

As we've reported here before, giant, invasive snakes are creating significant problems in Florida—and not just because they might crash your pool party or explode after eating too much alligator. The snakes—which can grow to 18 feet long and weigh as much as 164 pounds—have been eating native rodents and birds, reproducing with abandon, and generally causing problems in an ecosystem where they do not belong. That's why the state organized the hunt, complete with rules for how to kill pythons and a cash prize:

Yes, you read right: The exploding python video HERE.

So what do you do with all of those pythons? Michael Mayo, a local newsman suggests eating them:

I went trolling the Internet this morning, and found a pretty amusing discussion thread on “How to cook Burmese python” over at Chowhound.
A commenter named Veggo wrote: “I suggest a 1-day marinade with soy sauce, orange juice concentrate, scallions, ginger, and honey. Bake it with the marinade and baste occasionally. Florida is overrun with them; we need to make them delicious.”

more recipes HERE.

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There is a minor scandal in the UK about hamburgers being "contaminated" with horse meat. And now they report that DNA studies show it might actually be donkey meat.

So why is horse meat and donkey meat cheaper than beef? Freakonomics might have the answer:

From the Independent:

A law banning horses from Romanian roads may be responsible for the surge in the fraudulent sale of horsemeat on the European beef market, a French politician said yesterday...
The law, which was passed six years ago but only enforced recently, also banned carts drawn by donkeys, leading to speculation among food-industry officials in France that some of the “horse meat” which has turned up on supermarket shelves in Britain, France and Sweden may, in fact, turn out to be donkey meat. “Horses have been banned from Romanian roads and millions of animals have been sent to the slaughterhouse,” said Jose Bove, a veteran campaigner for small farmers who is now vice-president of the European Parliament agriculture committee.

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Martinez at MiddleEarth blog notes

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In J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth most Elves eat meat. The only Elves specifically said to be vegetarians were the Green-elves of Ossiriand. In Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth, it’s hard to find an Elf willing to eat meat. Still, you have to wonder where Fili’s Rivendell sausage came from.

He has a long discussion of food of Middle Earth HERE.

 

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