Offal: Rejected and Reclaimed Food: Proceedings of the 2016 Oxford Symposium on Food and CookeryMark McWilliams This year's theme - offal, rejected and reclaimed foods - when taken in the broadest sense is a subject well-suited to the explorative ethos of the Oxford Symposium, not least because there's no universal agreement on what actually qualifies as offal. Each culture has its own views on whether foods are acceptable or merit rejection. Even in neighbouring countries, differences run deep. For example, English 'offal' is linguistically related to the Dutch word 'afval' which means unambiguously 'garbage', a designation that includes most animal-intestines and extremities. The negative connotation of the word indicates automatic rejection of offal by the native Dutch. Nevertheless, within the nation, differences can be observed. In modern times, consumption of most varieties of organ-meats, traditionally unusual in The Netherlands, is having a come-back thanks to newcomers from all parts of the world. Goatheads, chickens-feet, blood, liver, testicles, stomach, udder and heart, are all available if you know the right butcher. |
Common terms and phrases
abattoir accessed Adana African Agriculture alafranga American animal axolotl beaver beef black pudding blood boiled bovine brains bread butchers carcass century chef chicken feet Chinese cochineal considered consumed consumption cookbooks cooking culinary cultured meat digestive ferments disgust Domestic Cookery dried duck eaten eating edible eggs fish head flavour foie gras food waste foodbank France Frappuccino French fresh frikandel gastronomic Geléia de Mocotó Greek human industry ingredients intestines Istanbul jambalaya Japan Japanese kitchen konowata leverpostej liver London lungs meal menu menudo modern muscle nutritional offal offal cuisine offal dishes organs original Oxford popular porcine pork prepared production protein Provençal Provided restaurant Reykjavík rice roast Rundell sauce sausage sea cucumber sell served shiokara şırdan slaughter slaughterhouse snacks social soup Spaniards spices Starbucks stew stomach Stornoway story street food stuffed sugar supermarkets sweet taste tissue tomatoes traditional tripe University Press vegan vegetables