The Cost of Freshness
A look on our consumption methods
Note: There are some disturbing images (animal gore) down below. Do proceed with caution.
As a kid, I loved watching animal documentaries, particularly those which involved the African savanna. The narrators were outright enthusiastic, the view I saw was stunningly beautiful, while the animals themselves were both fascinating and intriguing.
And yet, if one were to look at such a landscape as one of the inhabitants, it would truly be a terrifying place.
In the Savannah…
Day and night, predators and prey have a go at a game of cat-and-mouse. Predators lurk in the cover of the terrain, while preys would have to be on their guard all day.
When the game ends in the favour of the predators, the outcome isn’t pretty. Although lions usually kill or weaken their prey through the throat clamp method before the act of consumption, smaller and lighter predators such as the Hyenas and the African Wild Dogs would usually start feasting even before the prey is dead.
People new to such a sight (i.e me as a kid) would often criticise these smaller canines for being savages and cruel. And yet, as I came to realise, it is their very nature.
Benefit Cost Analysis in the Savannah
For large canines such as lions, due to their enormous size and strength, they are able to execute the throat clamp method, and neutralise the animal before their act of consumption. And why not?
A dying prey is a desperate and dangerous one. It could deliver a powerful kick to break the bones of its captor, and it could also use its horns to gore and severely maim the predators, essentially starving and killing them through their disability. Not risking their future livlihood, a kill is required.
However, smaller canines such as the Hyenas and the African Wild Dogs do not have such a privilege, and although they have a strong jaw, due to their decreased size and weight, they have no choice but to eat their prey alive.
It is important to note that in addition to ensuring that their kill is secured with the least energy expanded, these animals know that time is of the essence. The longer they linger around, the higher the chances of other predators showing up and stealing your food.
The only safe meal is the one in your stomach.
For as long as I could remember, horror movies and games usually contain an element of gore. Recalling them, they are centered around the effects of gore on a person, someone who we can relate to.
From being ravaged by a pack of wolves/dogs, to an electrifying chair, to that of being sawed apart in half. You get the point. The thought of dying gruesomely and slowly seems to genuinely scare some of us. In essence, if demise were to unfortunately befall upon us, most of us would want a quick, clean death.
And yet, when dealing with our own consumption behaviour, we seem to leave this thought at the back of our mind.
Although the slaughtering of poultry is generally done humanely by specialised slaughterhouses (first through stunning, followed by blood draining), the fate of our seafood seems to be a much, much darker one.
When we think of seafood, the next word we would think of eould be the word “fresh”. We are always looking for the freshest seafood, and this doesn’t bode well for our crustacean companions.
A quick search on google on ways to cook and enjoy fresh crustaceans would involve boiling them alive in a pot. For those who have been scalded before, a similar experience would be having that pain amplified and multiplied all along your body.
Needless to say, this isn’t a pleasant experience.
Benefit Cost Analysis in the Concrete Jungle
We have created nuclear weapons. We have advanced technologies at an astonishing pace. We have doubled our population 3 times in the past 200 years to an astonishing 7.9 billion. We have created the most toxic wasteland on Runeterra.
We certainly have the tools and the skills to neutralise our food humanely. And yet, to enhance the taste of the food, some of us choose not to. And for those in the culinary industry, this small difference in freshness would cost us our job. For others, the task of killing these crustaceans might be too daunting.
Perhaps at the end of the day, what we need to change is the perception that boiling crustaceans alive is not okay.
Contrary to popular belief, there are ways to humanely neutralise crustaceans.
Unlike poultry, such crustaceans and seafood in general are sold to wholesalers and wet markets alive to preserve their freshness. However, these back end consumers typically lack the specialised tools necessary to stun or render them unconscious.
Needless to say, even in the hands of the most experienced cook, a single blow from the cleaver would not be enough to kill these crustaceans, while the accumulated stress and anxiety experienced is simply indescribable.
As such, it should be mandatory for all wholesalers, wet markets and super- markets to have these specialised equipment. In addition, killings must be done right then and there, just after the stunning.
Although this would result in a higher price for consumers in the long run, if you’re able to eat seafood, you will be able to afford the increase in price.
It is a small price to pay for salvation.
Sustenance or Sentience?
At the end of the day, it all boils down to this question: do we view our food simply as a source of energy, or are we to treat them with respect?
Let us not become the very monsters we feared.
