26

Mammals

Although poultry and eggs have become the most widely consumed animal foods in modern society, the term meat still most commonly connotes the flesh of mammals.

What’s Your Beef?

Most beef cattle today are said to be crosses between the descendents of the mighty ox, or aurochs, whose origin can be traced back to India, and the Celtic Shorthorn. The domestication of cattle is thought to have begun with the taming of the wild ox about 10,000 years ago, possibly in Western Asia. How the genetic manipulation of the mighty aurochs into the modern cow occurred is still a mystery.

According to orthodox theory, domestication of the ornery aurochs, along with some unknown crossbreeding method practiced for thousands of years by Neolithic farmers, led to the extreme morphological changes found in modern docile cows. But this is a highly unlikely scenario, because entire sets of genes would have to be modified in order to change an animal’s physical characteristics. The domestic traits of modern cows supposedly derived somehow from the ancient aurochs include reduced brain size, passive nature, early sexual maturity, and increased fertility. Such a shift in qualities is beyond current human capabilities and would certainly seem to be beyond the capabilities of our primitive Neolithic ancestors. (Unless our Neolithic ancestors were not as primitive as we have been taught to believe.)

The aurochs was a strong and courageous creature known for its ability to stand up to almost any threat. Along with its long-held role as a food source, the aurochs also had secured a position in mythology and religion as a symbol of bravery and courage. Ancient Egyptians venerated the Apis bull through mummification. In Sumeria, the bull was a symbol of fertility and strength.

In some parts of the ancient world, cattle meat was once considered too noble a food to be entrusted to women, and therefore was usually roasted on an open spit by men. In Elizabethan England, excessive beef consumption was thought to cause stupidity and depression.

To the early settlers of America and to many other peoples in numerous parts of the world, the cow has served not only as a source of meat and milk but also as a dependable and patient draft animal that can endure many hours of backbreaking labor. As I mentioned earlier, anthropologist Marvin Harris makes a valid point when suggesting some food taboos are often more practical than mystical.

Before 1900, the average age of maturity for grazing cattle (that is, the age they would reach before being taken to market) was five or six years. In modern times, through industrial farming techniques, only breeding stock live longer than eighteen months. The modern factory-farmed cow bears little resemblance to its powerful and active ancestor; like other modernized livestock, this poor mammal suffers from overcrowding, drug abuse, and other forms of inhumane treatment.

Unlike with chickens, the overcrowding of cattle results not so much in aggression as in severe digestive disorders. Consequently, eating this kind of beef under stress is a guaranteed recipe for digestive problems. In fact, excessive beef eating alone can easily stress the digestive system, since digestive problems are some of the energetic qualities recorded in modern beef, owing to their confinement and lack of natural grass feed. Excessive consumption may even lead to insensitivity to anything or anyone exclusive of one’s own immediate environment. The severe digestive disturbances common among cows can also become the human being’s reality in the form of gastric problems (physically) and the inability to comprehensively digest and evaluate life (mentally and spiritually).

In a natural setting, cattle usually will select a comfortable distance from each other. Cows have a four-compartmented stomach. After it is chewed just barely enough to be swallowed, their food passes into the first of these compartments, the rumen. Through muscular action of the stomach, it is then returned to the mouth where it is thoroughly chewed and again returned to the stomach. It then passes through the other three compartments, to the small intestine and then to the large intestine. This extensive digestive process is what enables a ruminant to produce flesh from simple fare of grass and weeds.

Grass-fed cattle prefer to graze at twilight when the air is cool. Most feedlot cattle, by contrast, are fed in the morning, despite studies that have shown that afternoon grazing increases milk production by 10 percent and naturally increases the weight of cattle. Commercial cattle are given hormones for weight gain and fed an unnatural (for cattle) diet of grain, which in turn reduces the nutritional content of the meat. A high-grain diet can also affect the natural acidity of rumen (stomach) contents of cattle from a healthy pH of 7.1 (slightly acid) to an unhealthy 3.8 (extremely acidic). Again, cows are not meant to eat grain as their primary food. The healthy alternative is grass-fed beef.

Beef is a powerful food; unless the quality is good and it is prepared properly and eaten in moderation, it can induce fatigue and boredom and cause overheating. This is true for organically fed cows as well.

Cows cannot spit, but they can and do throw up, sometimes heaving violently. Their tongue is rough, and thus not very sensitive to taste; there is little need for it on a grass-based diet. It is not unusual for people who consume large quantities of beef to find simple food such as whole cereal grains and fresh vegetables tasteless when encountering them for the first time.

It’s interesting to note that the food a cow eats is barely chewed until it first is sent to the stomach and then returned to the mouth—and only then is it thoroughly masticated. Like goats and sheep, also ruminants with four-compartment stomachs, cows easily thrive on a diet of wild grasses and other plants. Actually, they have one true stomach, along with three antechambers that house billions of bacteria and enzymes devoted completely to digestion and assimilation.

By contrast, humans are not ruminants—something worth considering when it comes to making the choice between vegetarian or non-vegetarian diet. With a digestive system more than 100 feet long, the cow can easily process the nutritional elements from tough plant cells and tissues through their elaborate digestive system. Humans are not so digestively endowed.

Cows do not chew well, and cows chew very well—a paradox, indeed. In humans, the practice of not chewing food well (that is, like the cow’s “first round”) sometimes results in digestive problems so severe that the person often has to use drugs to symptomatically relieve the problem or radically change his diet and finally learn to chew well. While the latter is the preferable choice, these days it is typically the path less traveled.

The cow’s method of eating can manifest in humans in the form of bulimia, the eating disorder wherein the person afflicted routinely binge eats, followed by bouts of self-induced vomiting. (The word “bulimia” derives from bull, meaning “ox,” and limos, meaning “hunger”: together they mean “the hunger of an ox.”)

Cows love attention, especially being talked to and scratched. They have a well-developed sense of hearing and do not like loud noise. They have trouble making decisions, can’t take care of themselves, and tend to follow their keeper.

Cows have little facial expression, a kind of flat and blank look about them, and their verbal expression is limited to long moans. Cow people, like their counterparts, are often not the most communicative or open-minded characters.

When separated from cows and penned together, steers (bulls) will often ride each other. If there is more than one bull present when cows are in heat, the bulls inevitably will fight over the cows. Bulls also have an affinity for calves when the mother is not around. Incestuous acts as well as oversexed conditions have historically been associated with excessive beef consumption.

Cattle have a high metabolic rate and can sweat profusely. I surmise that the latter is due to their being confined with little room to roam; yet it still is a peculiar quality of this new breed of cow.

This humongous eating machine can certainly burn up the fuel. It takes an average of twenty pounds of grain to make one pound of meat, a fact often used to rationalize veganism. The problem with this position is that cows do not naturally eat grain; given their preference, they would rather graze in a field of grass. In fact, many traditional methods of raising cattle utilized rocky terrain for grazing, land that could not be used for growing crops—so the cost of feeding cattle in a traditional setting might add up to zero. Feeding cattle grain is simply a faster way to fatten cows for slaughter and is neither a traditional form of pastoralism nor a healthy way to raise cattle.

Veal, as we know it today, is an even more extremely unnatural way to raise cattle. A single calf can produce 100 pounds of veal in just three months. Veal comes from a baby cow, a calf that is allowed very little movement and is fed from birth to butchering on milk or an artificial substance called milk replacer. Such animals are usually anemic, very fragile, and extremely disease-prone. (Thinking about the energetics of that one makes you shudder, doesn’t it?)

Feedlot cattle often experience what is called sudden-death phenomenon,” a problem that usually occurs as a result of respiratory diseases, to which confined cattle are prone. A similar problem occurs among human infants and is called Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), or simply “crib death.” These infants of course are not eating cattle meat—but they are drinking homogenized and pasteurized cattle milk, which can adversely affect the respiratory system. (Unless they are being fed soy formula, which is even worse.)

Two other problems that commonly occur in cattle are cystic ovaries and mastitis, also common human problems.

Wild beef is more difficult to obtain than other wild animal food sources; however, there are sources of naturally raised, grass-fed beef. When choosing beef or any other ruminant, this is the only sensible way to go. The advent of “mad cow disease” only underscores the point.

Heavy beef eaters have other easily recognizable traits. They tend to be hot-natured (both physically and emotionally) and loud. They tend to have heavy and full faces and bodies with thick skin. Their skin often has a reddish color to it, and they are almost always hairy people.

While beef has been one of the most overconsumed meats, good quality beef can be a highly supportive food, especially for those with emaciated and very cold conditions. Grass-fed beef creates a hot and damp condition in the human body and contributes to endurance, strength, and stability.

Bison

Bison, also called buffalo, are an extremely hardy species and well suited to year-round range feeding. They easily cope with cold winter climates and the concomitant reductions in food supply by naturally slowing their metabolism. Even feedlot-raised bison have this natural ability.

Like beef but far stronger and more active, bison is now a popular alternative for those seeking a leaner meat than beef. Bison has a strong warming effect on the body and can be supportive for those suffering from chills, poor circulation, and lack of robust health in general.

Pigs: “To Market, To Market . . .”

According to some historians, pigs were the second animals domesticated, after dogs. Domestication of the wild boar may have occurred more than eight thousand years ago.

This four-legged mammal is the most prolific of domesticated animals, with the exception of the rabbit. The pig, of course, is famous for being sloppy, slovenly, uncouth, and living in squalor, hence its use as a derogatory epithet. However, the modern animal that inspires this dubious character profile bears little resemblance to its swift and powerful ancestor, the wild boar, who is lean, muscular, and capable of running twenty-five miles per hour for short dashes.

Boars are fearless creatures that thrive mostly at night and dwell in deep forests. The wild boar still roams the remote forests of southern and eastern Europe. (The term boar is applied to wild pigs, while the word swine is reserved for domesticated pigs.)

Boars are fierce and potentially dangerous animals that eat to live. Swine, however, are generally friendly, less nocturnal, more social, and live to eat. The wild boar is an omnivorous creature; it has been said that a wild boar’s intestines are nine times the length of its body. Domesticated swine, on the other hand, have intestines fourteen times the length of their body and this purportedly improves their potential for digesting plant foods.

The pig is held by many cultures as the number one food source among animals, both for its nutritional qualities and for the simple reason that it is used in its entirety. In pig-eating cultures, no part of the pig is thrown away.

In non-pig-consuming cultures, on the other hand, the pig is abhorred as a filthy animal unfit for human consumption. Debates on the subject of religious condemnation of the pig by Jews and Muslims are continuous. Anthropologist Marvin Harris has offered what is so far the most sensible explanation for pork repulsion among those of the Middle East: it is fundamentally due less to religious beliefs and more to the fact that the arid environment of the regions where these religions were birthed is inhospitable to raising pigs.

Pigs naturally thrive in a lush forest environment where they can live healthy lives, root for food at their leisure, and rest in the cool shade of trees. This natural lifestyle does not adapt well to the arid climate of the Middle East. However, numerous Neolithic archaeological sites in this area reveal a history of thousands of years of pig domestication, long before any religious taboos set in!

Like any traditional animal food, pork can be an unhealthy food when raised improperly, but when raised naturally and prepared properly, it can be just as healthy and clean as any other animal food. This is evidenced in the populations of the world that do consume this animal.

Several years ago a good friend who was adamantly opposed to eating pork took a trip to Africa for a safari adventure. His guides on the trip were two powerfully built African natives who walked for the entire safari while my friend and others rode in a four-wheeled vehicle. My friend, a pretty big guy himself, couldn’t help but admire the stamina and build of these two African men as they trekked for miles in the hot sun, never once complaining and all the while smiling and showing endless patience with their foreign tourists.

My friend has a long history of education in nutrition and health, so after many hours into the safari and unable to contain himself, he asked the two men what food they ate that gave them such strength and stamina. They both smiled at him and said, “Pig!”

My friend was stunned by this revelation at first. But the two men didn’t hesitate in their answer, and clearly had no doubt whatsoever that it was primarily pig meat to which they owed their strength, endurance, and overall good health.

That day, my friend told me, he learned a big lesson about food. He learned not to believe everything he hears about a particular food, especially when so many other cultures may believe something radically different about that same food.

The Chinese and other Asian peoples have also kept domestic pigs for thousands of years; pork has served to nourish them for hundreds of generations and will likely continue to do so for hundreds more to come. To this day, wild boar are hunted and domestic swine are raised throughout Europe and many other parts of the world.

The pig is considered one of the most intelligent of all farm animals. This is partly due to the fact that pigs can easily be trained to do what man asks of them. It seems to me, though, that the willingness to do man’s bidding is not necessarily a true sign of intelligence in animals, and I doubt very much that many wild animals, especially the wild boar, would ever prove this level of “intelligence.”

The gestation period for pigs is three months, three weeks, and three days (114 days). Young pigs are unique among farm animals in that they are able to scuffle and run around an hour after birth. The wild sow gives birth to three or four young during her once-a-year breeding season in late December and early January. Domesticated swine have no season and can be bred any time throughout the year.

During copulation, the domesticated boar is rather quick to reach the point of ejaculation (after about one minute). But that doesn’t mean the act is over, for the boar will continue to ejaculate for five minutes or more, releasing a cup or more of fluids. I can’t say from experience, but I have heard from male pork fanciers that this particular energetic property is not far-fetched.

Another curious bit of porcine reproduction miscellany is that the sexual organ of the male pig is shaped like a corkscrew.

When not provided for, pigs are very capable of foraging for their own food. Their snouts, often called rooters because of their affinity for root plants, are used to dig and burrow into the ground. Unlike sheep, cows, and goats (all also ruminants), the pig has one stomach, and it is a highly efficient one capable of digesting just about anything that is edible—and pigs do just that. Like the lobster and other crustaceans of the ocean, or mushrooms and other fungi of the land, the pig easily qualifies as the leading candidate for the top scavenger among land animals—and this is not a derogatory statement.

The food-factory-farmed version of pigs is very competitive and will rarely eat alone. If a pig has eaten his fill but sees another get up to eat, the pig who has already eaten will get up to eat again out of fear of not getting enough.

Pigs are the fastest-growing farm animals, so it’s not surprising that they would need large quantities of food. Unfortunately, though, these domesticated eating machines rarely have an outlet to dispel most of their accumulated food energy, so they simply get fat—unlike wild boars, which are lean and have little fat. The fat content of wild boar is approximately 4 percent, while that of the domestic, confined pig is approximately 35 percent.

Commercial pigs are prone to bacterial infections that cause abscesses. Some 30 to 50 percent of domesticated pigs raised in confinement are affected with mycoplasmic pneumonia (a cross between a virus and a mold) and, because of their susceptibility to stress, can die suddenly from hyperthermia. They are also very sun-sensitive and are extremely susceptible to sunburn and heat stroke. They have very few sweat glands and most of those are on their snouts. This animal food is hot! Energetically, these characteristics can manifest in humans as hot flashes, pneumonia, avoidance of sun and hot places with a preference for cold and air conditioning, irritability, quickness to anger, obesity, and rapid or labored breathing.

They are not attracted to the sight of blood, as chickens are; however, confined pigs are prone to excessive eating, nibbling, huddling, and tail biting, the latter often reaching a point where the pig doing the tail biting resorts to cannibalism and begins to eat the other pig. This excessive oral and anal behavior often contributes further to ear chewing and sudden outbreaks of violence and aggression.

Modern pigs suffer from social confusion, in that they often have great difficulty recognizing others in their group. This energetic characteristic often manifests in humans as a feeling of being out of place in social situations, or a constant need for acknowledgment, which, if it is not received, can lead to overindulgence and isolation.

Much of a domesticated pig’s time is spent resting and sleeping. Because of this lack of activity, they suffer from inflamed joints and other joint abnormalities. The energetic equivalent of these traits appears in the human who consumes this quality of pig. In addition to their tendency toward developing gastric ulcers, pigs also suffer from an unusual wasting disease in which their muscles wither and lose their elasticity and strength.

One of the most dominant characteristics of confined pigs, especially those kept in darkness, is their tendency to sit on their haunches, depressed and with their heads drooping (as if in mourning) for long periods. Being a sensitive and intelligent animal, the pig abhors confinement and resorts to a stubborn and defeatist attitude in the face of the inability to do anything about its circumstance.

This is also not an unusual scenario for humans who find themselves in situations where they are uncomfortable or feel confined. The basic difference between a pig and a human in this scenario is that the human can usually make a choice to do something about it, whereas the pig cannot. It is not unusual for humans to feel they have no choice and as a result, often remain in a depressed situation where they can easily develop resentment, frustration, and increased depression.

Normal behavior in healthy, unconfined pigs has shown them to be especially hygienic. They will use one particular area for a latrine, another for sleeping and lying down, and another for birthing. In domesticated swine, of course, this relative fastidiousness disappears.

Heavy pork eaters usually have rounded facial and body features. Their bodies often lack clear definition from one body part to the next. Pork eaters are not always obese, yet they do tend to have an appearance of fullness. Their arms, from wrist to shoulder, often appear as one fully-extended appendage and their legs likewise. Their rounded faces usually include an extra fullness under the chin that tapers off down the neck, giving a lack of definition to the chin.

Traditional peoples who consume naturally raised pork do not have these traits; they rather have strong muscular bodies that are quite well defined.

While pork may be a religious taboo for some, for many more people in the world it has proved to be a highly useful and nutritious food. Quality pork can be supportive for conditions of dryness and underweight due to lack of assimilation. Its most pronounced effect can be noticed in the middle organs: the spleen, pancreas, stomach, liver, and gallbladder. It can also be helpful in stimulating metabolism and increasing strength and stamina.

Goats

According to the carbon dating of fossils, goats were domesticated around eight thousand years ago; some historians believe domestication of the goat occurred well before cattle.

Traditionally, goats have been raised for their milk and meat. Cheese, yogurt, and a number of other dairy products are made from goat’s milk. The meat is called chevon and is a popular food among people of Spanish, Greek, Jewish, and other cultures worldwide. Kid (young goat) meat plays an important role in the meals of spring festivals of Easter and Passover. More than two hundred thousand goats are slaughtered annually in the United States alone. The most popular chevon for the Easter-Passover market are young milk-fed kids that weigh an average of twenty to thirty pounds.

The goat is related to the deer and like the deer is a browser. This simply means that the goat would rather reach up for its food than graze the ground with lowered head. Goats are partial to nibbling on hanging things and will taste just about anything at least once. While not all hanging items are edible to a goat, it doesn’t really matter—these things are just too difficult to resist. If they don’t actually eat them, they will nibble anyway, simply to entertain themselves.

Goats are ruminants. Like cows and sheep, they have four-compartment stomachs and prefer to feed on plant life that consists largely of carbohydrates, cellulose, and water. They prefer shrubs, weeds, saplings, leaves, bark, and grass.

Like their ancestors, goats prefer living on steep slopes. They appreciate their independence but can adapt to barn living with few problems. However, they do not like to be alone and prefer contact with their own species or with other animals.

Multiple births are not uncommon among goats. The female (doe) gives birth to one or more offspring, usually in springtime. She can become pregnant as early as the age of seven months. The average gestation period for a goat is 145 to 155 days. Does are dainty creatures, fastidious and intelligent—and very friendly. Contrary to what some people think, does are not mean and smelly creatures. The buck (male) is another story. He has scent glands, the strongest being just behind his horns, that give off a rather strong smell. Does don’t seem to mind it, though, and they willingly accept the buck’s other peculiar habits, one of which is their tendency to urinate all over their front legs and beards.

Goats are more economical to keep than cows. This small animal can produce more milk per pound of body weight on the same amount of feed as can a cow. A single cow will need to eat as much as six to eight times what goats would eat in order to produce the same amount of milk.

Goats are curious and adventurous creatures and will circumvent any boundary that isn’t goat-proofed by jumping over it, crawling under it, or simply knocking it over in their quest to gain access to open space. Many goatkeepers consider goats to be the healthiest of domestic animals.

The energetic effects of regularly consuming goat meat or milk include a curious and adventurous personality combined with a stubborn abrasiveness. These qualities may manifest as a person being set in his ways, often rigorously imposing his opinions and beliefs on others. His eating patterns are usually haphazard at best and consist of strange and unusual combinations of foods. While this person usually has a few set meals, consisting of two to three items which he eats regularly, most of his eating is spontaneous and may include just about anything immediately available—usually one food at a time followed by another, then another, until he is satisfied.

These people like to talk incessantly on one subject. Their facial features are rough, with a tendency toward dry and matted hair. They generally appear unkempt, with a tight and gnarled body structure. While they are often obsessed with matters of physical hygiene (frequently to the point of being wasteful), their appearance does not usually make this obsession obvious to others.

These people are independent, yet they don’t really like to be alone. In their relationships, they either keep their solitude for long periods or maintain a separateness with their partner through a lack of adequate communication.

Goat meat has a lean, stringy, and sinewy texture that creates a dry and warm condition in the human body. It can be a supportive food for those with loose muscles, low energy, and timid natures.

Sheep

There are many breeds of sheep, an animal valued for at least the past nine thousand years for its wool, meat, and milk. One of the more popular domestic type of sheep in the United States and Europe is the Delaine, which is a fine wool breed of Merino originally imported from Spain in 1801.

Wool is an amazing raw material with no equal among fibers natural or synthetic. It has the unique properties of bulk, elasticity, and absorption. It can absorb 30 percent of its own weight in water before it feels damp. A single sheep can supply from three to eighteen pounds of wool a year.

With the exception of traditional peoples raised around sheep, many people find lamb meat to have a strong or gamey taste. This is true among factory-raised sheep that often wallow in their own excrement; however, free-roaming sheep that get plenty of exercise do not have the same flavor.

Hardy, sure-footed animals, herded and chaperoned by a single sheepherder and often accompanied by a trustworthy dog, sheep did (and many in some areas of the world still do) roam the countryside and mountain ranges, freely grazing for their food. Most of the lamb produced in the United States and Canada are still raised on grass. However, like other livestock, many sheep suffer the perils of total confinement and abuse awarded them through man’s insensitivity.

In fact, it is said that in order to wean a “200 percent” lamb crop (an ideal percentage), sheep must produce more triplet and quadruplet lambs at birth. Some of these baby lambs are grafted onto different mothers with more plentiful milk, or they are artificially raised on milk replacer. A 200 percent lamb crop is rarely achieved in America, and starvation is still the principal cause of baby lamb deaths. Ordinarily, if left to the wiles of nature, sheep will usually produce one lamb a year, with a gestation period that lasts an average of 145 to 148 days (twenty-one weeks).

Lambs have a keen sense of smell that allows them to readily distinguish their offspring from others. It has been said that their keen sense of smell is what determines how they react with people: by smell alone, they are able to distinguish between a gentle, harmless human being and one who might be potentially harmful to them.

Sheep are one of the least intelligent farm animals, and one of the most defenseless. They are very timid animals and will shy away from anything unless given a strong reason not to.

Sheep are known as followers: they are so dependent that rather than following one of their own kind, they will readily follow one of another species, e.g., the human shepherd.

There is an unusual herd of sheep in Scotland’s Shetland Island beach; these animals are unusual among sheep in that they do not flock at all. Interestingly, these sheep eat sea algae. This reveals a fascinating conjunction of opposite characters: the normally conformist behavior of the advanced (and typically grass-fed) mammal, and the individualism of the “primitive” algae—which, though they aggregate in colonies that resemble fully formed plants, still maintain their actual form as independent, one-celled organisms.

Sheep do not like hot weather (not surprising when considering the animal walks around in a wool coat all year long) and prefer to retreat to a cool, shady place when the heat is on. It is not uncommon for them to eat nothing during the day when the weather is hot, choosing to graze at night when the weather is cooler. Sheep neither need nor drink as much water as most other livestock.

Some common health disorders experienced by commercially raised sheep include: stiff-legged lambs, usually the result of vitamin E deficiency; stillbirths, also linked to nutritional factors, as well as to over feeding; and worms, the most common of sheep’s afflictions. When pigs and chickens are subject to worms, they usually do not cause great harm. But a worm-infested sheep can easily get run-down and die.

The energetic effects of eating an excessive amount of lamb include a timid and shy personality. These people often lack motivation and the initiative to start something new. They often complain and feel the need for much attention. They tend to be strong and stocky individuals, yet lean toward being inactive. Many will gain weight easily; however, when they gain weight, it is usually distributed evenly throughout the body. They are often easily confused by complex issues and usually require detailed explanations. Their sense of smell is usually very good and this makes them sensitive to body odors and environmental odors.

In relationships, they tend to take a passive role. They make dedicated partners that will do whatever it takes to make their relationship comfortable and relaxed. They tend to have soft and gentle yet full facial features.

Lamb is a dark meat and produces a hot and damp condition. Lamb is also considered the least allergenic meat. Lamb can be a beneficial food for people with weak constitutions, as well as for those who are underweight and have weak blood.

Rabbit

In America, the mere mention of Easter usually reverberates in praises by young children for the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs. For most adults, Easter has very different connotations. To them, it has religious overtones that chime with Sunday and church. The excitement, joy, and fantasy that children experience during Easter is actually closer to the original meaning of this holiday than the adult interpretation. Easter (named after the Babylonian god Ishtar) was on the lunar calendar long before the advent of Christianity and was originally a time of celebration that correlated to the springtime rebirth of vegetation.

The rabbit (it was actually a hare) became the symbol of fertility that referred to new life and the start of its periodicity. The rabbit was a logical choice for this symbol of fertility, considering its prodigious ability to multiply. The egg was another choice for a fertility symbol; when put together with the rabbit, it resulted in the Ishtar bunny that laid the Ishtar eggs. The combination of the bunny and the egg was a lighthearted combination, a harmless fantasy (since rabbits do not lay eggs).

Concerning the eating of rabbit, it might be best not to mention this to children, most of whom see the rabbit as a soft and cuddly creature, and certainly not something to eat. However, food they can be, and food they have been for thousands of years in many parts of the world. Hare bones have been found in prehistoric kitchen middens in New England, Africa, and Russia. Numerous Indian tribes ate rabbit long before the Europeans got to America. Although there are more than sixty-six breeds of rabbit in America, it was one of the last domesticated farm animals.

Rabbit was more popular as a food in early America than it is today. Thomas Jefferson had a fancy for rabbit meat and often had a good stock on hand. Today, in most parts of the United States, rabbits have yet to be accepted on a large scale as meat producers. This is not so in Europe, though, where rabbit is frequently eaten in stews, roasted, grilled, and in many other preparations.

Many rabbit-meat fanciers consider the meat superior to chicken, and as the world food problem gets worse they believe rabbit will emerge as the animal food of the future. Rabbit is a close-textured white meat and has a more delicate flavor than chicken. The protein content exceeds that of beef, pork, lamb, and chicken. The French, who are big rabbit consumers, favor wild rabbit over domesticated breeds for its superior flavor.

A female rabbit is called a doe and a male a buck. One buck can service up to ten does, and a ten-pound doe can produce up to 120 pounds of meat in her litters in one year. This means she can produce from three to five litters per year, numbering between six and twelve young per litter. The average gestation period for rabbits is thirty-one days.

When a doe accepts service by a buck, the buck will usually fall over to one side or over backward when finished. But it doesn’t take more than a minute or so before he is ready to repeat the process again—that is, if the doe is willing. Perhaps this is where the saying “screwing like bunnies” comes from. A hardy and virile buck, however, does not fall over when finished; rather, once he has ejaculated he will stand up straight on his back feet and let out a piercing screech. (I have not observed that this trait carries over to rabbit-eaters; let us hope not.)

Wild rabbits come into heat only in the spring and fall, whereas domesticated rabbits have a four-day nonfertile period in each sixteen-day cycle. In commercial rabbitry, inbreeding is common. Sex becomes a free-for-all, father and daughters, mother and sons; the one exception to this orgy is brother and sister—this just doesn’t work, and when it happens, the offspring are often born dead or very weak.

Although rabbits are highly sexual animals, overfeeding can easily lead to infertility.

Rabbits require lots of water and prefer to do most of their drinking at night. They do not require much care, and, if fed properly and allowed to live in clean surroundings, they are among the most disease-resistant of livestock. They can tolerate a great deal of cold, yet cannot tolerate windy or drafty conditions or strong sunlight.

Their heartbeat averages about two hundred beats per minute and they have very fast metabolisms. They can move in short spurts by using their two front feet together followed by their two back feet. But most of the time, they sit quietly in a crouched position. If startled, they are capable of a quick retreat at a dazzling speed. Rabbits like to dig burrows, but farmed rabbits do not have the opportunity to do so.

Rabbits are probably the most emotionally sensitive of all livestock and are thus one of the most easily stressed. Any deviation from the normal sequence of events in their environment, such as a thunderstorm, unusual sounds, or strange people, will tend to make them stressed. They may not reveal their stress in the same way as turkeys or chickens; instead, they tend to internalize it and this often manifests as infertility in does and sterility in bucks.

They are extremely adept at recognizing human fears and hostility. Just look into a rabbit’s eyes when humans are around. What looks like fear isn’t really. . . . It’s more like they are aware of the human’s deepest secrets. Perhaps they are.

Rabbits are sociable and affectionate animals. They like to touch each other’s noses, eat together, burrow, and play together. They like things clean and sanitary. When deprived of these simple pleasures, they can easily develop health problems.

Coccidiosis is one of the major problems of caged rabbits. It is a parasite that damages the liver and is considered responsible for the deaths of many young rabbits. Fur chewing is another common problem, with the rabbit chewing either its own fur or the fur of another rabbit. This is usually due to boredom from being cooped up with nothing to do.

They also have a tendency to get fat, and when they do, they often become sterile. Other common rabbit diseases include rickets (fragile and crooked bones), enteritis (bacterial infection), pneumonia, viral infection, heat stroke, and eye infections.

Rabbit eaters are usually very affectionate, sexual, and emotionally sensitive people. They like lots of attention and they like to give attention to others. They like to express themselves more in an emotional way as opposed to verbally, preferring to be soft-spoken and quiet. Their faces appear soft and gentle and they will often nod their heads in approval or agreement during conversations.

Since rabbit is mostly white meat, it produces short spurts of energy with long intermittent periods of quiet. The meat has a warm and dry effect and can be helpful for people with low sexual energy and overly damp conditions.

Game

Game is a term given to mammals and birds that are hunted in their wild state for food, or it can be used to define farmed yet not fully domesticated wild animals and birds. If farmed, wild animals can still maintain much of their original character, as evidenced in naturally raised pheasant, guinea fowl, and deer.

Wild game is usually seasonal food, whereas farmed game may be (depending on the location) available year round. Though often milder in flavor, farmed game is not energetically as powerful as wild game and has slightly different effects.

Many people find game to have a strong flavor compared to domestic animal foods. If you find game particularly strong or unsuitable to your palate, you might want to reevaluate your perspective on meat: in its truly natural state, it is supposed to taste this way. The domestic creatures (this does not include free-running farmed game) you have eaten in the past are not only energetically inferior, they are also nutritionally inferior in their balance between proteins and fats, which influences the flavor of the meat.

While game may require more care in its preparation, it is among the healthiest of meats. Meat in general can be a powerful, heat-inducing food as well as a centering food, and the energetic difference between factory-raised animal meat and wild game is a difference between centered delusion and centered realism.

Aside from the emotional and physical responsibility it takes to eat any kind of meat, wild game, if it knows it is being pursued and hunted, will raise the adrenaline in its blood. This can deplete the store of glycogen in muscle cells, especially if the animal experiences stress for any length of time before being killed, and this can affect the meat by making it more acidic, which in turn alters the taste as well as texture, making it tougher and less palatable.

The essence of wild game is that it includes a variety of undomesticated animals that have not been genetically tampered with by man. Will eating wild game make one wild? Not necessarily, because each type of game has its own unique qualities and energetics. Wild, in the sense of “aggressive and dangerous,” does not particularly fit the qualities of deer, even though they may live “in the wild” with wild predatory animals. “Gentle and free” are words more fitting to deer.

One winter, my compost pile became a regular hangout for some local deer. They became so accustomed to compost being a replenished food supply, and to seeing me, that they would sometimes eat from my hand. Free and independent, yes, but certainly not domestic.

Deer

Deer belong to a family of mammals call cervidae which include moose, elk, and many other species of deer. Here we have an animal that has survived virtually unchanged since prehistoric times, with the exception of a few physical adjustments in size. This fact alone is a strong statement for the energetics of any food source. With the deer it is particularly interesting, since its only real defense against predators, aside from its keen sense of smell and hearing, is its agility and speed. Any species that can exist and survive practically unchanged while being the constant focus of numerous imposing predators (including humans) for as long as deer have is truly a marvel of genetic perfection.

Humans have consumed venison (deer meat) since prehistoric times; indeed, venison has often sustained large groups of people as a principal food. Once considered a robust and hearty food for feasts eaten during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, for most people venison is now a seasonal food, available mainly during hunting season. That is, except for the hunter who is fortunate enough to kill one during the season: for him, venison may be available all year round, with the help of his freezer. Some states have laws that prohibit retailing venison in supermarkets during off-season; others prohibit the retailing of venison at any time, with the exception of menu fare at some restaurants. Other parts of the world do not have the same restrictions when it comes to hunting and consuming deer.

The doe (female deer) is wild, fleet-footed, and acutely aware, yet delicate, feminine, and beautiful. The buck (male deer), with antlers erect and head held high, broadcasts a stoic, reserved masculinity, a distant mate, cautious and proud, and prepared to defend the family if necessary. Deer are quiet and playful creatures, able to stop and hold a motionless pose at the slightest sound. At the same time, they are extremely agile: they can jump nearly fifteen feet into the air and run up to twenty-five miles per hour for several miles. In Medieval times, in addition to being an important food animal, deer were thought to be magical; to this day they play an important role in many shamanic ceremonies.

Deer have keen eyesight. In fact, the anatomy of the deer eye and the general organization of the neural circuits, the basic brain wiring, is virtually indistinguishable from that of humans.

A unique quality of the deer family is their lack of gallbladders.

The deer is a lean yet muscular animal that some experts say holds the mammalian record for defecation: apparently a single deer averages about thirteen piles per day. They have an incredible ability to rid themselves of excess waste, which is why venison is lean meat. Venison is powerful meat long known for its strength-inducing qualities and aphrodisiac potential. It is a meat so completely useable by the human body that little to none of the digested matter from it is excreted by the body. Ground and powdered deer horns are a common remedy in Chinese medicine for infertility and impotence. Deer are also polygamous by nature.

One particularly interesting family of cervidae (deer) are reindeer, called caribou in their wild state. (Some domestic reindeer are called caribou but are in fact reindeer.) Caribou are wild and bigger than domestic reindeer. Domesticated in Scandinavia and Mongolia thousands of years ago, reindeer are friendly, docile, and social animals with communication skills that extend beyond their own species. In fact, reindeer are known to communicate with humans to the point where humans do not even need to figure whose deer belong in which herd. The deer know and will stay or find their way to their designated herds (each herd often numbering in the hundreds) when separated, even if there are several other herds present.

The Laplanders of northern Scandinavia have immersed themselves in the reindeer lifestyle so completely that during the animals’ seasonal migrations, they will pack up all their belongings and follow the herds. The reindeer supply the Lapps with extremely rich and nourishing milk and meat, as well as bone for tools and knives, and hide for gloves, bedding, and clothing. They pull sleds during migration and whenever else needed.

Other areas of reindeer herding include numerous parts of northern Eurasia. Many Arctic peoples, including the Sami in Scandinavia and the Nenets and other groups in Russia, also have a long history of reindeer herding.

Domesticated reindeer have uniquely structured hair that traps air, providing them with excellent insulation. They are strong swimmers and their hair helps to keep them buoyant when crossing wide rushing rivers and frozen stretches of the Arctic Ocean.

Reindeer physiology is designed to specialize in the digestion of lichen, an important food source in winter. Lichen is produced by a symbiotic relationship between algae and fungi, two very ancient organisms that have been present on the earth for millions of years.

There is an intriguing mystery of reindeer and caribou: they are the only species of deer whose males and females both grow antlers.

The shorter and stouter reindeer weighs an average of three hundred pounds; the wild caribou comes in at fully twice that weight. While the reindeer are a domesticated version of the wild caribou, all attempts to domesticate wild caribou have ended in failure. Both can breed together, but caribou tend to dominate. This has led to the theory that all domestic reindeer came from a single herd of caribou some five thousand or more years ago. Fair enough, but how did this happen, and who was responsible for it? Who was able to domesticate the wild caribou to produce the reindeer, genetically altering it in the process so that it would consistently weigh half the weight of the caribou? And why can’t anyone repeat the process today?

At a time when our primitive ancestors were supposedly just beginning to crawl out of their caves, who were the Neolithic geniuses who were able to accomplish such an extraordinary feat of domestication?

Deer and its related species are powerful energizing foods especially supportive to those who lack a sense of adventure and motivation. These foods can also be very helpful for those suffering from depression, lack of clarity, and poor memory.

Elk

Elk is another common food in various parts of the world. Elk are strong and majestic animals; their meat is energetically more powerful than venison. Both tend to have a hot and dry effect.

In many countries—especially Scandinavian countries, where both deer and elk are common foods—they are often prepared with rich, creamy sauces that include mushrooms to balance the dry qualities. Other traditional preparations include marinating the meat in oil, vinegar, wine, and herbs, or smoking and drying the meat.

Boar and Bear

Another furred game animal is the wild boar. An impressive animal, indeed, and quite unlike deer, wild boar are wild—and dangerous. Energetically, wild boar meat has a hot and dry effect and is extremely energizing and stimulating.

The more extreme in behavior the animal, the more responsibility it requires to assimilate it. Wild boar would be most beneficial if you are going to be very physically active and outside in a natural environment, as traditional game eaters were. (Or you could curl up with your partner and a nice bottle of wine, then expend some of that wild energy together. No, better yet, follow the first suggestion, and then include the second. Now, that’s being responsible.)

Some people eat bear, too. Here is one game animal that doesn’t lack in fat. Personally, I have never tried this meat, and if trying it means I would have to shoot it first, then don’t hold your breath. I stand five-foot-five and weigh 130 pounds. I can run pretty fast, but from what I understand about bears, not fast enough.

Good food for cold northern climates, and with its natural tendency to hibernate, bear may very well be the most heat-producing food there is.

Wild Rabbit

Wild rabbit is smaller and more active than domestic hutch varieties, giving it darker and stronger-tasting meat. Hare is larger than rabbit, and also has dark and gamey meat.