This week we intended to teach our children about food from the source; catching, dispatching *ahem* and cooking their own crabs. We bought crab pots. We bought bait. We sloshed about in the bitter wind and frigid cold. It seems, however, we are gathers by nature. Or rather we lack the genetic make-up of hunters. Despite our valiant efforts we were wholly unsuccessful at crabbing. It is not that we couldn't go in for the kill. That part would have been accomplished. No. We simply couldn't catch the buggers. Not a one.
After three days stalking these elusive arthropods we broke down. Today we enjoyed the delectable warmth of a fish market and devoured this creature who, just this morning, was plucked from his aquatic home. He was delicious. I highly recommend him splattered with lemon and dripping with butter.
As for teaching about slow food? Well the children learned that food fresh from the source is ambrosial. They also grappled with their barbaric kinglike behavior as they ripped off legs and tore into the shell. They were, however, spared the gory details of the kill. It's still a lesson worth learning if we are going to continue with our omnivorous ways. The instruction remains for another day.
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I wonder -- do you eat meat? If so do your children know from where their food comes?
