11 ms·
I once saw fresh octopus prepared at a seaside barbecue place. The first thing the octopus did after the cook grabbed it from the kiddie pool full of seawater
by sevensor 10y ago
I once saw fresh octopus prepared at a seaside barbecue place. The first thing the octopus did after the cook grabbed it from the kiddie pool full of seawater was to wrap its tentacles around her forearm. Before it could get too firm of a grip, she threw it down on the concrete floor with a loud smack and disassembled it with a cleaver while it was still stunned. It was pretty intense. I can see why the dolphins would have a complex strategy for dealing with the much larger octopus they consume.
Now that it's become clear that the octopus is an intelligent creature capable of solving problems and making plans, I'm going to eat less sophisticated mollusks and leave octopus to the dolphins.
- overcast 10y agoI feel bad about eating intelligent species, however if it makes you feel any better, their lifespan is only 3-5 years.
- roberto 10y agoRelevant SMBC: http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/moral-relativity http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/moral-relativity
- mmjaa 10y agoI'm with you, I can't stand the thought of eating them. They're just too darn smart, and seem really aware of you. I've swum all over the world, and any time I get a chance, I'll easily change my plans just to hang and watch a cephalopod in the wild. Thing is, too many times I've felt the situation reversed - that I'm swimming along, and the octopus are watching me, hanging out, trying to learn what this strange creature is up to in their ocean.
- cannonpr 10y agoI used to love eating octopus particularly in sashimi form or nigiri, after learning more about their intelligence and behaviours I find my self increasingly unable to eat them... While I understand why I have developed this response in respect to a relatively intelligent animal... it's a shame because they really are so damn tasty. In other words I totally get the dolphins.
- semi-extrinsic 10y agoI'm not one to judge either way, but I think it's very weird how we have aversions towards eating "intelligent animals" like whales or octopi, while no-one bats an eye at the large-scale slaughter and eating of clearly intelligent mammals that form tight-knit communities and show very complex behaviour like empathy, reasoning about and solving puzzles, even the ability to play simple computer games via joystick - I'm talking about pigs.
- macintux 10y agoClearly "no one" is an falsehood. Besides the ethical vegetarians, there are a fair number of us who are troubled by pigs in particular. Whales and octopuses, I think, also fit the "animals we know to live in threatened conditions" criteria many of us apply to deciding who to eat.
- semi-extrinsic 10y agoSure, I agree, s/no one/most people/. The "threatened conditions" is a bit more debatable, e.g. the minke whales that are being caught today by Icelandic and Norwegian whaling are of the same endangerment status as e.g. moose and wild boar - "Least Concern". Also Greenpeace et al. use quite a bit of disingenious reporting, e.g. talking about Icelandic fishing of "endangered whales" when those whales aren't actually endangered in the oceans where the Icelandic vessels fish, but literally on the other side of the earth. (I'm not particularly pro-whaling either, just food for thought.) Octopi are even less endangered, the two large species are not on any conservation list.
- macintux 10y agoNote I said environment, not the species themselves (yet). The fact that we're dramatically changing (arguably wrecking) the ocean seems indisputable.
- LordKano 10y agoI find the hypocrisy amusing. There are people who go apoplectic over dog eating in some parts of Asia but have no problem with pig eating in the west. Pigs have a similar level of intelligence to dogs but it's ok to grow, slaughter, butcher, cook and eat the pig.
- ajuc 10y agoI'm pretty sure pigs are smarter still.
- lorenzosnap 10y agoagreed. no more octopus with potatoes for me. they are too clever. I will just eat the potatoes.
- TurboHaskal 10y agoI suddenly feel the need of reserving a flight to Galicia after reading your comment.
- vinchuco 10y agoYou're assuming potatoes aren't clever too (albeit obfuscated in some way or over a larger time scale )
- erikpukinskis 10y agoYes potatoes are as intelligent over the course of a year as an octopus is in a few seconds. But that means killing and eating a potato plant is morally more equivalent to beating and detaining an octopus for a little while than killing and eating one.
- vinchuco 10y agoThat's a big assumption .
- erikpukinskis 10y agoWhat is?
- mrec 10y ago"Even a potato in a dark cellar has a certain low cunning about him which serves him in excellent stead. He knows perfectly well what he wants and how to get it. He sees the light coming from the cellar window and sends his shoots crawling straight thereto: they will crawl along the floor and up the wall and out at the cellar window; if there be a little earth anywhere on the journey he will find it and use it for his own ends. What deliberation he may exercise in the matter of his roots when he is planted in the earth is a thing unknown to us, but we can imagine him saying, 'I will have a tuber here and a tuber there, and I will suck whatsoever advantage I can from all my surroundings. This neighbour I will overshadow, and that I will undermine; and what I can do shall be the limit of what I will do. He that is stronger and better placed than I shall overcome me, and him that is weaker I will overcome.' "The potato says these things by doing them, which is the best of languages. What is consciousness if this is not consciousness? We find it difficult to sympathise with the emotions of a potato; so we do with those of an oyster. Neither of these things makes a noise on being boiled or opened, and noise appeals to us more strongly than anything else, because we make so much about our own sufferings. Since, then, they do not annoy us by any expression of pain we call them emotionless; and so qua mankind they are; but mankind is not everybody. From Samuel Butler's Erewhon. (The same chapter that inspired the eponymous Butlerian Jihad in Dune, incidentally.) I don't agree with the conclusion here, and I doubt Butler did either, but the whole book is a great read. [1] http://www.online-literature.com/samuel-butler/erewhon/26/ http://www.online-literature.com/samuel-butler/erewhon/26/
- qyv 10y agoDolphins, which are another highly intelligent species, don't seem to have any qualms about eating octopus.
- db48x 10y agoYes, but we don't eat dolphin because we regard them as too intelligent (unless they spend all their money on the lottery).
- oh_sigh 10y agoAre you sure about that? Are you sure it isn't just because they are relatively rare and their meat doesn't taste good?
- semi-extrinsic 10y agoAlso tradition. E.g. pigs are about equal in intelligence to dolphins and chimpanzees.
- spullara 10y agoThings might change if we find out they are made of bacon.
- pc86 10y agoI'm willing to bet if they tasted half as good as octopus they would already be extinct.
- eru 10y agoMink Whales are delicious. (Just out of ignorance, I would assume dolphins probably taste similar-ish?)
- soundwave106 10y agoI've only found a few posts that describe the taste of dolphin. This entry (https://www.wideislandview.com/2010/03/28/bon-appetit-what-its-like-to-eat-flipper/ https://www.wideislandview.com/2010/03/28/bon-appetit-what-i...) described it as tasting like liver with a beefy texture. That doesn't sound terribly appetizing to my personal taste.
- eru 10y agoPigs are also pretty smart. And still delicious.
- jjtheblunt 10y agoJust like humans, said every cannibal ever.
- Asooka 10y agoHumans eat all kinds of processed garbage though. I'd stick to organically-fed pigs.
- whyenot 10y agoSo are dogs, depending on who you ask.
- virtuabhi 10y agoI really don't get why this reasoning is not extended to other animals as well. For example, people do eat cows, pigs, dogs and they are pretty smart as well (much more than plants). I think it boils down to "culture" of the place you grew up. Maybe in your country people never ate octopus but in country X (China? Korea?) they never had any doubts about eating octopus.