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That was a large portion of the western world until the late 20th century. It was common for people to commonly eat offal (hearts, kidneys, livers etc.) in New
by toomanybeersies 8y ago
That was a large portion of the western world until the late 20th century.
It was common for people to commonly eat offal (hearts, kidneys, livers etc.) in New Zealand until the around 80s because it was more affordable than meat. As a student, I rediscovered the traditional offal recipes and saved a lot of money by eating hearts and livers instead of steaks.
I think that a lot of "traditional" foods are the foods that were saved for special occasions, they were something that specifically needed remembering in cultural memory of the society. Lambs fry (liver) and bacon used to be a very common food in New Zealand, it was standard household fare. However, you'd struggle to find a millennial who's even eaten it, let alone knows how to cook it. It was never something for special occasions.
- Kalium 8y agoMy pet hypothesis is that as people got wealthier, the special-occasions meals became more affordable more often. Since these are the foods people preferred, instead of the cheap stuff that they thought of as the food of poverty, these are the foods to which cultural significance got attached. Few people look back fondly on the foods they ate daily because it was the only stuff available.