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Consider the sausage. Many sausages are made with the intestinal linings and viscera of animals who live in, root around in, and occasionally even eat their ow

Consider the sausage. Many sausages are made with the intestinal linings and viscera of animals who live in, root around in, and occasionally even eat their own feces. Shit that's passed through shit that's passed through shit. And yet, few people bat an eyelash at hot dogs, brats, or cocktail weenies. Of course, there's that old chestnut about not wanting to know 'how the sausage gets made.' But, by and large, people cognitively distance the making-of-the-sausage from the sausage itself. Why? Because they've been trained to think of "sausage" as a wholly separate class of item from "pig's colon." And because they've first encountered -- and enjoyed -- sausage before anyone ever told them about how it got there. We need to use similar psychology to fight the psychology of contamination thinking w/r/t treated wastewater. The message needs to be about how the input is apples, and the output is oranges. But we have to start with the oranges. It's very tough to sell the story when the story begins with the making-of-the-sausage and not the sausage itself.

jimmyjim 15y ago
It's very interesting that you're in a way encouraging that the veil that is there concealing the process of food manufacturing ... remain there. Because that is something that sensible environmentalists argue against, as everyone could stand to know a bit more about what they're eating, and the issues of food safety and food security associated with the food taht they're eating. I think Food Inc does a good of bringing these issues to the public in a very presentable way.
- jonnathanson 15y ago
  "It's very interesting that you're in a way encouraging that the veil that is there concealing the process of food manufacturing ... remain there." Not at all. I'm just drawing a point of comparison between the "PR" of the sausage vs. the PR of treated wastewater. I don't condone opacity or trickery on behalf of the food processing industry. Just the opposite, in fact. On the subject of Food, Inc: Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma is an excellent read on the topic, and I recommend it highly. It has been highly influential on my personal philosophy toward food and the industrial food system.
reemrevnivek 15y ago
Hot dogs, brats, and cocktail weenies are all types of Americanized sausage which don't use intestinal linings anymore. You have to work pretty hard today to find sausage in your supermarket that is made the old-fashioned way. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casing_(sausage) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casing_(sausage)
- jonnathanson 15y ago
  Fair. But I suggest that we're picking at nits here. Most mass-market sausages, even of the American variety, are made with mixed and mechanically separated parts, drawn from all over the animal and highly likely to be include portions of bone, head(!), feet, and visceral matter. And the animals themselves live in horrid conditions that often includes standing knee-deep in lakes of their own waste. I think my overall point still stands.
  - burgerbrain 15y ago
    My local standard (non-specialist) grocery store sells whole pigs heads, chopped at the neck. Feet are even more popular. I think you might be overestimating how squimish the general population is/would be of such things.
    - bricestacey 15y ago
      Where do you live? I actually go out of my way to find exotic things, but I have never seen that. In fact, I'm one of this people that visit 3-4 grocery stores on the weekend. For reference, I live in New England.
      - djb_hackernews 15y ago
        I grew up in southern MA and pigs feet were a treat in my family growing up... In that area any supermarket has them.
      - burgerbrain 15y ago
        Currently Philadelphia. I just checked the grocery store's website and although they list feet/tails/jowls/skin/neck, they don't seem to be listing head right now. I may be recalling seeing it in Reading Terminal Market^ which certainly has that kind of stuff (one stall there has piles and piles of chicken feet.. I have no idea what you'd even do with those. Stews perhaps.) ^ https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Reading_Terminal_Market https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Reading_Termi...
felipemnoa 15y ago
And yet if you tell them that some cultures consume insects as part of their diet they will immediately start making yuck sounds and saying how disgusting it is. We truly are our culture.
schnaars 15y ago
Ugh, I just ate a sausage. Chicken Apple Sausage, but still. It's a perfect analogy.

jimmyjim 15y ago

It's very interesting that you're in a way encouraging that the veil that is there concealing the process of food manufacturing ... remain there. Because that is something that sensible environmentalists argue against, as everyone could stand to know a bit more about what they're eating, and the issues of food safety and food security associated with the food taht they're eating. I think Food Inc does a good of bringing these issues to the public in a very presentable way.

jonnathanson 15y ago
"It's very interesting that you're in a way encouraging that the veil that is there concealing the process of food manufacturing ... remain there." Not at all. I'm just drawing a point of comparison between the "PR" of the sausage vs. the PR of treated wastewater. I don't condone opacity or trickery on behalf of the food processing industry. Just the opposite, in fact. On the subject of Food, Inc: Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma is an excellent read on the topic, and I recommend it highly. It has been highly influential on my personal philosophy toward food and the industrial food system.

reemrevnivek 15y ago

Hot dogs, brats, and cocktail weenies are all types of Americanized sausage which don't use intestinal linings anymore. You have to work pretty hard today to find sausage in your supermarket that is made the old-fashioned way. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casing_(sausage) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casing_(sausage)

jonnathanson 15y ago
Fair. But I suggest that we're picking at nits here. Most mass-market sausages, even of the American variety, are made with mixed and mechanically separated parts, drawn from all over the animal and highly likely to be include portions of bone, head(!), feet, and visceral matter. And the animals themselves live in horrid conditions that often includes standing knee-deep in lakes of their own waste. I think my overall point still stands.
- burgerbrain 15y ago
  My local standard (non-specialist) grocery store sells whole pigs heads, chopped at the neck. Feet are even more popular. I think you might be overestimating how squimish the general population is/would be of such things.
  - bricestacey 15y ago
    Where do you live? I actually go out of my way to find exotic things, but I have never seen that. In fact, I'm one of this people that visit 3-4 grocery stores on the weekend. For reference, I live in New England.
    - djb_hackernews 15y ago
      I grew up in southern MA and pigs feet were a treat in my family growing up... In that area any supermarket has them.
    - burgerbrain 15y ago
      Currently Philadelphia. I just checked the grocery store's website and although they list feet/tails/jowls/skin/neck, they don't seem to be listing head right now. I may be recalling seeing it in Reading Terminal Market^ which certainly has that kind of stuff (one stall there has piles and piles of chicken feet.. I have no idea what you'd even do with those. Stews perhaps.) ^ https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Reading_Terminal_Market https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Reading_Termi...

felipemnoa 15y ago

And yet if you tell them that some cultures consume insects as part of their diet they will immediately start making yuck sounds and saying how disgusting it is. We truly are our culture.

schnaars 15y ago

Ugh, I just ate a sausage. Chicken Apple Sausage, but still. It's a perfect analogy.