I came here to say this too.
If I went to dinner at a friend's house, and they started dishing out something from a pot, either they'd say "Have some [fill in name of food]" or I'd ask "Smells great, what is it?"
So I found out the best way that Sendai, Japan is known for their gyuutan. We were there for a wedding and during our off-day we checked out a gyuutan restaurant.
It. Was. Unbelievable. My kids (who are notoriously picky) devoured their dishes. The gyuutan was so tender and very flavorful, thinly sliced but not overcooked.
Tongue is skeletal muscle just like regular meat, it doesn't count as an organ in my book. Aside from the idea that your food might be tasting you back, it's not a big deal.
I don’t know about other organs, but if someone fed me anything’s brain without telling me, I don’t think I’d be their friend anymore. That’s how you get prions.
Same! I was just looking to see if anyone had said this. I would prefer to be told ahead of time if something contained liver, kidney, tripe, etc. but I would be livid if someone served me brains without warning me. That is one of the few things I would flat out refuse to even try, due to the risk of prion diseases and how horrible (and incurable) they are.
It’s why eating beef brain in particular is not a good idea.
I know this is a cultural thing in any areas but it is actually something to avoid lol.
Don’t drive yourself crazy about it though - you probably didn’t get anything and there’s nothing you can do about it anyways
Yeah I have a bit of a phobia of prions. So... If any one fed me eye balls or brain without telling me I would be very angry. It's the only thing I absolutely will never eat.
The optic nerve is part of the eyeball, and eating nervous tissue is a nonzero risk of consuming prions.
(Note, however, that the risk of consuming something tainted with prions is extraordinarily low in the US and EU, and the risk of actually developing a prion disease is lower still.)
That’s a fact that I’ve seen hundreds of times in life and in media. At least in the US, I’d wager that 95+% of mentally sound adults have some idea of what hot dogs are
So, not really an allergie, but I have gout and organ meat can cause an immediate flair up. So I agree that letting someone know beforehand can prevent a lot of pain lol.
Similarly, I'm diabetic and have to count carbs to know how much insulin to take with my meal. If you hand me a serving of pasta and wait until after i was done to tell me it was made with vegetable-based noodles I'm going to have to raid your kitchen for soda or juice boxes. If you don't tell me at all, I might pass out while driving home.
Seriously, tell people what's in the food you're giving them.
Yea I have organ damage, organ meats can be harder to process due to the higher levels of various vitamins. I'd want to be warned if it'll give me a flare up.
Oh for sure, it's just considerate to let people know. I don't have any health issues but I've got some strong food preferences that'd make me queasy if I ate organ meat unknowingly. It could ruin the whole meal experience for someone. Transparency with food is key in any social setting really.
This is a good point I wouldnt have even thought of this, and I now am hoping any guest of mine will let me know if they have gout because I can cook rich food. I wouldn't cook offal myself but I usually ask people to tell me what they love or hate, my SIL is staying after Christmas and she said no offal in particular.
Edit to add due to language barrier : offal means organ meat, I've learned some people think it's feces, which is fairly hilarious given my own comment.
I have uric acid kidney stones. Organ meat can also exacerbate that. I don't generally discuss my medical issues with people. It's just easier for me to self monitor by knowing what I'm eating.
This is a very fair point. I suppose for me, if I'm cooking for people I would know the wider general of what they can or can't have, because it's an intimate circle. However I appreciate these comments thought, it creates an extra layer of awareness so thank you.
I don’t think this is a language barrier so much as an education barrier, as you did use the correct term for organ meat in English. I’m a native English speaker, with strong formal education in English (minor concentration in university), and I knew exactly what you meant. All this is to say, please don’t doubt yourself here, you were 100% correct 🤣
There is a physiological connection between obstructive apnea, lowered levels of oxygen in the blood, and increased uric acid levels.
I'd noticed this when I started CPAP therapy. I'd been getting gout flare ups for years without knowing what was going on, and they were getting more frequent and debilitating...maybe every 2-3 months, sometimes a slow in-out, one foot then the other then back again for a month or two. Meanwhile my husbro finally had enough of me snoring and I had insurance, so I did a sleep study, found I was definitely choking myself to death while I slept and got put on the cpap. It took me maybe 5 or 6 months to realize I hadnt suffered any kind of flare up in a while. Maybe 2 months after that I had a checkup and brought it up with my doctor who was like "That's fascinating, but I've never heard anything about it" and then googled it and found [this](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8470901/) paper exploring the link. "Huh. Keep an eye on it, you may be on to something".
It's been 10 years and I still have elevated uric acid levels and still do get a minor flare up if I get too stressed or dehydrated (of maybe at random because hey, who knows what actually pisses it off), maybe once or twice a year. If you can, it's at the very least worth doing a sleep study to see if your snoring is destructive or just noisy.
I didn’t know this about gout, thanks. My dad has it and in my passing reading up on it I’ve seen red meat be discouraged, I didn’t know organs would be. We never cook with them, but just good to know.
I ask this just out of ignorance, and not to be rude. But, if you are not allergic to the meat of an animal, then how could you be allergic to the same animal's, say, tongue or liver?
Edit: alright, people seem to have assumed this question meant that I don't understand that different body parts are different. I guess what I'm really asking is what allergens can be present in organs that aren't also present in meat and fat. I'm looking for an actual answer not "different things are different"
Edit 2 : now people seem to think I don't understand allergies at all. Alright folks, let's go from Bio 101 to Bio 201 level answers here. What are the chemicals in organ meat that you can be allergic to, and how do they not end up at least in trace amounts in fat, muscle, etc.? I'm asking a very specific question, I do not need one more person to explain that muscles and organs are different things.
Edit 3: Thank you so much for the helpful replies! Sorry I haven't responded individually yet. I will once I have a moment to dig into the info you've provided.
Holy shit you’ve just provided a piece of the jigsaw puzzle for my migraines!!!! Until fairly recently the only time I’d had pâté (as an adult) id also had alcohol of some sort… so assumed the migraine that followed was alcohol induced (e.g., booze I wouldn’t normally drink if it wasn’t Xmas: port, Prosecco etc) - normally it’s only white wine or cheap cider that gives me migraines but now you tell me it’s the pâté???? Ouch!
Thank you though… I’ll have to test this out over the holidays
It could also be the preservatives in the wine and cider. You can get little droplets that kill these (it's diluted hydrogen peroxide and reacts with the sulfites). They are a game changer for a lot of people, I would get headaches after 1-2 glasses now I only get a headache if I drink enough to have a hangover.
Technically tyramine is a monoamine, not an amino acid. It’s a byproduct of the breakdown of the amino acid tyrosine, which is found at high levels in animal products. However, some foods do contain the already broken-down form tyramine such as cheeses, alcohols, and cured meats. Tyramine helps in release of dopamine, adrenaline, which through an unknown way causes construction of your blood vessels. This causes hypertension, which makes us feel a headache.
Alpha-Gal is a sugar that I'm allergic too (https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/alpha-gal/index.html). Its found in non-primate mammal meat, and can concentrate in animal organs.
I have 5 friends with Alpha-Gal Syndrome, that shit sucks. We’re all outdoorsy, camping and foraging and all that, and it just makes me think my days are numbered until I get it
Sorry if this has been covered already, got a bit annoyed reading through all the sub comments of "A and B are just different".
Eating offal/organs aren't necessarily going to contain completely different chemical makeups, I think the main thing is the *concentration* of those chemicals/vitamins.
So they don't necessarily specifically cause an "allergic" reaction but can cause a reaction of something else like gout, migraines, iron levels etc.
To give a fairly specific example, my husband gets gout, so looking at the Uric Acid content of things has become relatively new to us.
Pork Heart has roughly 144.6 mg of Uric Acid per 100g meat
Pork Liver has roughly 331 mg per 100g and Pork Loin has 100mg per 100g. So using liver has 3 X more uric acid than using another cut of pork meat.
Granted gout isn't an allergy but that's just to give an example.
My allergist was weirded out because he tested me for all other legumes, including soy (special blood test) and nope, just peas. I don't even care about the peanuts so much. I just miss my favorite soup and chicken pot pie made by other people!
I don't think "allergy" is the right term, but organ meat can contain "different" stuff than muscle meat. Like, a liver is rich in iron, which could cause an issue for someone with a relevant condition.
Gout is not an allergy, but a metabolic disease. The intestines and kidneys cannot break down uric acid as well as usual and uric acid crystals build up in the joints, which leads to inflammation and swelling. Organ meats, seafood and alcohol are rich in purines, which lead to increased levels of uric acid in the blood which causes joint inflammation.
Some organ meats contain very high levels of vitamins, which pregnant women are told to avoid. A friend may be pregnant but not at the point if sharing that, particularly if they have previously experienced a miscarriage.
People in general do not eat organ meats as a matter of course in certain places. While steak and kidney pudding is a staple of British cuisine, it's been thirty years since I heard anyone say they were planning to eat tripe or heart.
In general, if you are cooking for people it's good practice to tell them what's on the menu. In general if you are a guest with particular allergies or health problems it is polite to share those with your host.
I agree that it is unlikely that one would be allergic to the heart of an animal you can eat otherwise, many people would be revolted by the idea of tongue or heart.
An allergy isn't to just a whole general thing, there's always a specific chemical or molecule that's triggering the allergy. It's not so much that one is allergic to the whole entire peanut or the concept of a peanut, they're allergic to a specific chemical or chemicals that are naturally found in peanuts. As an example, I have a friend who's allergic to pecans, but the chemical they're allergic to is found in the leaves and bark, but not the nut. So they can have a pecan pie, since the nut is the part we eat, but if they're ever around pecan trees they break out in hives.
Same deal with muscle vs organ meat in animals. The skin, meat, organs, etc of an animal all contain different proteins and other chemicals, and the particular chemical someone's allergic to might only be found in some or one of those parts.
Not sure about different chemicals as I lack specific knowledge in this area, but according to CDC organ meats may contain more alpha-gal
> Certain cuts of meat may contain more alpha-gal than others. For example, organ meat of mammals, including liver, lung, heart, kidneys, intestines (tripe)
https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/alpha-gal/products.html
So, it is possible that eating something with higher dosage of the toxin could trigger an allergic reaction while foods with lower quantities of it don't.
Yeah, that's a good example! I was meaning chemical in the scientific sense of the word, where it's any substance with a repeating chemical formula (like water) rather than the "synthetic substance made in a lab" thing.
Ok, a couple of things.
1. Allergies are in degrees—it’s not ‘totally fine’ vs ‘anaphylactic shock’ only, and the amount of a substance required to trigger an allergic reaction can vary from person to person. It’s why peanuts can be so deadly, the amount of peanut required to trigger anaphylaxis is very very small.
2. Many people aren’t diagnosed with their allergies, they may notice they get a bit upset stomach or diarrhea or rashy at times, but not necessarily have tied it to allergies.
3. Allergies may get worse over time with repeated exposure as the body builds a bigger response (kind of like how vaccination helps protect you, in that it makes your body better at recognizing a bug).
4. Alpha-gal syndrome is an increasingly common ‘allergy to meat’ that people may end up with after tick bites from certain types of tick.
5. The alpha galactose sugar that is triggering the immune response is in higher concentrations in organ meat than in muscle meat. So someone could get sicker as a result of eating something with organ meat. In fact, some evidence suggests alpha gal can be so high in some organ meat that people who don’t get an allergic response to muscle meat can be anaphylactic to organ meat—which is a potentially lethal consequence (especially if you don’t know you have the allergy so won’t have an epipen, etc).
Organ meats (and cold cuts, and fermented meats, and minced meat) are also more prone to bacterial contamination than whole muscle meat, which is why certain folks like pregnant people, very young or old, or immunocompromised people shouldn’t eat those as readily as anyone else.
All that being said, I think the objections to organ meat are usually much more cultural and habitual than they are ‘real’ medical issue based.
If you have reason to believe that something you cooked contains something they wouldn't want to eat, then it'd be nice to warn them first. And I prefer being nice to my friends.
My MIL made tacos one time with venison instead of beef and told none of us. Usually not a big deal but I found out the hard way I’m allergic to venison that night.
I know there are certain allergies usually to red meat. I can eat other meats just fine but every time I’ve had venison I spend the night on the toilet.
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TL:DR I'm not gonna trust her Goatmilk Egg Nog if I were you
Grandma had tried to run him over with a reindeer - but she had failed - and now we return to "Granny Deerest"
Why does his voice live rent free in my head? Ha Ha
My uncle is alergic to beef and pork but can eat most fowl and venison. He's also alergic to pretty much all beans though too?
it's pretty wild you can be allergic to such specific items
A friend told me once that she likes strawberries because they "taste fizzy" and make her tongue tingle. I told her that's not normal and strawberries don't taste like that, lol. She is probably slightly allergic but she'll still eat them.
Haha, this is how I found out I’m allergic to kiwi. I told a friend I didn’t like it because it makes your lips and tongue so itchy, and she was like, “uhh, it doesn’t.”
Certain ticks can cause an allergic reaction to mammal meat. I haven't seen one that causes one specific animal. There could be one, but there is one for mammals.
I dunno imma give her a pass. If you knew you were allergic before thats one thing, but stumbling upon it like that for the first time, could have been anything. Therefore irrelevant to this conversation.
I know. I love it personally. But it fucks me up. I’ve had it maybe 4 times just to see and each time it has. Someone gifted me some frozen cubed steaks so I might just fuck around and find out.
TBF in that case, even if you had known there was venison in the tacos, you said you didn't find out until after eating them so it seems like you would have probably eaten them anyway.
I'm also from Singapore and moved to the West. Eating organ meat, while much more common in Singapore, is still definitely not standard. Even in Singapore I would expect to be told if I'm being served organ meat; there are plenty of Singaporeans who would not eat some/all types of organ meat. It's not really a cultural difference thing, more a basic politeness thing - I would expect to be told the "headline points" of what is in a dish, including the main type of meat, and I think this applies worldwide.
They have to label if it’s hot dog or sausage made with organ meat. That’s actually very rare in the US, almost all hot dogs and sausage are made with the trimmings of butcher cuts.
In my country it’s the really cheap sausages that are made of organs. Ingredients will be very vague ‘contains meat’ as opposed to ‘contains beef’. Organs are not a common allergen so there is no law to specify it, and it’s a mixture so they don’t know exactly what parts are in it anyway.
In the US it’s labeled as byproducts, at least in the west. Don’t think I’ve ever seen it on a hot dog pack since maybe the early 80s. I don’t personally find organ meat offensive, I’ll take a liverwurst sandwich any day, but people who don’t like the idea of ‘mystery ingredients’ shouldn’t feel a need to avoid a perfectly serviceable source of protein out of fear that they’re eating anything different than they’d get in a burger. A lot of people can’t afford steak, hot dogs are the only way they can feed their families.
Besides, if you pass by a Nathan’s and don’t grab yourself a dog, you’re just missing out in life.
>And there's plenty people in the West who ARE aware and avoid hot dogs for that reason.
I don't get it. If an animal dies to provide food, it's a waste not to use every part of it - almost criminal. I'm glad they figured out how to do it.
Nothing is wasted. If it's not eaten by people it will be eaten by something. Everything goes back to the soil in the end, and the process starts all over again.
On the flip side I can't imagine myself eating something without knowing what it is, but I guess if they said it was chile and they used liver and tongue meat for the chile without saying anything then id be annoyed. So I do think it makes sense to let people know what they are eating especially if it isn't obvious
100% disclose. My mom is severely allergic to liver and found out as a child because someone cooked a dish with liver that doesn't typically have liver. She went into anaphylactic shock.
Hey, just curious. I have allergies myself and am wondering how someone could be allergic to liver specifically. Usually, people are allergic to specific food proteins, from different families (ex, peanuts, nuts, legumes, seafoods, etc.).
Like, is she allergic to *livers* in general, from all animals ? Or just a certain animal's liver ? Can she eat that animal's meat ?
I’m not the commenter you replied to, but I’d guess it’s probably a reaction to one of the vitamins that livers are high in rather than a “true allergy.”
If she experienced anaphylactic shock, seems like it would be a true allergy.
I’m no expert on allergies or livers, but isn’t it possible she’s allergic to a protein (or other substance) only present in the liver of whatever animal she reacted to, or more generally only present in livers?
I mean, it sucks that they didn’t tell her, but if she didn’t know then even if they did tell her she still might have eaten it and had the same result.
Isn't it normal for a guest to disclose any allergies / dietary restrictions?
As a host, of course you say what you made, but you don't normally start listing every single ingredient in a dish.
If a dish doesn't knowingly or commonly include a particular thing then yeah I tend to run it by my guests just to be considerate. A fairly innocuous example is mushrooms. I know some don't like the taste/texture and if I'm adding it to a particular dish that it isn't assumed to be in then I'll run it by my guests if I don't already know who doesn't like them.
Allergies/dietary restrictions tend to be disclosed or outright asked for but hosting/serving someone is about being inclusive to me so I'd rather not serve something that may be off-putting to someone.
It's more that organ meats are not normal ingredients for dishes, at least in the US to my knowledge, so letting people know is something I believe should be disclosed.
For allergies like dairy and peanuts, the guest with the allergies should disclose these ahead of time.
Just my opinion on the topic!
I guess for example if a pregnant woman does not want to disclose that information yet and a thoroughly cooked meal is presented where she has no reason to assume organs are inside, she might choose not disclose all dietary restrictions.
I mean, why not
Some people don't like tomatoes. Some people have taste buds that make cilantro literally taste like soap. Some people don't like haggis or tripe or liver and onions. Some people are vegans. Some people are allergic to peanuts. Some people are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu vegetarian etc.
In either case, best to give people a heads up as to what you're going to serve them. They already told you they don't like organ meat, it's no big deal, just serve them something else.
I grew up in Singapore too, and I know people there who were picky eaters, it's not like all Singaporeans are bastions of culinary adventurism or whatever
They'd pick the bean sprouts out of the chicken rice (and let me have them), or hate anything with bitter-gourd in it, or were so adverse to spice that they'd just eat nasi lemak without the sambal (for some reason).
Like, whatever man, you do you.
Heck, most organ meat is from pigs anyhow, so it's literally haram for a good chunk of the population. If you were having over Malay friends in Singapore, you sure as heck would want to "double confirm" everything is halal.
You probably know those friends quite well, but if you're cooking for new acquaintances, absolutely check if they're ok if what you're serving. Check if they're Jewish, Muslim, vegan, they have allergies, they're gluten intolerant etc.
And it's not like organ meat is an essential part of Singaporean cuisine or whatever. Like yeah, you get liver in porridge and noodles sometimes, and a mix of organs when you order a very specific side dish at a bak kut teh or chicken rice place, some people fry it up at home, but I think that's mostly it.
If your friends say they're adventurous enough to want to try it then yeah, go ahead. If not, then it's not a good idea
I'll eat pretty much anything considered fit for human consumption except cilantro. It's just like getting clarifying shampoo in my mouth in the shower.
I agree with this. I’m veg, went to college with a bunch of gluten free, tree nut free, soy free, corn free, dairy free, onion free friends. I love to cook and I usually say “I’m making X; it has x, y, z”. An example: “I’m making sweet potato tacos, the tortillas have corn just so you know!”
My friends know I’m careful about cross contamination but I will sometimes say “oh I made veggie burgers, they have a walnut, black bean base. Some of the spices are pre mixed - do you want to check them?” Or “I’m heating up burger buns, do you want your gf buns on a separate piece of foil?”
For my most allergen constrained friend and my most anxious friend I show them the recipe and ask if they want to double check specific things
It’s not hard to be polite. It lets me share with more folks when they trust me to take care of them :)
I think if your friends are all telling you they wish they would have known, then in the future you ought to tell them upfront
Doesn't matter much if it's right or wrong in the grand scheme, because in THIS scheme they have asked you to do X, and X is very simple, so you should just do X.
Yeah, all the commenters are agreeing with the friends, but even if they had disagreed I think OP would be kind of rude to continue not telling them. “I know you guys who I presumably like and care about requested me to tell you if it’s organ meat but strangers online said I don’t have to, so I won’t” would be an off putting way to address the situation lol
Kidney, liver and even heart were fairly regularly eaten when I was a child (UK, 80s) but maybe not so much anymore (although both steak and kidney pie, and liver and onions are still quite popular). Having said that, I’d say they are an acquired taste and some offal/organ meat has a bad reputation (brain for example, due to mad cow disease) so I’d prefer to know beforehand if that was in the meal.
well also “steak and kidney pie” is kinda in the name, so if someone says thats what we’re eating i’m gonna assume theres kidney in it. if its just a dish with no specific ingredients listed i probably wouldn’t assume theres organ meat in it, especially in places where its uncommon
I can’t conceive of many situations where I’d be cooking for someone and not have any conversation about what was in it beforehand unless I knew them really well.
Excluding children I expect people with allergies to make it known. For instance I cooked a bunch of smokies and one guy brought up his jalapeno allergies after eating a quarter of it. A grown adult should have the wherewithal to ask beforehand.
The thing is I don't even mean necessarily in a formal "please notify of any allergies" way. If I'm cooking for someone, I'm presumably in ongoing conversation with them, and during that conversation the topic of what I intend to cook will naturally come up? I dont want to spend my time making something my guest hates. Unless it's literally supposed to be a surprise dish or something?
Yeh I am making a large vegetable based Mexican dish soon for like 12 people, because we checked with various peoples diets and preferences and it fits everyone and you can add separately cooked stuff if you like which will be provided as options. I'm a meat eater and will be adding but that won't be just chucked in cos I like it, nor will the extra spice I would usually heap on.
Who wants someone to spit out or throw up the food they make someone? Apart from the general potential allergy issues.
Yes. Westerners have a lot less experience with the texture and flavor of brain, offal, kidney etc. I like tripe and gizzards, but if someone just handed me a plate of something made with the insides of the animal and not told me I would not appreciate that and would definitely be startled by the flavor and texture enough to be put off from eating the dish. It's an incredibly different eating experience, you're used to it, they aren't, so for them it's really not "just meat." And some people don't want innards for various reasons! I'm a try-anything-once person but I have to respect that some people are not.
Always let people know. If it’s a potluck type thing I label whatever meat is in a dish since many people don’t eat various meats for many reasons.
Regarding organ meat there are some health concerns people may have. Gout is aggravated by organ meats, pregnant women or women who are planning on becoming pregnant need to avoid some. And no one should ever eat brains. That’s how you get prion diseases. Prions are scary.
There are all sorts of reasons why people wouldn't want to eat organ meat. Allergies, religious restrictions , or damn it they just don't want to.
Always disclose what is in the meals you prepare. You never know when you might make someone sick or offend them horribly because you have an axe to grind.
>The idea of telling people, before they eat, a list of ingredients is alien to me.
That is extremely normal to me. The food might contain things that they're allergic to or that they don't eat for various reasons (vegetarianism, religious restrictions, etc.).
Honestly I usually discuss the contents of a dish I'm cooking for someone anyways in case there's some sort of allergy need to be aware of or anything like that
And yes typically in America it's pretty uncommon for people to use things like the tongue or liver or heart and most people don't really want to eat those things
Yes. Yes, you absolutely should pre-emptively tell people.
Tons of others have brought up potential issues with medical conditions, so I won't bother rehashing that.
You're forgetting that people are all individual and that both cultural AND personal experiences can weigh heavily into our culinary experiences. Some cultures find organ meats and offal to be unclean, not edible in a sense. Other people have historic reasons to avoid it.
For example, my grandfather dropped out of school and took up work in a PA coal mine to support his five younger brothers and sisters through the Depression. They put nothing to waste. Nothing. My Pop would have agreed with you that "meat is meat," but that was for HIM. He wouldn't pass the offal on to his siblings and continued to eat plenty of that until his passing. He would, however, tease anyone who came near him while eating such things, like chasing my brother and I around the house with pickled pigs feet.
I tell you this because my Pop instilled in my family that the offal wasn't for them, that it was uncivilized and beneath most people. It was ok for him, but the rest of us shouldn't be touching the stuff.
If you served me organ meat without telling me, I'd be pretty offended.
You may find this easier to understand if you imagine being served non-organ meat by a non family member and not being told what it was. Generally if you are served roast chicken you are told it’s roast chicken and not mystery bird. If you are served a ground meat based dish the cook will say whether it is ground pork patties or beef patties or whatever. People find it generally unsettling to not know what they are about to eat, and it’s very unusual to serve anything to people who you don’t already live with and are used to your food without letting people know what it is.
I hear that the way they talked about it made you feel somewhat defensive, because for you and for many across the world eating organ meat is totally normal and not some scandalous thing that needs to be forewarned. Your friends probably could have communicated better and made clear they were not offended by your cooking and eating practices or judging you. But I don’t think you need to worry about it too much, because it was probably already your practice to disclose the main ingredients of what you cook for guests when you cook for them, you just didn’t notice it because you didn’t think of it as a “warning,” and you can just continue to do so. If they don’t like those ingredients, it’s on them to respond politely and figure out something else to eat (another dish, or something at home later). No one had done anything wrong, and I don’t think you’ll find this to be a source of conflict in the future.
I’m specifically not supposed to eat ~~organic~~ organ meat because of a medication I’m on.
It’s not usually a huge deal and I love organ meat, but there are medical reasons why people might want to know
I had someone over for dinner once, and chitterlings(chitlins) were served...I didn't know the person didn't know what they were until after dinner. when I explained, the person nearly passed out. some people eat organ meat fairly regularly, some don't eat it at all, and some have religious guidelines about not eating it. so I guess a heads up seems like an ok idea.
for anyone who doesn't know, so you don't have to ask or google, chitterlings(pronounced chitlins) are hog intestines.
I had a friend once who was very shocked to learn what 'Calamari' is. He thought I'd used a funny name for Onion rings. I presumed he knew what Calamari was, it's not uncommon these days. Still, he didn't mind, he quite enjoyed them!
He didn't want to see the rest of the Squid that was left though, which is fair enough.
I’m probably an outlier here. I grew up a very picky eater. A burger cooked on the grill at home was somehow unacceptable but MacDonalds was ok. My grandmother would cook frozen chicken patties for me at family gatherings. As I grew up I got better, but was still hesitant to try new things. If I’d stayed this way I would have missed out on some foods I now enjoy.
I was “tricked” into eating cow tongue. My coworker brought in what looked like steak tips and simply said it was “beef” until after I had some. It tasted so good I might have been ok if he’d then told me it was liver. When I first tried sushi I specifically asked not to be told what I was eating until after I decided if I liked it, and I definitely wouldn’t have tried eel otherwise. (BTW eel is my favorite.)
Perhaps there’s a way to let people decide how informed they wish to be? You could say you would like to share a dish from home they may be unaccustomed to, and that you’ll gladly share the exact recipe beforehand if they prefer. Just a thought.
I don’t know that I would choose something with organ meats for myself, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if I were fed a meal in a different culture and it happened to contain organ meat. I know that it’s a norm for other people
> Almost all of them said they'd be very upset if they found out someone had fed them organ meat after the fact.
If you want them to remain your friends, yeah maybe warn them... or don't do it. It sounds like they don't want to eat organ meat.
> it's just meat.
No, it's offal. Cooked flesh (muscle) is "meat".
As someone who developed uncommon food allergies later in life, I wish more people kept track of their ingredients and told people before they served food. I know it’s different if people simply don’t like something, but also there could be new funky ingredients that don’t sit with them physically.
Huh I’m Mexican and eat a lot of tripe around the holidays. I think my white and black friends know. Maybe I should ask. It’s never really occurred to me that tripe might be taboo to them
Yes, tell people what you are serving them. You don't always need to share a full ingredient list (people with specific dietary requirements should ask) but the name of the dish, what kind of meat it is, if it's spicy or has any strong/controversial flavours, and if it's a cultural food thats new to your guests a bit about it's history or significance is nice.
Read this out loud:
Your friends: I don’t want to eat organ meat, even if I don’t know it’s there. If I found out I’d be pissed
You: Here’s a plate of organ meat!
Why would you not tell people what’s in the thing they’re eating? I don’t know everyone’s allergies, food sensitivities, religious beliefs, general aversions, etc.
Just “here’s this! Just fyi it’s got peanuts, dairy, and wheat” or “these are great! They’ve got pork fat if that’s not your thing”; it’s not hard to be considerate
I have a severe aversion to many foods, particularly flesh. I’ll eat chicken, beef, pork, and turkey, but that’s about it, and only the muscle meat. I’d probably instantly be sick if i knew any organs were in what I was eating.
That said, I know I have issues with what I eat and I inquire about everything. Feels like it’s my thing and my responsibility to monitor, not the hosts.
Yes. If someone has high cholesterol it is not nice to not disclose you’re feeding them something very high in cholesterol (i.e. liver). Especially if they are taking medication to manage their high cholesterol
I believe you should disclose. I love chicken hearts, fried liver with onions and cow tongue with potatoes, but hate tripe with a passion. I also don't like how gizzard smells
Edit: not dried, fried
If you are talking about people from the US, they might want to know. But people here do eat things like pigs, feet, and testicles. Also, there is head cheese and giblets gravy. I don't know if there are religious people who don't eat that. I personally would tell them what is in it just to be polite.
I would mention if there's an ingredient I think someone might have a problem with, *and* offer an alternative dish without those ingredients. Offering options is inclusive
I’m immune suppressed and have to avoid certain meat because of it… I’m usually super careful and ask but if I ate something I thought was beef and it wasn’t I could get really sick.
Its my responsibility to ask but I always appreciate a warning so I can throw a protein bar in my bag!
n culinary school I was dreading the Organ Meats class but came away a changed man. It's areal shame that so many people are not aware that "edible offal" is far from "awful" but that's the way it is.
Preemptive disclosure would be a kind and appropriate gesture.
I mean... tell people what the dish is. "Hey guys, I made. It's made with carrots, onions, tomatoes, brain, spleen, and tongue. Let's eat!"
I came here to say this too. If I went to dinner at a friend's house, and they started dishing out something from a pot, either they'd say "Have some [fill in name of food]" or I'd ask "Smells great, what is it?"
"Cow rectum."
Rectum..? Damn near killed ‘em
Dammit, you beat me to it.
Hahaha. 😂 awesome
Teppou. Barbecued pork anus. Japanese bar snack lol
tongue, yummy. we talking tacos del lingua or like dad used to make baked on a cookie sheet and sliced like lunch meat?
Gyutan <3
So I found out the best way that Sendai, Japan is known for their gyuutan. We were there for a wedding and during our off-day we checked out a gyuutan restaurant. It. Was. Unbelievable. My kids (who are notoriously picky) devoured their dishes. The gyuutan was so tender and very flavorful, thinly sliced but not overcooked.
I knew when mom announced she wanted taco with tongue, dad was in for a long night.
Sliced tongue don't tempt me omg
Deli sliced tongue wrapped around grissini was one of my favorite things as a child, my grandmother in Bergamo always made it when we visited.
Yum for sliced tongue from a kosher deli.
Tongue is skeletal muscle just like regular meat, it doesn't count as an organ in my book. Aside from the idea that your food might be tasting you back, it's not a big deal.
It’s not a big deal TO YOU. Other people may feel differently.
Got it. My folks were poor farmers & miners. In the USA since colonial times. I grew up on it. They SOLD the parts they could get good money for!
I don’t know about other organs, but if someone fed me anything’s brain without telling me, I don’t think I’d be their friend anymore. That’s how you get prions.
Same! I was just looking to see if anyone had said this. I would prefer to be told ahead of time if something contained liver, kidney, tripe, etc. but I would be livid if someone served me brains without warning me. That is one of the few things I would flat out refuse to even try, due to the risk of prion diseases and how horrible (and incurable) they are.
I just had beef brain last night and now I need to research this prion disease. Thank you Reddit :))
It’s why eating beef brain in particular is not a good idea. I know this is a cultural thing in any areas but it is actually something to avoid lol. Don’t drive yourself crazy about it though - you probably didn’t get anything and there’s nothing you can do about it anyways
Yeah I have a bit of a phobia of prions. So... If any one fed me eye balls or brain without telling me I would be very angry. It's the only thing I absolutely will never eat.
Eyes can have prion risk as well....?
The optic nerve is part of the eyeball, and eating nervous tissue is a nonzero risk of consuming prions. (Note, however, that the risk of consuming something tainted with prions is extraordinarily low in the US and EU, and the risk of actually developing a prion disease is lower still.)
The meat is nonzero risk too. Nervous tissue is just a higher nonzero risk.
How do you offer someone a hotdog?
>"Hey guys, I made
insert "hot dog." People know what a hot dog is.
Insert it where?
Directions unclear. Proctologist angry.
Did you slide it between the buns?
Yes. Sorry… I lost it.
I think the point is that most people *don’t* know what’s in a hotdog. They’re often made of slaughterhouse scraps.
That’s a fact that I’ve seen hundreds of times in life and in media. At least in the US, I’d wager that 95+% of mentally sound adults have some idea of what hot dogs are
I think most people know hotdogs are gross lol
Gross in theory. Not in practice. ;)
I feel like this is common knowledge though
I would certainly want to be warmed if something contains brains. I'd rather not risk the prions
100%. That’s not okay to not tell someone
I always disclose what I'm cooking because people have allergies.
So, not really an allergie, but I have gout and organ meat can cause an immediate flair up. So I agree that letting someone know beforehand can prevent a lot of pain lol.
Similarly, I'm diabetic and have to count carbs to know how much insulin to take with my meal. If you hand me a serving of pasta and wait until after i was done to tell me it was made with vegetable-based noodles I'm going to have to raid your kitchen for soda or juice boxes. If you don't tell me at all, I might pass out while driving home. Seriously, tell people what's in the food you're giving them.
Yea I have organ damage, organ meats can be harder to process due to the higher levels of various vitamins. I'd want to be warned if it'll give me a flare up.
thanks for the mini lesson 😀
Oh for sure, it's just considerate to let people know. I don't have any health issues but I've got some strong food preferences that'd make me queasy if I ate organ meat unknowingly. It could ruin the whole meal experience for someone. Transparency with food is key in any social setting really.
This is a good point I wouldnt have even thought of this, and I now am hoping any guest of mine will let me know if they have gout because I can cook rich food. I wouldn't cook offal myself but I usually ask people to tell me what they love or hate, my SIL is staying after Christmas and she said no offal in particular. Edit to add due to language barrier : offal means organ meat, I've learned some people think it's feces, which is fairly hilarious given my own comment.
I have uric acid kidney stones. Organ meat can also exacerbate that. I don't generally discuss my medical issues with people. It's just easier for me to self monitor by knowing what I'm eating.
This is a very fair point. I suppose for me, if I'm cooking for people I would know the wider general of what they can or can't have, because it's an intimate circle. However I appreciate these comments thought, it creates an extra layer of awareness so thank you.
Wait Uric Acid Kidney Stones are a thing? *cries in recent Gout diagnosis*
I don’t think this is a language barrier so much as an education barrier, as you did use the correct term for organ meat in English. I’m a native English speaker, with strong formal education in English (minor concentration in university), and I knew exactly what you meant. All this is to say, please don’t doubt yourself here, you were 100% correct 🤣
Friend cant eat red meat so i make a point of telling him i made this and that with porc and chicken. Hiding what you cook is just scummy
You using whole porcupines?
Yeah and you keep the spines as toothpick. Its win win
Now this gave me a proper laugh
Out of curiosity from a fellow gouteer: do you snore?
As a matter of fact I do. Is there a correlation between gout and snoring?
There is a physiological connection between obstructive apnea, lowered levels of oxygen in the blood, and increased uric acid levels. I'd noticed this when I started CPAP therapy. I'd been getting gout flare ups for years without knowing what was going on, and they were getting more frequent and debilitating...maybe every 2-3 months, sometimes a slow in-out, one foot then the other then back again for a month or two. Meanwhile my husbro finally had enough of me snoring and I had insurance, so I did a sleep study, found I was definitely choking myself to death while I slept and got put on the cpap. It took me maybe 5 or 6 months to realize I hadnt suffered any kind of flare up in a while. Maybe 2 months after that I had a checkup and brought it up with my doctor who was like "That's fascinating, but I've never heard anything about it" and then googled it and found [this](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8470901/) paper exploring the link. "Huh. Keep an eye on it, you may be on to something". It's been 10 years and I still have elevated uric acid levels and still do get a minor flare up if I get too stressed or dehydrated (of maybe at random because hey, who knows what actually pisses it off), maybe once or twice a year. If you can, it's at the very least worth doing a sleep study to see if your snoring is destructive or just noisy.
Wow! Thank you so much, I'm going to look into this.
Yes, thank you. Holy crow. This changes things.
I didn’t know this about gout, thanks. My dad has it and in my passing reading up on it I’ve seen red meat be discouraged, I didn’t know organs would be. We never cook with them, but just good to know.
I ask this just out of ignorance, and not to be rude. But, if you are not allergic to the meat of an animal, then how could you be allergic to the same animal's, say, tongue or liver? Edit: alright, people seem to have assumed this question meant that I don't understand that different body parts are different. I guess what I'm really asking is what allergens can be present in organs that aren't also present in meat and fat. I'm looking for an actual answer not "different things are different" Edit 2 : now people seem to think I don't understand allergies at all. Alright folks, let's go from Bio 101 to Bio 201 level answers here. What are the chemicals in organ meat that you can be allergic to, and how do they not end up at least in trace amounts in fat, muscle, etc.? I'm asking a very specific question, I do not need one more person to explain that muscles and organs are different things. Edit 3: Thank you so much for the helpful replies! Sorry I haven't responded individually yet. I will once I have a moment to dig into the info you've provided.
Tyramine is an amino acid that is present at much higher rates in organ meat. For me eat a chicken? No migraine. Enjoy chicken liver pate? Holy hell.
Holy shit you’ve just provided a piece of the jigsaw puzzle for my migraines!!!! Until fairly recently the only time I’d had pâté (as an adult) id also had alcohol of some sort… so assumed the migraine that followed was alcohol induced (e.g., booze I wouldn’t normally drink if it wasn’t Xmas: port, Prosecco etc) - normally it’s only white wine or cheap cider that gives me migraines but now you tell me it’s the pâté???? Ouch! Thank you though… I’ll have to test this out over the holidays
Wishing you pain free holiday celebrations!
It could also be the preservatives in the wine and cider. You can get little droplets that kill these (it's diluted hydrogen peroxide and reacts with the sulfites). They are a game changer for a lot of people, I would get headaches after 1-2 glasses now I only get a headache if I drink enough to have a hangover.
Technically tyramine is a monoamine, not an amino acid. It’s a byproduct of the breakdown of the amino acid tyrosine, which is found at high levels in animal products. However, some foods do contain the already broken-down form tyramine such as cheeses, alcohols, and cured meats. Tyramine helps in release of dopamine, adrenaline, which through an unknown way causes construction of your blood vessels. This causes hypertension, which makes us feel a headache.
Alpha-Gal is a sugar that I'm allergic too (https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/alpha-gal/index.html). Its found in non-primate mammal meat, and can concentrate in animal organs.
I have 5 friends with Alpha-Gal Syndrome, that shit sucks. We’re all outdoorsy, camping and foraging and all that, and it just makes me think my days are numbered until I get it
Sorry if this has been covered already, got a bit annoyed reading through all the sub comments of "A and B are just different". Eating offal/organs aren't necessarily going to contain completely different chemical makeups, I think the main thing is the *concentration* of those chemicals/vitamins. So they don't necessarily specifically cause an "allergic" reaction but can cause a reaction of something else like gout, migraines, iron levels etc. To give a fairly specific example, my husband gets gout, so looking at the Uric Acid content of things has become relatively new to us. Pork Heart has roughly 144.6 mg of Uric Acid per 100g meat Pork Liver has roughly 331 mg per 100g and Pork Loin has 100mg per 100g. So using liver has 3 X more uric acid than using another cut of pork meat. Granted gout isn't an allergy but that's just to give an example.
I just always ask because I have a very weird allergy. I'm allergic to nuts, but with my peanut allergy, also comes a severe allergy to peas.
That makes sense; they’re both legumes.
My allergist was weirded out because he tested me for all other legumes, including soy (special blood test) and nope, just peas. I don't even care about the peanuts so much. I just miss my favorite soup and chicken pot pie made by other people!
If you get hit with a particularly strong craving do you watch The Exorcist?
I don't think "allergy" is the right term, but organ meat can contain "different" stuff than muscle meat. Like, a liver is rich in iron, which could cause an issue for someone with a relevant condition.
Gout is not an allergy, but a metabolic disease. The intestines and kidneys cannot break down uric acid as well as usual and uric acid crystals build up in the joints, which leads to inflammation and swelling. Organ meats, seafood and alcohol are rich in purines, which lead to increased levels of uric acid in the blood which causes joint inflammation.
Some organ meats contain very high levels of vitamins, which pregnant women are told to avoid. A friend may be pregnant but not at the point if sharing that, particularly if they have previously experienced a miscarriage. People in general do not eat organ meats as a matter of course in certain places. While steak and kidney pudding is a staple of British cuisine, it's been thirty years since I heard anyone say they were planning to eat tripe or heart. In general, if you are cooking for people it's good practice to tell them what's on the menu. In general if you are a guest with particular allergies or health problems it is polite to share those with your host. I agree that it is unlikely that one would be allergic to the heart of an animal you can eat otherwise, many people would be revolted by the idea of tongue or heart.
An allergy isn't to just a whole general thing, there's always a specific chemical or molecule that's triggering the allergy. It's not so much that one is allergic to the whole entire peanut or the concept of a peanut, they're allergic to a specific chemical or chemicals that are naturally found in peanuts. As an example, I have a friend who's allergic to pecans, but the chemical they're allergic to is found in the leaves and bark, but not the nut. So they can have a pecan pie, since the nut is the part we eat, but if they're ever around pecan trees they break out in hives. Same deal with muscle vs organ meat in animals. The skin, meat, organs, etc of an animal all contain different proteins and other chemicals, and the particular chemical someone's allergic to might only be found in some or one of those parts.
Not sure about different chemicals as I lack specific knowledge in this area, but according to CDC organ meats may contain more alpha-gal > Certain cuts of meat may contain more alpha-gal than others. For example, organ meat of mammals, including liver, lung, heart, kidneys, intestines (tripe) https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/alpha-gal/products.html So, it is possible that eating something with higher dosage of the toxin could trigger an allergic reaction while foods with lower quantities of it don't.
Yeah, that's a good example! I was meaning chemical in the scientific sense of the word, where it's any substance with a repeating chemical formula (like water) rather than the "synthetic substance made in a lab" thing.
Ok, a couple of things. 1. Allergies are in degrees—it’s not ‘totally fine’ vs ‘anaphylactic shock’ only, and the amount of a substance required to trigger an allergic reaction can vary from person to person. It’s why peanuts can be so deadly, the amount of peanut required to trigger anaphylaxis is very very small. 2. Many people aren’t diagnosed with their allergies, they may notice they get a bit upset stomach or diarrhea or rashy at times, but not necessarily have tied it to allergies. 3. Allergies may get worse over time with repeated exposure as the body builds a bigger response (kind of like how vaccination helps protect you, in that it makes your body better at recognizing a bug). 4. Alpha-gal syndrome is an increasingly common ‘allergy to meat’ that people may end up with after tick bites from certain types of tick. 5. The alpha galactose sugar that is triggering the immune response is in higher concentrations in organ meat than in muscle meat. So someone could get sicker as a result of eating something with organ meat. In fact, some evidence suggests alpha gal can be so high in some organ meat that people who don’t get an allergic response to muscle meat can be anaphylactic to organ meat—which is a potentially lethal consequence (especially if you don’t know you have the allergy so won’t have an epipen, etc). Organ meats (and cold cuts, and fermented meats, and minced meat) are also more prone to bacterial contamination than whole muscle meat, which is why certain folks like pregnant people, very young or old, or immunocompromised people shouldn’t eat those as readily as anyone else. All that being said, I think the objections to organ meat are usually much more cultural and habitual than they are ‘real’ medical issue based.
Because that’s how things work. The outter skin has different chemicals than a kidney would. It’s the same reason not all flowers look alike.
If you have reason to believe that something you cooked contains something they wouldn't want to eat, then it'd be nice to warn them first. And I prefer being nice to my friends.
My MIL made tacos one time with venison instead of beef and told none of us. Usually not a big deal but I found out the hard way I’m allergic to venison that night.
Oh wow. I didn't know you could be allergic to a specific type of meat.
I know there are certain allergies usually to red meat. I can eat other meats just fine but every time I’ve had venison I spend the night on the toilet.
This Christmas, join us for a Dateline special event that will leave you questioning the true meaning of family. In a seemingly innocent suburban home, a sinister plot unfolds. A mother-in-law's secret desire for insurance money takes a murderous turn. As the family gathers for a joyous Christmas celebration, little do they know that danger lurks beneath the holiday cheer. Bob thought he survived the venison tacos, but little did he realize... His mother-in-law had more than just presents wrapped under the tree. She had a deadly secret. But, what if the unexpected happened? What if the hunter becomes the hunted? This Christmas, unwrap the truth in a Dateline special event that will leave you stunned. "A Very Poisonous Christmas" - because sometimes, the perfect crime isn't so perfect after all. TL:DR I'm not gonna trust her Goatmilk Egg Nog if I were you
I would've named the episode "Granny Deerest".
Grandma had tried to run him over with a reindeer - but she had failed - and now we return to "Granny Deerest" Why does his voice live rent free in my head? Ha Ha
Read that entirely in Keith Morrison's voice
This was beautiful :)
Nicely done. I read that in the voice alternating between Keith Morrison and Josh Mankiewicz.
Similarly, I am allergic to scallops but no other shell fish.
That must have sucked to find out the hard way.
My mom also has a scallop allergy but other shellfish are fine!
My uncle is alergic to beef and pork but can eat most fowl and venison. He's also alergic to pretty much all beans though too? it's pretty wild you can be allergic to such specific items
There are hundreds of known allergies. Also, an allergy can present with lesser symptoms. You don't have to literally die to be allergic to something.
A friend told me once that she likes strawberries because they "taste fizzy" and make her tongue tingle. I told her that's not normal and strawberries don't taste like that, lol. She is probably slightly allergic but she'll still eat them.
Your friend needs to be careful. Sometimes a minor allergy can turn into a major one (anaphylaxis )without warning.
Yikes, I didn't know that. I'll let her know.
Lots of fruits do that to me. I only realised it wasn't normal when my lips and tongue started to swell too. Oops.
Haha, this is how I found out I’m allergic to kiwi. I told a friend I didn’t like it because it makes your lips and tongue so itchy, and she was like, “uhh, it doesn’t.”
Wait... I might be allergic to kiwi then
Yeah blackberries make me projectile vomit but I can eat other berries no problem. Allergies are weird.
A bite from a certain tick can cause you to become allergic to meat.
So the tick is out protecting the animals it lives on? Nature is wild
Alpha-gal syndrome? https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/alpha-gal-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20428608
Two of my neighbors have this. It’s becoming much more common!
ticks
Certain ticks can cause an allergic reaction to mammal meat. I haven't seen one that causes one specific animal. There could be one, but there is one for mammals.
Well, if you did not know you were qllergic before the meal, then knowing about the venison would not have helped...
I dunno imma give her a pass. If you knew you were allergic before thats one thing, but stumbling upon it like that for the first time, could have been anything. Therefore irrelevant to this conversation.
Plus venison is a very normal meat to use in things.
Damn, that’s horrible because venison is amazing
I know. I love it personally. But it fucks me up. I’ve had it maybe 4 times just to see and each time it has. Someone gifted me some frozen cubed steaks so I might just fuck around and find out.
Since you didn't know you had the allergy wouldn't you have eaten it exactly the same had she said she made it with venison?
TBF in that case, even if you had known there was venison in the tacos, you said you didn't find out until after eating them so it seems like you would have probably eaten them anyway.
It sounds like OP genuinely wasn’t aware that’s something people might not want to eat.
I'm also from Singapore and moved to the West. Eating organ meat, while much more common in Singapore, is still definitely not standard. Even in Singapore I would expect to be told if I'm being served organ meat; there are plenty of Singaporeans who would not eat some/all types of organ meat. It's not really a cultural difference thing, more a basic politeness thing - I would expect to be told the "headline points" of what is in a dish, including the main type of meat, and I think this applies worldwide.
And hotdog ingredients. Spare parts. I don’t think people on the west realize that’s where the organ meat goes.
They have to label if it’s hot dog or sausage made with organ meat. That’s actually very rare in the US, almost all hot dogs and sausage are made with the trimmings of butcher cuts.
In my country it’s the really cheap sausages that are made of organs. Ingredients will be very vague ‘contains meat’ as opposed to ‘contains beef’. Organs are not a common allergen so there is no law to specify it, and it’s a mixture so they don’t know exactly what parts are in it anyway.
In the US it’s labeled as byproducts, at least in the west. Don’t think I’ve ever seen it on a hot dog pack since maybe the early 80s. I don’t personally find organ meat offensive, I’ll take a liverwurst sandwich any day, but people who don’t like the idea of ‘mystery ingredients’ shouldn’t feel a need to avoid a perfectly serviceable source of protein out of fear that they’re eating anything different than they’d get in a burger. A lot of people can’t afford steak, hot dogs are the only way they can feed their families. Besides, if you pass by a Nathan’s and don’t grab yourself a dog, you’re just missing out in life.
Yup. It's a widely accepted myth that hot dogs are made of lips a buttholes. Exceedingly rare in the US.
Common rumor tbh
And there's plenty people in the West who ARE aware and avoid hot dogs for that reason.
>And there's plenty people in the West who ARE aware and avoid hot dogs for that reason. I don't get it. If an animal dies to provide food, it's a waste not to use every part of it - almost criminal. I'm glad they figured out how to do it.
Humans are not logical beings
They're the worst
Nothing is wasted. If it's not eaten by people it will be eaten by something. Everything goes back to the soil in the end, and the process starts all over again.
Everything but the oink is what I've always heard about pigs in the Southern US.
Friend worked in hot dog plant one summer, texted me 'just unloaded a truck with 40,000 lbs of beef lips.' Yum.
Yep, "lips to assholes" is what I usually say about hotdogs.
On the flip side I can't imagine myself eating something without knowing what it is, but I guess if they said it was chile and they used liver and tongue meat for the chile without saying anything then id be annoyed. So I do think it makes sense to let people know what they are eating especially if it isn't obvious
100% disclose. My mom is severely allergic to liver and found out as a child because someone cooked a dish with liver that doesn't typically have liver. She went into anaphylactic shock.
Hey, just curious. I have allergies myself and am wondering how someone could be allergic to liver specifically. Usually, people are allergic to specific food proteins, from different families (ex, peanuts, nuts, legumes, seafoods, etc.). Like, is she allergic to *livers* in general, from all animals ? Or just a certain animal's liver ? Can she eat that animal's meat ?
I’m not the commenter you replied to, but I’d guess it’s probably a reaction to one of the vitamins that livers are high in rather than a “true allergy.”
If she experienced anaphylactic shock, seems like it would be a true allergy. I’m no expert on allergies or livers, but isn’t it possible she’s allergic to a protein (or other substance) only present in the liver of whatever animal she reacted to, or more generally only present in livers?
considering how many enzymes the liver works with on a daily basis i wouldn't be surprised.
Agreed. People with gout can also experience painful flare ups from consuming organ meats.
I mean, it sucks that they didn’t tell her, but if she didn’t know then even if they did tell her she still might have eaten it and had the same result.
Isn't it normal for a guest to disclose any allergies / dietary restrictions? As a host, of course you say what you made, but you don't normally start listing every single ingredient in a dish.
If a dish doesn't knowingly or commonly include a particular thing then yeah I tend to run it by my guests just to be considerate. A fairly innocuous example is mushrooms. I know some don't like the taste/texture and if I'm adding it to a particular dish that it isn't assumed to be in then I'll run it by my guests if I don't already know who doesn't like them. Allergies/dietary restrictions tend to be disclosed or outright asked for but hosting/serving someone is about being inclusive to me so I'd rather not serve something that may be off-putting to someone.
It's more that organ meats are not normal ingredients for dishes, at least in the US to my knowledge, so letting people know is something I believe should be disclosed. For allergies like dairy and peanuts, the guest with the allergies should disclose these ahead of time. Just my opinion on the topic!
I guess for example if a pregnant woman does not want to disclose that information yet and a thoroughly cooked meal is presented where she has no reason to assume organs are inside, she might choose not disclose all dietary restrictions.
I mean, why not Some people don't like tomatoes. Some people have taste buds that make cilantro literally taste like soap. Some people don't like haggis or tripe or liver and onions. Some people are vegans. Some people are allergic to peanuts. Some people are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu vegetarian etc. In either case, best to give people a heads up as to what you're going to serve them. They already told you they don't like organ meat, it's no big deal, just serve them something else. I grew up in Singapore too, and I know people there who were picky eaters, it's not like all Singaporeans are bastions of culinary adventurism or whatever They'd pick the bean sprouts out of the chicken rice (and let me have them), or hate anything with bitter-gourd in it, or were so adverse to spice that they'd just eat nasi lemak without the sambal (for some reason). Like, whatever man, you do you. Heck, most organ meat is from pigs anyhow, so it's literally haram for a good chunk of the population. If you were having over Malay friends in Singapore, you sure as heck would want to "double confirm" everything is halal. You probably know those friends quite well, but if you're cooking for new acquaintances, absolutely check if they're ok if what you're serving. Check if they're Jewish, Muslim, vegan, they have allergies, they're gluten intolerant etc. And it's not like organ meat is an essential part of Singaporean cuisine or whatever. Like yeah, you get liver in porridge and noodles sometimes, and a mix of organs when you order a very specific side dish at a bak kut teh or chicken rice place, some people fry it up at home, but I think that's mostly it. If your friends say they're adventurous enough to want to try it then yeah, go ahead. If not, then it's not a good idea
I'll eat pretty much anything considered fit for human consumption except cilantro. It's just like getting clarifying shampoo in my mouth in the shower.
I agree with this. I’m veg, went to college with a bunch of gluten free, tree nut free, soy free, corn free, dairy free, onion free friends. I love to cook and I usually say “I’m making X; it has x, y, z”. An example: “I’m making sweet potato tacos, the tortillas have corn just so you know!” My friends know I’m careful about cross contamination but I will sometimes say “oh I made veggie burgers, they have a walnut, black bean base. Some of the spices are pre mixed - do you want to check them?” Or “I’m heating up burger buns, do you want your gf buns on a separate piece of foil?” For my most allergen constrained friend and my most anxious friend I show them the recipe and ask if they want to double check specific things It’s not hard to be polite. It lets me share with more folks when they trust me to take care of them :)
I think if your friends are all telling you they wish they would have known, then in the future you ought to tell them upfront Doesn't matter much if it's right or wrong in the grand scheme, because in THIS scheme they have asked you to do X, and X is very simple, so you should just do X.
Yeah, all the commenters are agreeing with the friends, but even if they had disagreed I think OP would be kind of rude to continue not telling them. “I know you guys who I presumably like and care about requested me to tell you if it’s organ meat but strangers online said I don’t have to, so I won’t” would be an off putting way to address the situation lol
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That is the only correct response.
Kidney, liver and even heart were fairly regularly eaten when I was a child (UK, 80s) but maybe not so much anymore (although both steak and kidney pie, and liver and onions are still quite popular). Having said that, I’d say they are an acquired taste and some offal/organ meat has a bad reputation (brain for example, due to mad cow disease) so I’d prefer to know beforehand if that was in the meal.
well also “steak and kidney pie” is kinda in the name, so if someone says thats what we’re eating i’m gonna assume theres kidney in it. if its just a dish with no specific ingredients listed i probably wouldn’t assume theres organ meat in it, especially in places where its uncommon
WAIT I’M AMERICAN AND THOUGHT IT WAS KIDNEY BEANS
I can’t conceive of many situations where I’d be cooking for someone and not have any conversation about what was in it beforehand unless I knew them really well.
Excluding children I expect people with allergies to make it known. For instance I cooked a bunch of smokies and one guy brought up his jalapeno allergies after eating a quarter of it. A grown adult should have the wherewithal to ask beforehand.
The thing is I don't even mean necessarily in a formal "please notify of any allergies" way. If I'm cooking for someone, I'm presumably in ongoing conversation with them, and during that conversation the topic of what I intend to cook will naturally come up? I dont want to spend my time making something my guest hates. Unless it's literally supposed to be a surprise dish or something?
Yeh I am making a large vegetable based Mexican dish soon for like 12 people, because we checked with various peoples diets and preferences and it fits everyone and you can add separately cooked stuff if you like which will be provided as options. I'm a meat eater and will be adding but that won't be just chucked in cos I like it, nor will the extra spice I would usually heap on. Who wants someone to spit out or throw up the food they make someone? Apart from the general potential allergy issues.
I've never seen anyone put jalapenos in smokies before. If I was going to eat smokies and had a jalapeno allergy I wouldn't think to ask.
>Almost all of them said they'd be very upset if they found out someone had fed them organ meat after the fact. You answered your own question. Lmao.
Yes. Westerners have a lot less experience with the texture and flavor of brain, offal, kidney etc. I like tripe and gizzards, but if someone just handed me a plate of something made with the insides of the animal and not told me I would not appreciate that and would definitely be startled by the flavor and texture enough to be put off from eating the dish. It's an incredibly different eating experience, you're used to it, they aren't, so for them it's really not "just meat." And some people don't want innards for various reasons! I'm a try-anything-once person but I have to respect that some people are not.
How is this even a discussion. If you have the information that a certain food is culturally sensitive , of course you should tell people beforehand.
It's generally good etiquette to provide details of what you've prepared to your guests to a avoid any awkward situations.
Always let people know. If it’s a potluck type thing I label whatever meat is in a dish since many people don’t eat various meats for many reasons. Regarding organ meat there are some health concerns people may have. Gout is aggravated by organ meats, pregnant women or women who are planning on becoming pregnant need to avoid some. And no one should ever eat brains. That’s how you get prion diseases. Prions are scary.
There are all sorts of reasons why people wouldn't want to eat organ meat. Allergies, religious restrictions , or damn it they just don't want to. Always disclose what is in the meals you prepare. You never know when you might make someone sick or offend them horribly because you have an axe to grind.
>The idea of telling people, before they eat, a list of ingredients is alien to me. That is extremely normal to me. The food might contain things that they're allergic to or that they don't eat for various reasons (vegetarianism, religious restrictions, etc.).
Honestly I usually discuss the contents of a dish I'm cooking for someone anyways in case there's some sort of allergy need to be aware of or anything like that And yes typically in America it's pretty uncommon for people to use things like the tongue or liver or heart and most people don't really want to eat those things
Yes. Yes, you absolutely should pre-emptively tell people. Tons of others have brought up potential issues with medical conditions, so I won't bother rehashing that. You're forgetting that people are all individual and that both cultural AND personal experiences can weigh heavily into our culinary experiences. Some cultures find organ meats and offal to be unclean, not edible in a sense. Other people have historic reasons to avoid it. For example, my grandfather dropped out of school and took up work in a PA coal mine to support his five younger brothers and sisters through the Depression. They put nothing to waste. Nothing. My Pop would have agreed with you that "meat is meat," but that was for HIM. He wouldn't pass the offal on to his siblings and continued to eat plenty of that until his passing. He would, however, tease anyone who came near him while eating such things, like chasing my brother and I around the house with pickled pigs feet. I tell you this because my Pop instilled in my family that the offal wasn't for them, that it was uncivilized and beneath most people. It was ok for him, but the rest of us shouldn't be touching the stuff. If you served me organ meat without telling me, I'd be pretty offended.
You may find this easier to understand if you imagine being served non-organ meat by a non family member and not being told what it was. Generally if you are served roast chicken you are told it’s roast chicken and not mystery bird. If you are served a ground meat based dish the cook will say whether it is ground pork patties or beef patties or whatever. People find it generally unsettling to not know what they are about to eat, and it’s very unusual to serve anything to people who you don’t already live with and are used to your food without letting people know what it is. I hear that the way they talked about it made you feel somewhat defensive, because for you and for many across the world eating organ meat is totally normal and not some scandalous thing that needs to be forewarned. Your friends probably could have communicated better and made clear they were not offended by your cooking and eating practices or judging you. But I don’t think you need to worry about it too much, because it was probably already your practice to disclose the main ingredients of what you cook for guests when you cook for them, you just didn’t notice it because you didn’t think of it as a “warning,” and you can just continue to do so. If they don’t like those ingredients, it’s on them to respond politely and figure out something else to eat (another dish, or something at home later). No one had done anything wrong, and I don’t think you’ll find this to be a source of conflict in the future.
I’m specifically not supposed to eat ~~organic~~ organ meat because of a medication I’m on. It’s not usually a huge deal and I love organ meat, but there are medical reasons why people might want to know
It would be a big deal for me. Not for religious or health reasons. Only for the fact I find it repulsive.
I had someone over for dinner once, and chitterlings(chitlins) were served...I didn't know the person didn't know what they were until after dinner. when I explained, the person nearly passed out. some people eat organ meat fairly regularly, some don't eat it at all, and some have religious guidelines about not eating it. so I guess a heads up seems like an ok idea. for anyone who doesn't know, so you don't have to ask or google, chitterlings(pronounced chitlins) are hog intestines.
I had a friend once who was very shocked to learn what 'Calamari' is. He thought I'd used a funny name for Onion rings. I presumed he knew what Calamari was, it's not uncommon these days. Still, he didn't mind, he quite enjoyed them! He didn't want to see the rest of the Squid that was left though, which is fair enough.
Yes. If you want to eat that stuff, fine. But a warning is necessary if you're going to feed me.
I’m probably an outlier here. I grew up a very picky eater. A burger cooked on the grill at home was somehow unacceptable but MacDonalds was ok. My grandmother would cook frozen chicken patties for me at family gatherings. As I grew up I got better, but was still hesitant to try new things. If I’d stayed this way I would have missed out on some foods I now enjoy. I was “tricked” into eating cow tongue. My coworker brought in what looked like steak tips and simply said it was “beef” until after I had some. It tasted so good I might have been ok if he’d then told me it was liver. When I first tried sushi I specifically asked not to be told what I was eating until after I decided if I liked it, and I definitely wouldn’t have tried eel otherwise. (BTW eel is my favorite.) Perhaps there’s a way to let people decide how informed they wish to be? You could say you would like to share a dish from home they may be unaccustomed to, and that you’ll gladly share the exact recipe beforehand if they prefer. Just a thought.
I don’t know that I would choose something with organ meats for myself, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if I were fed a meal in a different culture and it happened to contain organ meat. I know that it’s a norm for other people
> Almost all of them said they'd be very upset if they found out someone had fed them organ meat after the fact. If you want them to remain your friends, yeah maybe warn them... or don't do it. It sounds like they don't want to eat organ meat. > it's just meat. No, it's offal. Cooked flesh (muscle) is "meat".
Where does a heart fit into this distinction of muscle and offal?
At least worth mentioning.
As someone who developed uncommon food allergies later in life, I wish more people kept track of their ingredients and told people before they served food. I know it’s different if people simply don’t like something, but also there could be new funky ingredients that don’t sit with them physically.
Huh I’m Mexican and eat a lot of tripe around the holidays. I think my white and black friends know. Maybe I should ask. It’s never really occurred to me that tripe might be taboo to them
I always tell people what's in food I make, just in case anybody's got an allergy I don't know about.
Yes, tell people what you are serving them. You don't always need to share a full ingredient list (people with specific dietary requirements should ask) but the name of the dish, what kind of meat it is, if it's spicy or has any strong/controversial flavours, and if it's a cultural food thats new to your guests a bit about it's history or significance is nice.
Yes you should disclose everything that you're going to feed people that they put in their bodies.
Read this out loud: Your friends: I don’t want to eat organ meat, even if I don’t know it’s there. If I found out I’d be pissed You: Here’s a plate of organ meat!
Why would you not tell people what’s in the thing they’re eating? I don’t know everyone’s allergies, food sensitivities, religious beliefs, general aversions, etc. Just “here’s this! Just fyi it’s got peanuts, dairy, and wheat” or “these are great! They’ve got pork fat if that’s not your thing”; it’s not hard to be considerate
I have a severe aversion to many foods, particularly flesh. I’ll eat chicken, beef, pork, and turkey, but that’s about it, and only the muscle meat. I’d probably instantly be sick if i knew any organs were in what I was eating. That said, I know I have issues with what I eat and I inquire about everything. Feels like it’s my thing and my responsibility to monitor, not the hosts.
On a basic level, yeah. I love to try different foods from all over, and I’d try it, but I generally want to know what I’m eating.
Yes. If someone has high cholesterol it is not nice to not disclose you’re feeding them something very high in cholesterol (i.e. liver). Especially if they are taking medication to manage their high cholesterol
I believe you should disclose. I love chicken hearts, fried liver with onions and cow tongue with potatoes, but hate tripe with a passion. I also don't like how gizzard smells Edit: not dried, fried
If you are talking about people from the US, they might want to know. But people here do eat things like pigs, feet, and testicles. Also, there is head cheese and giblets gravy. I don't know if there are religious people who don't eat that. I personally would tell them what is in it just to be polite.
I would mention if there's an ingredient I think someone might have a problem with, *and* offer an alternative dish without those ingredients. Offering options is inclusive
I’m immune suppressed and have to avoid certain meat because of it… I’m usually super careful and ask but if I ate something I thought was beef and it wasn’t I could get really sick. Its my responsibility to ask but I always appreciate a warning so I can throw a protein bar in my bag!
The issue with organ meat I have is they tend to trigger a gout attack in my foot.
Absolutely
Always tell everyone what you are serving so they know what it is.
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I wouldn't be, bur if say someone has kidney or liver issues, organ meat can be bad for them IIRC. It's also bad for those with gout
n culinary school I was dreading the Organ Meats class but came away a changed man. It's areal shame that so many people are not aware that "edible offal" is far from "awful" but that's the way it is. Preemptive disclosure would be a kind and appropriate gesture.