Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Fun with Polls What do you eat?

With all this talk of lamb being expensive, I just did a quick survey at my local Marks & Spencer - probably one of the most expensive places too buy food in the UK, but popular and of a generally good quality.

These are all per kilo and rounded to the nearest pound:

Pork (loin chops): £10
Chicken (breast fillets): £8
Beef thinly-sliced frying steak): £11
Beef (Aberdeen Angus sirloin steak): £20
Beef Mince: £6
Gammon joint: £10
Lamb (chops): £12

I'd be interested to see comparative costs from elsewhere...

Yvonne

Wow, Yvonne. I know it's kind of hard to compare because my prices are in pounds (so I guess multiply by 2.2 to get per kilo) and also cuts of meat differ, but here are some prices in our last Dominick's (a major grocery chain here in Chicago) advertisement. These are all fairly common cuts of meat and some, like lamb or finer cuts of beef, I'd actually have to go to the store to price out. Also, these prices are based on using the store's coupon card to get special savings, but since signing up for the card is free and easy, the price is available to everyone.

Pork (shoulder blade steaks): $1.99 per lb.
Pork (boneless shoulder ribs): $1.99 per lb.
Chicken (boneless breasts): $1.88 per lb.
Chicken (drumsticks): $.99 per lb.
Beef Rib Eye Steaks: $4.49 per lb.
90% Lean Ground Beef: $2.99 per lb.
Boneless Angus Beef Chuck Roast: $2.99 per lb.
Sliced Half a Ham: $1.29 per lb.
King Crab legs and claws: $11.99 per lb.
Swordfish steaks: $5.99 per lb.
Cooked shrimp: $10.99 per lb.

Looks like it's quite a bit cheaper to eat meat in Chicago. Perhaps that's why Americans have such a serious problem with cholesterol, heart disease and obesity - not that meat is wholey responsible, but it would seem that over-consumption of red meat can't be very good for you.

Very interesting!
Lynn

Okay, I am going to ask, not sure if I want to know or not. What is Mutton? Also, what are "game meats", and what are "game birds"? And offal? /me is in shock that people eat kidneys, livers, and hearts! And what is beef mince and gammon joint?

I am not entirely sure I want to know the answers . . .

Anyway, looking at the adds from Tops and Giant Eagle (our two big grocery stores here in Cleveland) . . . Tops tends to be cheaper, so I will go with them.

Boneless Sirloin Steak $7.99/lb
Ham (whole, semi-boneless) $ .99/lb
Boneless Pork Loin $ 1.99/lb
Veal Shoulder Chops $ 2.49/lb
Leg of Lamb $ 2.89/lb
Lamb Loin Chops $ 7.99/lb
Bonus Pack Ground Beef $ 2.59/lb
Ribeye Steak $ 6.99/lb
Fresh Salmon Fillet $ 4.99/lb
King Crab Legs $ 10.99/lb
Cod Fillet $ 4.99/lb
Large Shrimp $ 5.99/lb
Boneless Pork chops $ 3.99/lb
Boneless, Skinless Chicken breast $ 2.49/lb

You know, I just realized, I've never thought of fish as meat. Maybe it's because growing up Catholic, on days we were't allowed to eat meat (Fridays during Lent and Ash Wednesday), we were allowed to eat fish. Heck, my church makes tons of money each year with their Friday Fish Fry! That's strange because when I really think of it, fish are animals with little eyes and . . . awww . . . now that I think about it, I really don't want to eat fish any more!

- Laura

Mutton is meat from goats. Very popular in Northern Chinese (including Mongolian) and Indian cuisine (South Indian, I think)

Game meats are ...hmmm, I suppose that'll mean the animals traditionally hunted for sport, eg fox, pheasants, deer, antelope, moose. Even the infamous civet cat. SARS, anybody? :p

Beef mince is, well, minced beef. Beef that has been cut to very small pieces. Oh did you know, minced beef is just about the fattiest form of beef you can buy? Normal minced beef has 30% fat. Lean? 20%. Extra lean? 10%.

Offal sounds totally gross when you check it up in a dictionary, but it just means internal organs like kidneys, livers, hearts, lungs. Laura, you are horrified by people who eat internal organs? Then perhaps I shouldn't tell you that the Chinese (race, not nationality) even eat pig's blood? Lest you have thoughts of Count Dracula in mind, just step into any Chinese supermarket. In the refrigerated section, you may see tofu that's brownish red in colour, that comes in smaller cubes than white tofu? That's pig blood.

It's probably not wrong to say that a Chinese will eat just about anything. After all, we do have a saying "Anything that swims in water; any creature whose back faces the sky, is food." That sounds kinda barbaric, doesn't it?


metwin1

Actually, mutton is meat from an adult sheep (as opposed to a lamb) - do you know the expression 'mutton dressed as lamb'? I don't think it's very often sold any more, though it used to be popular for its relative cheapness - but then, in comparison to lamb, it's pretty tough! Irish stew is traditionally made with mutton, though a quick check for recipes now tells me that lamb seems to have replaced it.

I don't eat either mutton or lamb, but I have vague memories of my mother complaining that a lot of what is sold as lamb isn't spring lamb, but 'lamb' which is quite a bit older... perhaps what might be more accurately labelled mutton?


Wendy

Oh my gosh, metwin1! I am not exactly grossed out by the thought of people eating these things -- especially because my good friend Mooey (who is from China) eats things like that all the time. I just didn't know what it was actually called -- Mooey just says, "Don't ask, you won't like it".

I am more grossed out by blood (and all things red). When Mooey and I go out to eat, I tell her to order things for me and just don't tell me what they are. I am sure if she actually told me what they are, I wouldn't eat at all -- yet I usually like whatever she gives me. She usually orders things that aren't even on the menu at this tiny restaurant in Chinatown -- and I am sure I am eating things like that. She told me that this one soup she usually gets is "monkey brains"! For a split second, I actually thought she was serious! Then I realized you probably can't get good monkey brains in Ohio anyway (I hope).

Oh my gosh, we go shopping in Chinatown all the time! That makes so much sense now! I know the tofu you're talking about! I don't eat it because it's red -- and I don't eat red things! But my roommate does all the time. Actually, we have a Polish food (i am not sure how it is spelled but it is pronounced czinena) or "duck blood soup". My parents got me to eat it as a kid because they told me it was "chocolate soup"! I knew it didn't taste like chocolate, but my parents told me it was a special kind of chocolate -- yeah ducky-bloody-chocolate! (Sorry, I am a really picky eater. I think my parents were really glad when I left for college and they didn't have to cook for me any more <g>.)

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend. I am a really picky person and I was actually really curious about these things that I'd never heard of before. My parents never eat *anything* other than traditional American or Polish food (and they never use spices on anything) -- so until I got to college, I had never tasted Chinese food, Indian food, Thai food, Mexican food, etc! Good thing I have a lot of friends from these countries to take me out to eat!

/me runs to tell her vegitarian, Jewish roommate about the pig's blood on tofu <g>. That's what she gets whenever we go out to eat Chinese food! Oh no! The lab phone isn't working and I have no cell phone signal here in the sub basement. Shoot!

- Laura

By the way, don't forget that when comparing prices between the US and the UK (and much of the rest of Europe, I think), shops over here include sales tax in their prices, whereas in the US, they don't (which is a pet peeve of mine, since it means you can never tender the exact money at the till unless you happen to be a walking calculator). UK sales tax is 17.5%.

Yvonne

You don't have to be a calculator. The one I have on my wrist is perfectly adequate.

Yvonne, there's no sales tax (at least in CA, and I think this is true nationwide) on food, except for snack/junk food. So no sales tax on meat.

I don't think of fish as "meat" either, for two reasons: fish is pareve (neutral, neither meat nor dairy) by kosher standards; I have a number of vegetarian friends who eat (some) fish (I have vegan friends too, and have even cooked for them on occasion, but I digress).

Local prices for kosher meat (going by my freezer and my memory) include:

Ground beef, 5+ pound package: $2.59/ lb
Lean (10% fat) ground beef: $3.59
Ground (dark) turkey: $3.69
Ground lamb: $ 4.99
Ground chicken breast: $4.99
Boneless, skinless chicken thighs: $2.99
Whole chickens: $1.99
Chicken legs (bottom quarters): $1.29
Beef roasts, depending on cut: $4.99 (for example a chuck, w/ bone) - $9.99 (low fat, no-bone cuts)
Beef stew meat (no bones): $3.99
Lamb stew meat (with bones): $5.39
Lamb chops: $7.99

And I realized, I did have lamb in the last month -- I made a stew with a mixture of beef and lamb not long ago.

Yvonne - In the US, sales tax on grocery items is regulated on the state level. Some states don't charge any tax at all on food items purchased for consumption in the home. Others, like my state of Illinois, charge a reduced tax rate for food items and other "necessities" such as prescription drugs. Our state sales tax rate is 6.25%, and it is even lower than this for food, so really, it is almost negligible. Some things, such as milk and bread, are non-taxed items.

But yes, I know what you mean about not quite knowing what your final bill will be until you hit the check out line. I always mentally reserve a dollar or two for tax - so if I have $10 in my wallet, I don't purchase anything over $9 because I know I'm going to need that extra buck for the taxes <g>.

The other pervasive American custom that doesn't seem to plague other countries is tipping. Don't get me started...

Lynn

PS - After seeing Rivka and Laura's posts re: prices elsewhere in the US, I'm thinking I should head over to Dominick's and take advantage of the good prices!

The prices I listed are NOT at all typical for non-kosher meat in my area. I can check a circular later, but I think they're far closer to the prices you listed, Lynn.

Kosher meat ain't cheap. And it's much more expensive if you don't live in a city with a large kosher-consuming population, of course.

Oops, Wendy. :p I stand corrected. Mutton is meat from an adult sheep. Check.

Oh my goodness, your Jewish friend ate that? *Gasps* It's not pig's blood on tofu. I should have put "tofu" in inverted commas (Seemed like a good way to describe how pig's blood looked like). That brownish red "tofu"? It's pig's blood. Full stop. I don't know what they added to the blood to get it to coagulate, but I do know that the there are no soy beans in this "tofu" at all. Yikes.

If your friend orders it everytime she goes to a Chinese restaurant, she must really like it. Now that she knows what that really is, she can never eat it ever again.

Which brings me to wonder, how does the restaurant translate that "blood red tofu" into English in the menu? Obviously, the translation that the restaurant used did not have the words "pig" nor "blood" in it.


metwin1

Maybe it's kind of complicated to calculte 17.5% in your head, but in Toronto (and all of Ontario, I believe) it's only 15%, which at least for me is easy to calculate. I know that for $10, for exmaple, the final price will be $11.50, because I calculate 15 cents for every dollar and $1.50 for $10. My friend can't seem to grasp that, though, so every single time we go shopping I find myself doing math in my head for her. You'd think after so much practice I'd be good in Math (Actually, I'm good with technical stuff like that, it's hard stuff like quadratic equations that kills me).

Julie

Well, pig’s blood is not only eaten by Chinese.

In South-Germany we have a special sausage filled with thickened pig’s blood called “blutwurst”. It is only made in autumn around Thanksgiving Day, when farmers have harvest and traditionally slaughter their pigs. Then there is usually a country feast where you get the meat of the freshly slaughtered pigs, like ham, sausages made of blood or liver served with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. The blood and liver sausages are a typical autumn/winter meal and are spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg.
I usually eat it once or twice a year, I don’t like it too much, but it is a traditional meal people eat here in winter, so I’m used to it.

I always tell myself, that if the poor pig had to die at least we can use all possible parts of it and not carelessly throw parts away that could make a good meal. That makes it easier to eat such things.

Oh, and isn’t “black pudding” in Britain made of blood, too?


Ines

Yes, black pudding is indeed made of blood (yuck!).

I know! Makes it even harder for visitors from another land who are travelling around from state to state - fly-drive holidays being one of the most popular ways to visit the US. You don't know what the tax rate is, and you haven't a clue as to which goods and services it's charged on and what's tax-free. Mostly, it's not that big a deal, but when you're at the airport on the way home and you want to get rid of your loose change by buying a few sweeties etc, it's a pain <g>.

Tipping, Lynn? Yup, my favourite bit is when you've just arrived at your hotel, and reception *insists* on sending someone up with you to your room to help with the bags. He gives you this half-baked tour of the room, telling you stuff which would have been far more fun to figure out for yourself, and then you're into the tipping stand-off. You've got nothing but large-denomination bills in your purse, because you just arrived and you haven't bought anything yet, so you thank him for his help and let him go without any money changing hands whatsoever, and then you close the door feeling about one inch high for being so horribly mean.

We got caught out in Florida once, because we'd becomes so wary of the tipping scenario that we refused point-blank to accept any help with our bags. We soldiered out into the hot, dark night, weary from our flight and longish drive to St Pete's beach - only to discover that because it was a resort-style hotel with greenery, streams, bridges and swimming pools around every corner, it was practically impossible to find the room! For once, we actually needed the irritating bell-boy service. Picture two travel-weary, bedraggled women wandering around acres and acres of resort hotel in the pitch dark, dragging heavy cases behind them and dodging giggly children and adults who were having fun in the umpteen swimming pools. I'm sorry, but these people had absolutely no right to be enjoying themselves while we were suffering <bg>.

But this is way off topic and probably more than anyone wanted to know.

Yvonne

I'm a meat/fish/chicken/etc.-maniac. I'll eat it, no matter what meat it is or what way it is cooked.

AnnaBtG.

We've been doing the South Beach diet the past two weeks (well, I haven't because when I had my teeth pulled for my braces that will be put on next Monday, all 4 developed dry sockets and I've been living on soup and painkillers for the past 2 weeks) and it calls for chicken, lean beef, shrimp, salmon, mahi mahi, orange roughy and lots and lots of veggies. I fixed a wonderful poached salmon with cucumber dill dressing tonight. It was soft so I could eat it too. Sure beat the heck out of ANOTHER bowl of chicken noodle soup.

Well, I believe in eating everything in moderation. I don't believe in eliminating entire food groups from my diet. Yeah, I could be thinner, but I've never been below a size 14 my entire adult life, and I'm probably never going to be due to my genetic makeup. But you know what? It's not what you look like on the outside that matters, it's who you are on the inside that counts. It may be a cliche, but it's the truth.

I think life is way too short to spend it counting calories. I figure you might as well enjoy life while you're still here because we can go at any time for any reason. Unfortunately, I learned that the hard way.

LOL, you must stay in some fancy places when you visit, Yvonne. I've stayed in some nice hotels -- business-quality when I was traveling a lot for work, as well as some upscale big city hotels for pleasure -- and while I've had the occasional place ask if we wanted help, I've never had anyone insist.

But I do understand about the not having small bills when you arrive somewhere thing ... I've run into that with valet parking and I agree it's embarrassing. What my husband and I have done on rare occasion (like after the guy saw that we had a baby and offered to squeeze our car into the officially full valet lot anyway) is taken the guy's name then come back fifteen minutes later with his tip, after getting change at the front desk.

As for dealing with changing sales taxes when traveling from state-to-state, Americans deal with that, too, on our vacations, but really, tax rates are really so similar in the grand scheme of things, that it's not considered a big deal here. Most states run in the 4-6% range, with a few states (like California) running more. I just generally figure on 6% and if it's less, I'm ahead of the game. And the vast majority of states don't charge sales tax at all on unprepared foods (though that doesn't generally apply to vacationers anyway, unless you are renting a condo and plan to cook for yourself, etc.) If anyone is interested on checking them out ahead of time before their next vacation, I found this chart by googling on "sales tax rate by state" .

But back to the poll question (how many tangents can I go off on?), I've gotten a kick out of all the "food phobias" out there. For me, I'll eat anything mainstream (and I consider squid to be mainstream -- calamari, anyone?? YUM!) and I'm generally willing to try something unusual, though I draw the line at things like brain and eyeballs and that stuff. In general, I don't like organ meats (never heard the term "offal" before; learn something new every day), though I grew up loving liverwurst and a Polish sausage called "kiezka", which I learned in adulthood is a type of blood sausage. By the time I learned what was in it (my dad said my grandparents used to make it in their basement when he was growing up, ROTFL), I was hooked and didn't care as long as I got my share at holiday breakfasts. <g>

Beyond the kiezka, the most unusual thing I've eaten has been rabbit -- which I found too gamey-tasting for my preference -- and cuttlefish (ordered in Italy when none of us spoke the language, so we just kind of guessed at the menus every night <g>), which at first icked us out when the server brought it (tentacles everywhere!) but when we finally screwed up our courage to try it, we found it was one of the most delicious things we ate during the whole 2 week trip).

I guess this is proof that kids who were picky eaters can grow out of it.

Kathy

Oooh, I like calamari. I also enjoy sushi. Really, it's not as bad as most people seem to think, even though they haven't tried it. I also am Minnesotan and part Norwegian, so my Grandma always made lutefisk at least once a year for Christmas until very recently (the prices have gone up too much). She still makes homemade lefse, which I enjoy far more than the lutefisk.

Hmm, never had cuttlefish, but I have had rabbit a few times and if it is cooked right it is better then chicken<g> I also eat calamari but stuffed in a sauce over pasta is my favorite way to have it. Although I have had it fried in rings and tempura style in an oriental resturaunt. I have also eaten Sushi and Shami but I really prefer the cooked shushi, as in california rolls. I do like the eel, shrimp and crab rolls as well, all cooked. I have tried raw and just can't get past the consistency. I have also tried snails as in escargo, scungilli which is conch (like a big snail) and honestly I can say I don't like it. Also octopus is way too chewy for me.

I have not tried eating bugs as in chocolate covered ants or fried grashoppers, nor do I plan on it anytime soon. Tripe is probably the oddest thing I eat and like. It is kind of a chewy organ meat. The lining of a lamb stomach I think? Anyway it is always smothered in sauce and cheese so what is not to like. Very Italian of course<g>.

Broccolirabe is a vegetable and is very bitter. I love it anyway any how. Sometimes it is served fried with garlic and oil as a vegetable side dish and it is also served over pasta with sausage. Also they make it as a frittata with eggs. Not many people, outside of Italians, like it. Although, Japanese people eat it also in a little crispier version.

I love food and like to try different things, I have had African food including Etheopian food, Ti food, Indian food, Italian, German, Irish, English, Spanish, Vietnamise, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Polish, Jewish, Russian, French and Ukranian food. I am sure there are more but I can't think of any right now. Laura