Random Word Generated Friday: Flesh

This weeks random word: Flesh

Flesh is one of the words I use to describe things in my head, but rarely use when speaking to other people in the same context. In my mind, I use "flesh" and "meat" almost interchangeably. Which may not sound bad until you realize that most of the context is in cooking. This puts me in the realm of  "grilling flesh" and being a "flesh and potatoes" kind of person. Which sounds rather...cannibalistic. You can see how the phrasing in my head might change when talking to people.

So how does someone start using the world "flesh" to describe something they eat?

Frans Snyders. Market Stall. 1614. Oil on Canvas,

Growing up, a lot of the meat my family consumed came from hunting and fishing. I was (perhaps inadvertently) raised with the idea that my delicious venison burger was originally packaged as Bambi. The above painting was done in celebration of game hunting being re-opened in the Netherlands. While today we see a lot of dead animals piled on a table and a business man getting his pocket picked, someone seeing this image back in the 1600s they would see a table overflowing with delicious (and a business man getting his pocket picked...).

Today, most people are removed from a large portion of the butchering process. Bacon comes plastic wrapped in a Styrofoam tray, not a pig. Which explains why most people don't use the term "flesh" to describe meat. We are a little sensitive about where our steak comes from.

Which is interesting because we have become very desensitized to images of violence against actual humans. It always bothered me that in the first Matrix movie Neo blows away the security guards in the lobby. They weren't programs, they weren't even acting violently towards him, they were only doing their crappy entry level jobs and the heroes don't hesitate to put a bullet in their heads even though these are the people their revolution is supposed to be saving. The thing is, I've never heard anyone complain about that either.

But mention that milk is pumped out of the mammaries of a cow and suddenly everyone at the table is squirming a little bit. We live in strange times my friends. Strange times.