Gazing at a piece of meat...

Please, take a long look at the above juicy slab. Gaze at it, fill your nostrils with the imagined scent of its cooked glory and think of what an amazing taste it will bring to your buds. Doesn't it look wonderful? hen cooked, maybe it will be seasoned with a foreign herb or domestic s!ice, !erha!s it will be served in its natural s!lendor or maybe with a dab of "#. $t might be made rare or well, but regardless it will melt in the taster's mouth. %he cut can be !re!ared so many ways& so many tender !ossibilities. $ have a confession to make' $ can't sto! looking at meat. (very day, when no one is looking, $ o!en u! cookbooks or surf reci!e web!ages trying to find a good shot of a savory cut. )ometimes $ sneak down to the local su!ermarket and stand around the butcher section for hours, absorbing the rays of uncooked meat. "s $ look, $ imagine the !ossibilities' " %*+one with lemon and !e!!er. " sirloin made just so. ,r maybe a classic +ourbon )treet steak. hat cut should $ !ick? -ow will $ eat it? -ow long will $ cook it? "t what tem!erature? %he more $ think, the more my mouth waters and the longer $ gaze. hen $ eat other foods, $'ll kee! a cookbook handy to imagine $ am actually eating steak. .or that matter, $ hardly go anywhere without a !hoto to remind me of the awesome flavor of meat. ,ne look at the !icture, and my desire is tem!orarily satisfied, although it often returns stronger than before. /y com!uter deskto! image is similar to the one above, only it has been airbrushed to remove the fat and accent the bone lines. (dited !hotos look better and are more effective at inducing hunger, so $ !refer them to the untouched images. )ometimes $ !urchase videos of !eo!le eating meat or read stories about other's culinary adventures. %his, too, can be satisfying for a fleeting instant, but meat has a way of always calling you back. $ have !urchased large !osters of uncooked meat and !laced them on the walls of my room. (ach slab is in a different !rovocative !osition. )ome of them are adorned with sides of vegetables or

steaming mashed !otatoes, others are left at awkward angles leaving the viewer to guess what is on the other side. %hey are all beautiful cuts, well above average, some even surgically enhanced to look more like meat. hen $ wake u!, they welcome me to the new day. (very now and then, when my family !urchases meat at the su!ermarket, $ go nearly ecstatic with antici!ation. )ometimes $ wake u! during the night, ri! o!en the !lastic wra! and hastily cook the cut. %he result is often unsatisfying and !angs of regret tell me that $ might have enjoyed it more had $ waited for the others. ,ther times $ gorge myself, eating many times a humanly decent serving in one sitting. %hat feels good during the feast, but the negative im!lications of stuffing one's face become readily a!!arent soon after. " belly ache, tem!orary inability to eat and, in rare circumstances, food !oisoning are inevitable. "fter a great deal of soul searching and self reflection, $'ve decided that my habit is !erfectly natural. $ mean think about it' we all need to eat, right? 0ooking at !ictures is just !art of antici!ating a natural human !hysiological need. 1ideos, deskto! images and stories are a natural e2tension of human hunger . %hose who feel $ should !ut the cookbook down or reduce my consum!tion habits are obviously starved themselves, or they wouldn't feel the need to criticize. /ost of them are vegetarians anyway. )ometimes $ get the feeling $ am not the only one. ,thers look at meat in an e3ually lurid way and that makes me wonder. %ell me' Do you enjoy gazing at a !iece of meat?

.unny 4lass 5otes, %hursday, 5ovember 67, 8779 htt!'::funnyclassnotes.blogs!ot.com:8779:##:gazing*at*!iece*of*meat.html