Kaiser Wilhelm Was Right

[joe yang]

There is a local cable channel here, PNC I think, the Pennsylvania Network Channel. It has great "tours" of businesses in the state. These are usually mom and pop operations, lots of food related industries, some other cool stuff. Yeungling! It is kind of wacky, funny in a really dry way, a little boring, but really different. I tried to watch one today, they were making sausage. The plant was immaculate. The staff was clean and neat. I figured I could handle it okay. I like meat. I can dress game, fish. I couldn't take five minutes of meat being shoved by the ton into a hopper, using a pitch fork. It was too much. Kaiser Wilhelm was right. :D

[joe yang]

And when PCN isn't doing tours of businesses, it broadcasts sessions of the PA legislature. I'm sure the Kaiser would be amused. :D

[Earl Hartman]

Hah!! You lightweight. That's nothing.

I watched a show a long time ago on NHK called "What People Eat", one installment of which visited a family farm in Germany at hog slaughtering time. They used everything but the oink, and every step, from ham curing to sausage making, was shown in loving detail. One of the best bits was where the guy blew up the pig's bladder like a little balloon in preparation for using it as the casing for a sausage.

However, the best part was watching the guy make "blutwurst" (blood sausage) which involved mushing all of the leftovers (lungs, heart, whatever bits and pieces hadn't gone into other sausages) in a big tub. The guy was literally up to his elbows in gore as he mixed it, occasionally dumping various seasonings into the mix, stopping to taste it (!!!!!), saying "Hmm.....needs more blood!", at which point his wife would dump in the blood from when they cut the pig's throat, which she had saved in a tub and stirred vigorously to prevent it from coagulating.

Quite, um, educational.....