Have you ever eaten a pet?

[Cow Poke]

Yeah, sounds gross, eh?

When we were kids, we lived on a farm, and raised, among other things, chickens.

My brothers and I decided we'd pick out our favorite chicks and name them, have contests with them, and we named them Penny, Denny, Jenny and Benny -- the first letters of each of our first names, with "enny".

Make a long story short, it became their turn, eventually, to become supper. I KNEW we raised animals for food, but it never occurred to me that I would ever end up EATING a chicken I PLAYED with.

Now, don't get me wrong, this was no "mean dad proving a point" thing -- it was just in the course of "farm life", and chickens were FOOD, not pets.

Apparently, my older brothers knew from Day 1 that "their" chicken would eventually end up on the dinner table, but I was the baby boy, and had no clue. When I found out, AFTER THE FACT, I felt really sick.

The reason I'm thinking about this now is that my oldest granddaughter was over for supper, and we had ham. It turned out to be quite a delicious ham (one of OBP's relatives, no doubt) and she asked, "what animal does ham come from". We were astounded. We all just sat there looking at her, and she asked, "cow?"

Those of you who always get your meat from a store, wrapped in cellophane don't know what you're missing.

[Ged]

Yeah, Ive got a small amount of land in town and I have to keep the grass down somehow, so we breed a sheep each year and keep the lamb. If the lamb is a ram we fatten him for the freezer. If the lamb is a ewe mumsy gets replaced.

We've had Eunice, Barbara, Felice, Lambert, Barnard, Jumbuck, Matilda, Jolly and Molly. Jolly and Molly were twins.

[Andius]

Heheheheheheh, happens from time to time.

My own mother and my aunts had a similar experience when they were kids. My own grandfather also raised chickens, and every now and then, many of them ended up for dinner in their household. ^^

[rogue06]

You're trying to get me in trouble for taking some of Teal's cats to that Chinese restaurant, aren't you?

[Teallaura]

Good thing you can't tell a dressed squirrel from a cat... Po probably wants to have a word with you now...

[rogue06]

Coming from the woman that this commercial was based on

Not to mention this incident

Teal and friend playing with the "pretty kitties"

[Catholicity]

Yeah, sounds gross, eh?

When we were kids, we lived on a farm, and raised, among other things, chickens.

My brothers and I decided we'd pick out our favorite chicks and name them, have contests with them, and we named them Penny, Denny, Jenny and Benny -- the first letters of each of our first names, with "enny".

Make a long story short, it became their turn, eventually, to become supper. I KNEW we raised animals for food, but it never occurred to me that I would ever end up EATING a chicken I PLAYED with.

Now, don't get me wrong, this was no "mean dad proving a point" thing -- it was just in the course of "farm life", and chickens were FOOD, not pets.

Apparently, my older brothers knew from Day 1 that "their" chicken would eventually end up on the dinner table, but I was the baby boy, and had no clue. When I found out, AFTER THE FACT, I felt really sick.

The reason I'm thinking about this now is that my oldest granddaughter was over for supper, and we had ham. It turned out to be quite a delicious ham (one of OBP's relatives, no doubt) and she asked, "what animal does ham come from". We were astounded. We all just sat there looking at her, and she asked, "cow?"

Those of you who always get your meat from a store, wrapped in cellophane don't know what you're missing.

My 1st exposure to this was walking around on my Great Aunts farm collecting breakfast. Which was absolutely delicious.

[Jedidiah]

One year when I was a little kid, my parents bought me a rabbit for Easter. When I was grown we gave it to my paternal grandparents. One night we were eating dinner with them and guess what was served. Tasted fine and did not bother me.

I may have told this one before, but . . .

My young granddaughter had a rabbit, and asked if she could raise some bunnies. I told her sure, but if she could not get rid of them they would ultimately be eaten. Thinking for a minute or so, she said that she did not want to have pets named lunch and dinner.