by David Arthur Walters

Created on: February 08, 2009   Last Updated: February 09, 2009

On Fat, Liver and Kidney...

During my recent casual review of religious cooking rituals, I believe I encountered the ancient origins of my early dislike of fat, liver, and kidney, an instinctive repugnance rooted in the sacred unconscious.

I already knew I was ancient when I was 7 years old. I found the comments about being a 7-year old boy extremely annoying, but not as annoying as having fat, liver, and kidney put on my plate. Today, fat is out and lean is in, but in those days, at least in my foster home, fat was often literally the order of the day for growing boys. I'll never forget how many times I was told, "Eat your fat, David, it's good for you." And the bountiful Lord had provided for that purpose some of the fattiest meat in Oklahoma.

The elders who had too much fat on their beef would sometimes trim it off and put it on my plate with the mature observation that growing boys need fat. And I found no relief from my disgust on those days when liver or kidney was served. I did not know why, but of all the food in the world, those three things were not my favorite things.

Thanks to the assistance of my older foster brother, Jim, who had taught me and my six-year old girfriend next door about the birds and the bees, I discovered a solution to be employed when nobody was looking; to wit, a loose board in the wall right behind our chairs could be pushed aside to make a hole into which unsavory substances could be surreptitiously shoved. This ingenious process was satisfactory for a couple of years, not only to me but to the thriving critters behind the boards and under the house who liked fat, liver and kidneys.

Now then, I had not thought of that hole in the wall since then, not until I was reading Philo Judaeus' paper 'On Animals Fit To Sacrifice' just last week. Lo and Behold, my eyes fell upon the section regarding the sacrifice for preservation:

"Three parts are especially selected for the altar, the fat, and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys; and all the other parts are left to make a feast for the sacrificer; and we must consider with great accuracy the reason why the portions of the entrails are in this case looked upon as sacred, and not pass this point by carelessly."

I certainly had no doubt why those parts were burned up on the altar, not only for the preservation-sacrifice but for the sin-sacrifice as well. However, I felt confused and guilty upon second thought, for to believe the worst parts were given to God to get rid of them would be

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