'Being Gordon Ramsay' featuring dead pig!

[paloma7]

Ffs! I'm just watching this Netflix show about Gordon Ramsay and his opening of a new restaurant with amazing views in the city. I'm not interested in him particularly, but thought I might go to this 'Lucky Cat' just for the views over London, if and whenever it opens.

BUT - then there is a scene where he is consulting with his head chef about the menu and there is a whole dead baby suckling pig on a plate. They are talking about making this a restaurant feature, requiring two chefs who carve it at your table.

AIBU to think this is obscene? Yes, I'm vegetarian, but I think even most meat eaters would balk at this?

If I were in his restaurant and that was going at the the next table, I would leave. Wtf is wrong with humans?

The only bit of a pig you can't eat is the "oink".

Why is it sadistic? It's already dead.

Why would anyone care what a total stranger thinks about them, though?

My opinion on slaughterhouses aside - I have no idea who you are, so of course your opinion about me is meaningless 😂

We all have things we won't eat. I won't eat octopus as I like them too much.
I will eat chickens as i think they are stupid.
I will also eat cows as they are large and many.
I won't eat offal. I will eat legs.
I went to a bbq once and they had suckling pigs roasting ona spit. It doesnt really make me feel anything as a meat eater, but I do orefer my meat packaged
However I dont think we can be alive without causing some destruction. Even vegans are indirectly killing animals with the land clearance for produce.

I kind of get what you’re saying, OP. I’m a former vegetarian and I don’t eat baby animals. But culturally, this isn’t particularly unusual.

https://youtube.com/shorts/20VUpyE3ITY?si=mVM1OD-C3SWg172W

It wouldn’t bother me.

Hardly the target audience.

If animals are killed for food it is a good thing that nothing is wasted.
I wish we had higher standards in abbatoirs though. All animals should be stunned and stunned effectively.

Sounds absolutely delicious but I agree poor baby piglet. The presentation looks disconcerting.

It’s not about whether it’s dead. It’s about making a public display of a body for entertainment, not just consumption. There’s a difference between eating meat and staging a performance around a corpse.

I'm a committed omnivore with no plans to ever stop eating meat, but I have to admit that I wouldn't want to see the whole dead animal on my table. I can just not look if it's on the next table over, but I'd rather not have it inches from my face while I'm eating (though I doubt it would stop me from enjoying my meal, even if it were right there on my own table).

There's a very simple solution to all of that. DON'T GO there. Job done.

I'm from Central Europe and participated in my first slaughtering of a pig when I was 5. Well, more like 'observed' than actually participated. Paternal grandparents had a farm: pigs, horses, chickens and other animals. The pig was slaughtered, then divided up. There was a party afterwards. Saw the whole thing. Happily eat the meat to this day. It's a pig. Bred to be killed and eaten. What's with the damn angst.

And yes, we also do hog roasts, pig's head, sheep's head on the table and the like. What's the issue here?

Love Gordon; been to his other Lucky Cat and will visit this one on a special occasion. Might order the piggy in OP's honour!

Really, what's the difference? I genuinely don't see it.

The pig is dead. It makes no difference whether it's presented as chops, bacon, a roast with stuffing or with an apple in its' mouth and flowers in its' eyes. It's the same animal and will taste the same regardless.

It's not "staging a performance" to display it in a certain way - or do you think all food should just be served to be as unidentifiable as possible?

The UK is so weird when it comes to meat.

Nope wouldn’t bother me, I’ve been to a fair few events with a whole hog roast.

You are clearly projecting your own point of view onto other people.

FYI we (whole family + two children) have invited a close friend family (also with two children) to accompany us to Segovia in Spain which is renowned for "cochinillo" (roast suckling young pig).

We've been before and one of the highlights; main reason for going in fact; is to enjoy the experience and taste!

The young pig is served whole and presented specially at the table.

Search for any combination of "cochinillo", Segovia, suckling pig, etc...

Delicious!

I think you're being silly, OP.
I'm a dairy-free vegetarian (my own chickens' eggs are the only animal product I eat) but if someone is a meat eater then surely meat is meat, regardless of how it's presented? Any meat eater making a fuss is being ridiculous.
People serve whole turkeys, chickens, salmon etc. too!

I think presenting it as a whole pig but “pretty” is actually more humanising of the animal than a mere chop or rib.

So more respectful of the animal.

A life is a life.

I'm a bit of a guilty meat eater. I know where it comes from, obviously, could never work on a farm and send the animals to slaughter myself. I eat duck but have pet ducks. Mine will never be eaten and live a long life until they die of old age. But I love the taste of it so try to detach it from my ducks.

I minimise my meat eating. Will probably chose 1-2 meat types a week and make it stretch for many meals. Eating vegetarian dishes many times a week too.

I wouldn't find the whole pig a desirable treat or an impressive display, would actually find it off putting . But I also accept i chose to take part in eating meat (not matter if minimal) so I have no right to be offended how others do it. I wouldn't complain if others at the same table ordered this, although I would pass. Also wouldn't ever order a live lobster, not something that appeals to me condemning a life to end by my choosing.

That's kind of my view as well. Surely it's better that we see, eat and celebrate the whole animal, not just the sanitised view of them?

They wouldn’t be born in the first place if they weren’t going to be slaughtered for the table.

How can you be sadistic and cruel to a carcass?
It's dead!

I completely agree with you OP. It is the whole spectacle of a dead animal being paraded that is grotesque and primitive. I attended a wedding several years ago and a dead pig on a spike was in the front of the room. The vegetarians didn’t know where to hold their gaze.

Yes true. But I am thinking more like pets / domesticated animals. The animal welfare act does not address slaughter of very young animals but I do think this is a short coming.