Face

Face

Submitted by Paul Crutcher

In the modern world, most of our meat is so far removed from the animal that we only rarely contemplate the connection. This comfortable detachment is impossible with face. And in China, where I am, people eat it. Rabbit face looks strikingly similar to those pictures of people in front of a powerful fan, cheeks flapping, eyes askew. It’s almost indistinguishable from duck or chicken face in that, once you’re past the “I am eating a face” part, the experience is much like the familiar inane fight with the gristly bits of meat on a leg bone. Fish face differs because it’s often served attached to the fish. You contemplate the face after a good-natured Chinese friend has deftly decapitated it and dropped it into your bowl. You’re told that it’s a delicacy, and famous in this or that region. Then you’re left fidgeting with your chopsticks for tiny speckles of fish meat, trying to talk your way out of consuming the eyes.

From McSweenys.net