num_pages: 141
description: Offal has the same pronunciation as awfulan appropriate homophone given that offal comprises the whole spectrum of an animals glands essential organs skin muscle guts and every unmentionable in between. Yet as Nina Edwards shows in this intriguing history offal has been consumed and enjoyed across ages and continents often hidden by the rich variety of termslike fois gras and sweetbreadthat have evolved to veil their origins. Edwards dissects the complicated relationship we have with offal and the extreme reactions it inspires asking if we can enjoy a pigs heart a cows eyes or a sheeps brain when it reminds us so viscerally of our own flesh and blood. She explores the offal dishes that are specific to regional cuisines and holidays such as Scottish haggis Jewish chopped liver and Southern states chitterlings. As she reveals offal is a food of contradictionsit is high in nutrients but also dangerously high in cholesterol and it can range from expensive haute cuisine to a cheap alternative for the impoverished. From tongue in Sichuan and gizzard stew in Rio de Janeiro to spicy cartilage in Calcutta Offal sheds new light on the sometimes stomach-churning foods we consume.
language: English
title: Offal: A Global History
publisher: Reaktion Books