Anchovies are animals too!

I have never been a fan of seafood. Ever since my horrifying previous encounters with fish sticks, I have never had a pleasant perspective on seafood. However, living in Rome has taught me that not all fish comes from a frozen package. I have even tried new types of fish that I would never experience at home including swordfish, lobster, fresh salmon, and anchovies. But as I sat in front of my cutting board with 5 whole anchovies staring back at me, my fear of fish quickly returned. My teacher Christina told us that we were first supposed to rip off the heads, carefully pull out the internal organs and remove the spine from the muscle. I was mortified but had no choice. Christina was not going to let us leave the room without fully dipping our hands in fresh anchovy blood. So I sucked up the courage, closed my eyes and began decapitating the heads of my anchovies. I felt like Sweeny Todd! After the first one, the others weren’t as bad. It was hard to get used to the feeling and I had to keep telling myself the anchovies were dead. As nauseating and painful experience as it was, it helped me realize that the meats and fish that we eat everyday come from living creatures. Many people often go to the grocery store and buy clean packages of meats and forget about where it comes from. Those spotless cutlets of chicken were once a part of a full animal that had internal organs and a head. If more people had to prepare their own meat, I’m sure they would have a different perspective of what they are ingesting. Our society is fortunate enough to have someone else do the dirty work for us. Now every time I buy clean cut meat at the grocery store, I always appreciate it.