Squirrel Tartare

Hawk eating a squirrel, Columbia University

Most people who've seen the above photo have had one reaction: ewww!
But really, is the act of eating depicted above so different from consuming this:


Steak tartare, photo from flikr user minderbinder, milo

Either way you look at it, it's still raw meat. Of course, the tartare is going to taste better: it's gussied up with some spices and herbs (and potato crisps). And it's on a plate! Plus, that squirrel meat looks pretty stringy.

Admittedly, there are many people (not just vegetarians) who look at a plate of steak tartare and think "ewww!" But the people who've recoiled from the hawk photo have no problem with the tartare. What this really points to is the transformation our food goes through from field to plate - even when we serve it raw. I don't know if we have a human need to compartmentalize between the concepts of "cow" and "beef," or if this is merely a reflection of the current industrialized state of our food culture. Either way, it results in paradoxes.