The Schoolyear of Scott

I love eating meat.  Actually, I love eating, period, but meat is at the top of things that I love to eat.  Give me the 24 oz. Bone-In Ribeye at The Palm any day of the week (seriously, give it to me as I am too unemployed right now to afford one myself) and I am a happy man.  Throw a serious helping of horseradish on that steak and I’m even happier.

Up until a few weeks ago I would have considered myself a Shameless Carnivore but since then, I have read the work of a man who has quickly become one of my heroes.  His book, The Shameless Carnivore: A Manifesto for Meat Lovers, has changed my way of thinking about eating meat.

The Shameless Carnivore

That man’s name, is Scott Gold

Let me give a little background on this Scott Gold.  Over a year ago, I took a trip to Italy with the Johnson’s  (the same family that I went on the recent cruise with) and a few weeks before our departure, an email chain was started with travel information for everyone as there were 25 of us going on this trip.  The only problem with the email chain was that the Scott Gold they intended to include in the emails (me) was left off the chain and the Scott Gold that was in fact included (not me) turned out to be a Shameless Carnivore.  The confusion was quickly resolved and, after being alerted of the mix-up and reading the email response Scott sent to the Johnson’s, I became intrigued by this guy whom I share a name with and who calls himself a Shameless Carnivore.  I began visiting his website, The Shameless Carnivore, and soon after I learned he had a book, which I quickly bought.

I decided to save actually reading the book until my Summer of Scott commenced (mainly so that I could have it on display in my apartment so guests would assume I was a published author) and just recently finished it.  It is highly recommended.  The book, amongst other things, chronicles Scott’s attempt to eat 31 different meats in 31 days as well as his attempt to eat every part of a cow (and yes, I mean every part).  Recipes abound (if, after reading about the Rattlesnake Chili that Scott gushes about, you are brave enough to try it yourself, you need look no further than the end of the chapter for instructions) while adventures of Squirrel hunting and a visit to the Testicle Festival for some Rocky Mountain Oysters are both educational and laugh-out-loud funny.

Ever wondered how squirrel tastes? It's all in the book!

The book is also inspirational.  While it has inspired me to eat more exotic meats and cuts (as previously mentioned, I have recently crossed Tripe off of my list), it has also made me look at vegetarians (for which he has different classifications of, such as Vegetarianus loxshmear – vegetarians who consume fish) in another light.  Scott has many friends who are vegetarians, as do I, and sometimes it can be frustrating watching them deprive themselves of a juicy Cheeseburger in exchange for a Cheese Quesadilla.  The Shameless Carnivore has allowed me to become more accepting of this practice, but at the same time, it has showed me even more so how ridiculous some vegetarians can be (guess how many animals PETA killed between 1998 and 2003…I’ll give you a hint…over 10,000).

At one point in the book, Scott recalls a story of when his younger brother, who was a vegetarian for years, takes one whiff of freshly grilled hamburgers on a trip to Mexico and gives up vegetarianism for good right then and there.  His brother, to this day, claims that burger in Mexico is the best burger he has ever tasted.  My friend Jean (the recovered Malaria case) is a vegetarianus loxshmear but has just joined the Peace Corp., and with a 27 month stay in the Dominican Republic a little more than a month away, she has determined that she will not be able to be a vegetarian any longer.  Jean has enlisted me to cook her a carnivorous meal in a couple weeks (for which I will be using the World’s Best Meat Marinade, which can be found in The Shameless Carnivore) and I am hoping that the Ribeye that I grill up will be as memorable for her as the Mexican hamburger was for Scott’s brother.  Do not fear, Jean’s meat adventure will assuredly be covered on this website.

Long story short, if you enjoy eating meat, you will love this book.

Buy it from Amazon.com here: The Shameless Carnivore: A Manifesto for Meat Lovers

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.