So today for fun I decided to make some pretencious french food.

Wait I hear you cry, there is no french food that is not pretencious! Wrong, dead wrong in fact, but we are not going to get into the details of wonderful brasseries, or humble bistro food.

I made the fiddly little food french food that many people so dislike. I however on occasion do like it, it is an art to make it look good, and pretty. Far more an art form than some of the more humble braised dishes are. There is no making a stew look sexy with out a sexy bowl. Here all I need is one large white plate. Stark white, the white of the angles, or perhaps Thomas Keller's chef coat.

Any way, what is it that I made?

Veal on pomme anglaise with white wine and lemon poached asparagus accented with a cabernet demiglace and a juniper berry and apple gastrique.

So why veal? Isnt veal horrible, dont they torture those poor baby cows?

a) because it is delicious, b) no it isnt horrible c) not if you are getting it from the right places

None of these facts however changes the fact that yes it is a baby cow. However none of the facts changes the fact that it is still a COW. It is an animal, and if we hadnt eaten it when it was young we would have eaten it when it was only a little older as believe it or not the nice juicy steak on your plate at the moment is little more than an addolecent cow at best. Old cows like old birds are not good for much more than stewing.

The other issue at hand here is that these are cows, they are lower on the food chain than we are, far lower, this is not a baby chimp here, it is a cow. Unless you are able to hold some form of conversation with it (and if you are congradulations Dr. Doolittle, publish now) then it can and in some part of the world most likely is food.

To pretend that we should be so far removed from our part of the food chain that we can not face the fact that dinner was at one time a living animal is near criminal to both you and the animal, however to say that something should be exept from this food chain based only on its age compared to us is rediculous.