I'm just going to jump right in the neck of it!
BACKGROUND: This particular email from mom, was a forward written in Chinese. I will admit, sometimes I am haphazardly guessing at what some of the characters say, because while I was a straight A student way back when I lived in Taiwan, it was only up to 4th grade when I moved to the States. I WAS a Teacher's Pet and a precocious reader, so my understanding of Chinese characters is not too shabby, and I still speak Mandarin fluently. However, the majority of these emails detail specific parts of animals or uses medical terms that I find a bit more difficult to translate. I am pretty sure that this email is telling me to avoid eating neck meat. First, a question, what the hell is the neck meat in English!? It's not pork loin, or pork chop, or pork intestine... all I know is, the email is saying it's the meat that's grounded to produce, ground pork. That would explain why I can't have pork dumplings because to keep the cost low, most pork dumplings are made of grounded pork that this email suggests is all from the neck, the bad part, therefore, CHEAP!
BAD? WHY? Pigs are fed antibiotics, too much of it, and the neck is where all the poisonous buildup collects. It's where the majority of lymph nodes are, so all the chemicals that are fed to piggies, drains out and also has a nasty build up where the neck is. When humans eat it, the bad stuff attacks our immune system. I'm also told to not eat the following: Chicken head, chicken neck, chicken feet, chicken inners because the worst part of an animal is where the nerves end and where the 'dirty stuff' is collected.
OINK OINK Fun facts that should make you pause before you grill up your next pork chop. I pulled this from another website, and am not going to dwell on it, because while I've not seen the movie Babe, I have known now for quite awhile, that pigs are smarter than dogs, they're actually not dirty, and they make excellent pets. I'm not a pet-eater!!! Am I? So, from the other website:
Studies show:
* Pigs lead complex social lives that behaviorists once believed to be true only of primates.
* Mother pigs sing to their piglets while they are nursing
* They excel at video games that would be hard for a young child, and sometimes better than the primates.
* Pigs dream.
* Pigs have a good sense of direction, and can find their way home from long distances.
* They learn from watching one another.
* Pigs outsmart each other. One will often follow another pig to food before grabbing it away from him, and the pig who was tricked will change behaviors to reduce how many times it is tricked.
SO... they sing to their babies?!?! GAH!!!!! And uhm, scientists who thought to have pigs play video games are either seriously genius or complete slackers. In the end, I think it's fair to say, mom wins this one. I understand antibiotic buildups and lymph nodes and although I'm pretty sure she's still making dumplings, made of mystery pork meat, I'll avoid it next time I'm at the market and stick to the ground beef for my dumplings or spaghetti, even though it doesn't taste as good without the lard... as for pigs in general, you can read more about the article at Suite101: The Intelligent Pig: The Smartest Domestic Animal in The World
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