Brain (as food)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The brain, like most other internal organs, or offal, can serve as nourishment. Brains used for nourishment include those of pigs, squirrels, horses, cattle, monkeys, chickens and goats. In many cultures, different types of brain are considered a delicacy.

Contents 1 Cultural consumption 2 Risks of eating brain 2.1 Fat and cholesterol 2.2 Prions 3 Wild animals 4 See also 5 References

[edit] Cultural consumption

In the Southern United States, canned pork brain in gravy can be purchased for consumption as food. This form of brain is often fried with scrambled eggs to produce "Eggs n' Brains".^[1] They are part of the menu in many family owned restaurants throughout the region^{[citation needed]}.

The brain of animals also features in French cuisine, in dishes such as cervelle de veau and tête de veau.

Similar delicacies from around the world include Mexican tacos de sesos made with cattle brain as well as squirrel brain in the US South.^[2] The Anyang tribe of Cameroon practiced a tradition in which a new tribal chief would consume the brain of a hunted gorilla while another senior member of the tribe would eat the heart.^[3] Indonesian cuisine specialty in Minangkabau cuisine also served beef brain in a gravy coconut milk named gulai otak (beef brain curry)^{[citation needed]}. In Cuban cuisine, "brain fritters" made by coating pieces of brain with bread crumbs and then frying them^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Risks of eating brain

[edit] Fat and cholesterol

The makeup of the brain is 60% fat due to large quantities of myelin (which itself is 70% fat) insulating the axons of neurons.^[4] As an example, a 140 g can of "pork brains in milk gravy", a single serving, contains 3500 milligrams of cholesterol, 1170% of the USRDA.^[5]

[edit] Prions

Brain consumption can result in contracting fatal transmissible spongiform encephalopathies such as Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and other prion diseases in humans and mad cow disease in cattle.^[6] Another prion disease called kuru has been traced to a funerary ritual among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea in which those close to the dead would eat the brain of the deceased to create a sense of immortality.^[7] Some archaeological evidence suggests that the mourning rituals of European Neanderthals also involved the consumption of the brain.^[8] Because of the risk of being infected by prions one should always wear gloves when handling brains^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Wild animals

It is also well-known in the hunting community that the brain of wild animals should not be consumed, due to the risk of chronic wasting disease. The brain is still useful to hunters, in that most animals have enough brain matter for use in the tanning of their own hides.

[edit] See also

• Mad cow disease

[edit] References