This makes for one happy seminarian. Two parties this weekend meant chicken and chicken (I passed on the liver), and both also featured green beans – wow. I’ve never been so happy to see a green vegetable in my life. They were delicious.
Then Mama Christine, the head of laity for the English service at the cathedral, invited me over for tea this evening. She served me chicken wrapped in bacon and a banana with my tea; I’m calling that supper. Yum!
There’s quite a debate here about eating pork, whether it’s proper for Christians to do so. This is a summary of a conversation I had last year with a friend about it:
Me: So, why is it that you don’t eat pork?
Friend: Because it’s an unclean food.
Me: Have you read Acts 11? Kill and eat… do not call anything impure that God has made clean?
Friend: That’s about the Gentiles, and bringing them into the church.
Me: Yes, but don’t you think it’s also about food? Peter was instructed to eat foods that the Jews considered unclean. God wouldn’t tell him to do that if the food was still unclean.
[several other volleys]
Friend: Can’t we agree this is about the Gentiles?
Me: No!
So today I had, and ridiculously enjoyed, bacon. Not everyone feels this way about pork, clearly, but it can get interesting. So if the subject comes up, I stay quiet. And then dream of bacon.
The other interesting protein discussion I had this weekend was with a classmate who doesn’t eat meat. That’s fine. But he was enjoying his chicken at our party on Friday. I asked him why he was eating meat. He said he wasn’t; he was eating chicken. I asked if he was serious. He was.
I then conducted an informal poll of the class to see whether they thought chicken qualified as meat. Apparently not. Meat comes from cows; chicken comes from chicken. Who knew? It would appear that I am in the vast minority here who think that flesh food qualifies as meat, like chicken, and fish.
Looks like I still have lots to learn.
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