The consumption of organ meats has fallen out of favor in the West, which may be a mixed blessing. However, studies showed that liver, kidney, heart and other animal organs from organically raised, grass-fed animals are some of the most nutrient-rich foods you can eat.
Unfortunately, this is not how most food animals are raised these days. The diets, veterinary drugs and living conditions of such animals are not likely to result in healthy organs.
Many traditional cultures and their medicine men, including Native Americans, believe that eating the organs from a healthy animal supports the organs of the eater.
For example, a traditional way of treating a person with a weak heart was to feed the person the heart of a healthy animal. Similarly, eating the brains of a healthy animal was believed to support clear thinking, and animal kidneys were fed to people suffering from urinary maladies.
There are countless reports about the success of these types of traditional practices, among which the studies conducted by Dr. Weston A. Price who has enormous body of research about the health benefits of traditional diets.
Dr. Price was a Cleveland dentist who has been called the "Isaac Newton of Nutrition." He traveled all over the world studying the dietary practices of healthy people from traditional cultures.
He discovered that nearly every culture placed a high value on consuming animals in their entirety, making use of the organs, blood, bones, and everything else.
Traditional preparations involve a good deal of work in terms of cleaning, trimming, soaking, pounding and so on because membranes, blood vessels and other inedible parts must be removed from animal organs before they can be consumed, requiring significant time and labor.
These people knew that eating the organs would support the natural functioning of their bodies. And they were right—the nutritional benefits of organ meats are now being confirmed by modern science.
Organ meat is a nutritional powerhouse, loaded with vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other compounds vital to your health. Liver in particular is packed with nutrients, which is why predatory animals eat it first and why it has been so highly prized throughout history.
The consumable parts of an animal that are not skeletal muscle are called offal, which literally means "off fall," meaning the pieces that fall off a carcass when it's butchered.
These organs include the heart, liver, which is nature's most concentrated source of vitamin A, lungs, kidneys, pancreas and all other abdominal organs, as well as the tails, feet, brains, tongue, and yes, even the testicles.
In nature, most animals go straight for the organs of their target, saving the muscle meats for later. This is because animals instinctively know that organ meats are the densest source of nutrition.
That being said, Lebanese and Mediterranean cuisine is filled with dishes composed of organ meat that include marinated sheep tongues, brains, liver and other organs. Western cuisine also incorporates animal organs in various dishes, but these delicacies have long gone out of style.
If you are interested to know more about how these dishes are made, leave your comments in the section below and we will post a recipe for the dish of your liking!