so this is what people smelled like before they figured out how to farm grain
Sunday, August 24th, 2008I am not a vegetarian but sometimes I go for long periods of not eating red meat. No real reason–although if I think about the meat industry too much it completely grosses me out–it’s just that I don’t feel like eating it. Plus I have in the past had trouble getting a steak to cook correctly although I recently figured out how to do it right. (Helpful cooking tip below!)
But anyway, I probably haven’t had any red meat in about 3 months or more. On Friday, which was the start of 12 glorious days off work, I suddenly got filled with the desire for a steak and so off to the store I went. I got a couple of rib eyes. They’re among my favorite steaks: a good mixture of lean and fat. When I buy ground meat I get chuck too. Bleah on this 97% lean sawdust. I’d rather have nothing than something so unsatisfying.
So I broiled my steaks (first you broil, then you sear in a screaming-hot cast-iron pan, and use plenty of kosher salt: try it, trust me on this) and ate one of them and now I reek of meat. It’s coming out of my pores. It is not pleasant. There is a constant underlying broiled-meat smell and every so often I get a wave of meat up my nose. I feel like everyone else must be able to smell it because I sure can. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and see my robe hanging on the door, or some piece of clothing I took off and threw over the mirror, except I don’t remember leaving those things where I did, and I’m half asleep and somewhat disoriented in that half-awake way that makes you feel like you’re half drunk except you know you’re not and I always have to take a minute to figure out, “Is that really an axe murderer waiting to get me, or am I just imagining it? Am I even really awake???” I am pretty sure I’m not imagining this meat smell though. Oh it’s there, all right. It IS.
How do you people who are practically carnivores put up with this? Do you just get used to it? Because honestly you might want to ask a good friend (a non-meat-eating friend, of course) to tell you the truth. You probably smell. Just sayin’.
I’ve got another half of a steak to eat and then a few days to de-smellify and then I’ll be back to normal. Phew.