Not Just Zombies Eat Brains

Recently, the DVD for my favorite book turned movie, Warm Bodies, was released.  It’s a story about star-crossed lovers, “R” and Julie.  R is a corpse, Zombie if you will, and Julie is a human that has not been infected.  As their story unfolds, many wonderful themes arise in the movie as well as the book concerning appreciation of being human.  One in particular, being able to appreciate the all those little things that are taken for granted that represent the daily fullness of life around us, plays out as we learn about their worlds.  One of my favorite scenes in the movie that illustrates this is when R and Julie go for a drive.  In the book, by Isaac Marion, he writes “We are cruising the tarmac, taxiing to and fro under the middle afternoon sun our hair ruffles in the breeze” (p. 49).  R manages to overcome his new natural instincts of “The New Hunger” while with Julie.  The humans that are turned into corpses are ruled by “The New Hunger”, an insatiable need to eat human flesh.  In their uncontrollable feeding frenzies, the desire to human brains is strong because in consuming brain tissue, a corpse gets to experience their victim’s memories and feel less dead.  Both the movie and book will leave you realizing how much of the daily “human” routine is not appreciated.

Now, watching and reading about my favorite story hero eat a chuck of brain matter he has saved in his pocket is a little gross.  However, in my perpetual foodie point-of-view, it got me wondering about how some cuisines include the preparation of animal brains for consumption.  Now before you stomach turns and you stop reading, please note that there are recipes for beef, pig, and lamb brain on some recipe sites.  In a recent conversation with my father-in-law, he told me about how cow brains were used “in the old days” when he was a young man and his mother would prepare them chopped up with eggs.  He explained how “back then” people were poor and nothing was wasted from a butchered animal where even the blood of a pig was prepared, cooked and consumed.  Cow brains are not easy to find, probably due to the mad cow disease scare, but once in a long while you will see them for sale at specialty grocery stores.  He mentioned that he would be willing to fix them if I would try them.  Hmmm…I told him that I was willing as long as he told me upfront what he was having me taste – this is because once a long time ago he snuck in cow tongue for me to try. 

 I’ll leave you with another scene from a different favorite movie of mine – Stand and Deliver – where the students’ math teacher is preparing them brains the night before to eat while they study in preparation for their big “redo” test.

Links to some Brain Recipes:
Cajun Fried Brain
http://realcajunrecipes.com/recipes/cajun/fried-brain/799.rcr

Sauté Beef Brain
http://cookeatshare.com/recipes/beef-brain-sauteed-in-spiced-sauce-semur-otak-81657

Deep Fried Brains
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/05/deep-fried-brains-recipe.html