This is my husband, Vince, showing our three boys how to cut up a whole chicken. The kids are both fascinated and freaked out so there's a lot of shrieking and laughing coming from the kitchen now.
Forgive the pambahay look and the messy kitchen. The hubby and the boys aren't bloggers haha! I just heard all the ruckus, saw what was happening, and grabbed my phone to snap a pic.
I wanted to share with you, mamas, this photo so that you know how we care for the food we eat. As much as possible, we want to eat homecooked meals. We love fast food, of course, but it matters to me that my sons see what food looks like before it is served hot on a plate. I want them to see the plants and animals before they got cleaned, sliced, chopped, fried and baked. I believe it teaches them about our place in the circle of life, that lives of animals and plants were given for them, and that will hopefully teach them to be mindful of what they eat and not waste their food.
For example, Vince was cutting up the chicken because he wanted the spine, neck and butt. He was going to use those to make chicken stock because he wants to cook miso soup and risotto. Instead of buying canned stock, he will make it. Our boys see that every part of the animal will be used, even the ones they don't want to eat.
That's the blessing of cooking your own food really. You're connected to your past because you usually cook dishes taught to you by your family. And you really are confronted with the fact that you're part of the food chain because you are literally handling animals and plants that used to be alive. I know it sounds so mumbo-jumbo but for me, the only way we can honor that sacrifice is to not waste any of the food we eat.
It also matters to me that the meat I buy is from ethical farms. That means the animals were kept in a clean environment, fed with good feed and clean water, and slaughtered as swiftly as possible. That's why the chicken Vince is chopping now is Magnolia Fresh Chicken because the chickens are raised in a clean, spacious farm, fed good food and water, not injected with antibiotics and other suspicious things, and are slaughtered swiftly.
I used to chop the heads off of chickens myself. Yep! I'd buy live chickens from the palengke. Super fresh, right? But one time, I chopped off the head of a chicken (with great difficulty because the manok was malikot), drained the blood, then put it in a big pot of boiling water to make plucking the feathers easier. Guess what??? The headless chicken jumped from the pot and ran around our backyard and... That was the last time I did that!!! That was also when I truly understood that funny phrase, "run around like headless chickens." Totoo pala yun! Now I want my animals slaughtered as swiftly and as humanely as possible.
So if you cook, mamas, I hope you also teach your kids to cook! It really helps our kids to be more mindful of their food and to keep wastage at a minimum. And in this world of excess and waste, we have a moral responsibility to teach our kids to go against that lifestyle of consumption and avarice.
Yes, I take my food very seriously! Food is life. There's so much one can understand about life when you cook, I believe!
