It was a major step in the evolution of the modern Australian, the disappearance of the bag of giblets that accompanied dressed chickens 25 years ago, but we should not be complacent. There are still offal eaters out there, even if most of them are skulking in the kitchen closet or involved in whispered negotiation with desperate butchers at the deserted end of the counter.
They'll order lamb's fry at a restaurant because they think the euphemism allows us to turn a blind eye to the fact that they're eating liver, although the stench makes it very plain to all that someone is eating a dead animal's guts. I believe, by the way, that the disgusting smell of cooked liver and kidney is nature's way of warning us not to eat them.
Then there are the tripe eaters, people who meet secretly like deviants with a common sexual fetish, to eat cows' stomach. Apparently tripe in its natural state fresh from the slaughtered cow is so revolting that it has to undergo special chemical treatment and be partially cooked before being offered for sale.
Does anyone still eat brains? Would you buy anything from a butcher who sold brains? Restaurants seeking fame through infamy may offer crumbed brains but I would never dine at such a place, and not just because my dish may be cooked in a pan that had been used to cook brains. We are happier eating beef than we would be cow, and pork than we would be pig, but there's no overlooking brains. They must be in the same order as eyes and testicles, and even lights, which is the code for lungs, and heart.
There are two types of Australians, offal ones and civilised ones. Which are you?
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