kidney/urine/taste/smell

[Guest guest]

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>

> >> Well, when I tried bison kidney, it tasted like urine. Or

rather, it

> >> tasted like a nursing home smells.

> >

> >The one time I've had kidney, there was a subtle urine smell

hanging in the

> >background. Overall, though, I liked the taste.

>

> It does taste like urine smells. OTH, a number of cultures

> do drink cow urine too ... esp. fermented ...

>

> -- Heidi

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i'm starting to get a handle on this kidney/urine thing. when i

started eating raw kidney a few weeks ago, there was definitely

a " unique " quality to it, but i didn't experentially associate it

with urine, possibly because i'm not exposed to excessive levels of

urine smells (have never worked in a nursing home, etc), and the

brain probably learns to ignore the normal levels of everyday visits

to water closets. however, yesterday, when i was conducting

business in my water closet at home, i noticed a " kidney smell " ! i

think i had awakened my senses to the smell of kidney and that eroded

my desensitization to the smell of urine. so while i never noticed

that kidney smells like urine, i did come to notice that urine smells

like kidney. fortunately i had already been aware that kidney

*should* smell like urine, and had reached a satisfactory theoretical

resolution of this potential aesthetic dilemma. i noted that plenty

of people drink their own urine as a wacky fringe health practice

(that i can't see myself ever doing), and that this would necessitate

an acclimation of their senses to this smell and taste, possibly even

to the point of a mildly positive aesthetic response. hence, on

theoretical grounds i can't see any reason why this smell need bother

me. Heidi's observation above about cultures drinking cow urine

offers more support for this position. additionally, i harbor a

personal belief in something i might call " radical aesthetic

relativism " , a non-trivial concept mostly of my own formation, a

proper explication of which would require reference to many phenomena

outside the scope of this list, but for our present purposes in the

domain of food can be distilled to the following without any serious

infidelity to the original concept: " you can learn to like just about

anything " .

mike parker