Cooking Squirrels

choi

Joshua Rothman, Squirrel: it’s what’s for dinner. Boston Globe, Feb 13, 2012.
http://articles.boston.com/2012- ... ting-bad-idea-betty

Note:
(a) Beef. It's What's For Dinner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef._It's_What's_For_Dinner
(an American advertising slogan and campaign; launched in 1992 for 17 months)
http://www.beefitswhatsfordinner.com/
(b) The report is condensed from

Heather Smith, Al Rodente: Could squirrel meat come back into vogue? Grist, Feb 3, 2012.
http://grist.org/animals/al-rode ... me-back-into-vogue/
("There are people around who remember the days when squirrel was a more commonly served meat on the American table than chicken")

(i) The title "al rodente"--because a quirrel is a rodent--is a word play based on
al dente (adj or adv; Italian  literally, to the tooth; First Known Use 1920):
"cooked just enough to retain a somewhat firm texture"
www.m-w.com
(ii) grist (n; akin to Old English grindan  to grind):
"1a : grain or a batch of grain for grinding
b : the product obtained from a grist of grain including the flour or meal and the grain offals
* * *
3: matter of interest or value forming the basis of a story or analysis"
(iii) long rifle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_rifle
(American longrifle, better known as the Kentucky rifle; Length [of the entire gun]  over 65 in (1,700 mm); Barrel length  35 in. (889 mm), to over 48 in. (1,220 mm); Caliber  0.60 in (15.24 mm) approximately-- .36 cal to .45 cal (9.14 mm to 11.43 mm) also were common)  
(iv) Americans were the tallest in the world for more than two centiries, surpassed just a couple of years ago. In part because they had better nutrition, research reports say. They ate meat, when Taiwanese (and many East Asians) avoided it due to Buddhism as well as reverence to water buffalo, which did the hard work for farmers. However, I could not find out what Americans (slaves included) ate in the past. The Grist article seems to suggest Americans ate squirrels. But what about urbanites, who could not go out to hunt?

(c) Herbert Hoover
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Hoover
(1874-1964; president 1929-1933; Republican)
(d) list of US presidential campaign slogans
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lis ... al_campaign_slogans
(A Chicken in Every Pot. Two cars in every garage. — 1928 Republican presidential campaign slogan of Herbert Hoover)
(e) Vineland, New Jersey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vineland,_New_Jersey
(a city in Cumberland County; Vineland Poultry Laboratories (now Lohman Animal Health) was started by Arthur Goldhaft. Dr. Goldhaft is credited with putting "a chicken in every pot" after developing the fowl pox chicken vaccine that saved millions of chickens from death. Dr. Goldhaft's work at Vineland Poultry Laboratories in Vineland, helped protect the world's chicken supply from the fowl pox disease [21])

(i) Reference 21 is
Our People of the Century Arthur Goldhaft: Pioneering Vet Put 'a chicken in every pot.' Cumberland County, New Jersey, undated.
http://www.co.cumberland.nj.us/content/163/237/639.aspx
("enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania veterinary school")

There is no need to read the text; just view his photo.

(ii) Stephen B Hitchner, Poultry Vaccine Laboratories in the United States: A Historical Perspective. Avian Diseases (published by American Association of Avian Pathologists, AAAP), 40: 255-265 (1996).
http://www.jstor.org/stable/1592218

The year of vaccine licensing was 1933; read only the first two pages at most.