what animal/insect/plant not part of standard American diet should be on the menu?

Answer 1

Snakes. Especially the fangs.

Answer 2

Finished with sacrifices, Leviticus moves on to dietary laws—restrictions that observant Jews still follow today. Forbidden: animals that don't chew their cud or don't have true hooves, sea creatures without fins and scales, most insects, "great lizards of every variety," pelicans, owls, bats, etc. As a pork-loving Jew, two words leap out at me. God says that the swine, because it doesn't chew the cud, is "impure." Understood. But then the Lord describes lots and lots of other animals—including lobster, shrimp, ostrich, and most insects—as "abominations." "Abomination" is a much stronger word than "impure." Does that mean bacon, pork chops, pulled pork, and ham are less bad than lobster? Can it really be that pork is a minor dietary offense? The kashrut equivalent of a parking ticket? God, I hope so! Or am I reading too much into a minor semantic distinction?

One of the longest dietary passages concerns which insects we can eat. Which raises the obvious point: The ancient Israelites ate insects! (For the record, the Lord bans everything buggy except locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers.)

Does the Lord have a plan here? He's generally opposed to grossness and wriggliness: Everything that crawls or "has many legs" is an abomination. He opposes all animals with paws. He bans carnivores, only allowing us plant-eating animals (except for fish). But I don't see a grand scheme. Why are pigs bad but goats good, camels bad but cows good, herons bad but hens good? Am I missing something? Is there a logic to the kashrut laws? Or are the laws based on so many diverse sources (what animals were around, how the Israelites could distinguish themselves from neighboring tribes, etc.) that it's folly to look for a guiding philosophy?

Answer 3

I wasn't aware that insects were a part of the standard American diet to begin with. Definitely not bugs. A lot of Americans have issues with eating bugs. Although I don't and have eaten part of a cricket once....

Answer 4

Endangered species.

Answer 5

kangaroo mate, it is lean has less fat, tastes good and we have toooo many of them!!!