Brain

:For other articles about other subjects named brain see brain (disambiguation). For information about the human brain in specific, please see its article.

As food

Apart from its evolved function, the brain has been known to be put to other applications. For example, in the Southern United States canned pork brain in gravy may be purchased to be consumed. This form of brain is often fried with scrambled egg to produce the famous "Eggs n' Brains"http://www.bozosoft.com/mike/meat/brains-article.html. In a similar vein, the Anyang tribe of Cameroon practiced a tradition in which a new chief would consume the brain of a hunted gorilla while another senior member of the tribe would eat the hearthttp://www.berggorilla.de/english/gjournal/texte/18culture.html.

Related Topics:
Southern United States - Scrambled egg - Anyang - Cameroon - Gorilla

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Consuming the brain and other nerve tissue of animals is not without its risks. The first problem is that the brain is made up of 60% fat due to the myelin (which is 70% fat) insulating the axons of neurons and gliahttp://www.autisminfo.com/dorfman.htm. As an example, a 5 oz. (0.14 kg) can of "Pork Brains in Milk Gravy", a single serving, contains 3500 milligrams of cholesterol, 1170% of our recommended daily intakehttp://thewvsr.com/porkbrains.htm. More fatally, vCJD and other prion diseases are caught by humans through the consumption of the infected nerve tissue of cattle and other animals (indeed, "there is no evidence that people can get mad cow disease from eating muscle meat"http://my.webmd.com/hw/health_guide_atoz/tu6534.asp?printing=true). Another prion disease called kuru has been traced to a mourning ritual among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea in which those close to the dead would eat their brain to create a sense of immortalityhttp://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/2004/01/23/mad_cow.php. Some archaelogical evidence suggests that the mourning rituals of European neanderthals involved the consumption of the brainhttp://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=9781582432533&displayonly=CHP. The practice of eating another human's brain has been depicted by Hollywood in Hannibal and countless zombie movies.

Related Topics:
Nerve tissue - Myelin - Kg - Cholesterol - Recommended daily intake - VCJD - Prion disease - Cattle - Kuru - Mourning ritual - Fore - Papua New Guinea - Neanderthal - Hannibal - Zombie movie

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It is not only humans who eat the brains of other animals. The two species of chimpanzee, though generally vegetarian, are known to eat the brains of monkeys to obtain fat in their diethttp://www.positivehealth.com/Reviews/books/horrobin68.htm.

Related Topics:
Chimpanzee - Vegetarian - Monkey

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~