Many men would grimace at the idea of eating balls – testicles – of an animal. Perhaps men are better equipped to understand the pain these animals would have gone through in losing their balls, or perhaps it is simply too close to home. As a woman, I have no issue with eating testicles, though I haven’t had to the opportunity to. This might give new meaning to the moniker some alpha women have been given – ball breakers. The whole idea of eating testicles reminds me of an old Hong Kong movie, where the protagonist was rumoured to be highly endowed and great in the sack because of his weekly lunch of wonton noodles and bulls balls. Guys, take whatever you want from this myth or fact; maybe your girlfriend, wife, or partner might be great-full you gave testicles a try. I’m not guaranteeing anything here.
Depending on where you live, eating balls may not be uncommon at all, and can even be considered a delicacy. In Western Canada and the United States, where cattle ranching is a major industry, Rocky Mountain Oysters, or Prairie Oysters (a nicer regional name for testicles) can be found in restaurants as appetizers. In these ranching regions, they are usually served battered and deep fried. Considering how much beef North Americans consume, there certainly are plenty of Prairie Oysters to go around.
Keep in mind that the animals were never killed primarily for their testicles, but rather the removal of testicles is a common husbandry and culinary practice. So if you’re a meat eater, you are only part and parcel of a food system that practices castration of livestock. Weather you have the balls (pun intended) to eat testicles is a whole other matter entirely.
If you have read this far, you might be surprised or interested to know that there is a cookbook specifically for cooking testicles. And above all, it is written by a man. Chef Ljubomir Erovic, from Serbia where this type of offal is also a delicacy, has been cooking with balls for over 20 years, and two years ago published The Testicle Cookbook – Cooking with Balls. The book contains recipes for a variety of dishes, including pizza and meat pie. Such a book is bound to irk a few people:
- “the perfect gift for the gourmet chef who has everything, or your friendly neighbourhood feminist vegetarian” [bookfail.com]
- “the dudes gota be gay im suprised his wife hasnt questioned his obsesion with the nuts.” In the comments at [geekologie]
Clearly, the sentiment towards eating testicles has something to do with different cultural discourses on gender. I’m neither a raging feminist, nor really a feminist at all, but why is it that in dominant mainstream North American culture, organ meat is considered weird?
