Have You Tasted Blood?

The question’s quite literal. In Scandinavian countries, South America, Asia and even India, blood has been an exciting — and delicious — ingredient for a variety of dishes.

- Arnesh Ghose

NOBODY LIKES BLOOD. 

After centuries of indoctrination and vampire fiction, the consumption of blood is seen as something evil and deranged. When I shared my excitement about researching this story, a friend immediately commented that “no one in their right mind would be kicked about eating or drinking blood.” But food, much like every other component of culture, has been prey to religion and politics. What is ‘acceptable’ changes with the people in power. So, while blood has been an important ingredient in cuisines around the world, religion and horror fiction have deemed it unwanted, unclean, fringe. Psychologically, the mere sight of blood — even a pinprick on your finger— is cause for alarm. The collective unconscious has registered the visual as something that calls for a negative response. While preparing food, blood is seen as an impurity, something that has to be washed off. Most mainstream cuisines do not feature it as a component anymore, and dishes that originally used blood as an ingredient have modified recipes now, which have become the norm, and hence have led to people forgetting what the dish actually tastes like.