Conversations with my Food-Crazed Auntie

Recently, while driving to the metro station early in the morning with my auntie, I had a conversation with her about edible animals. Naturally, you might think we were talking about cows or chicken or sheep; rather, the edible animals we discussed were those ones that live in our houses with us - pets, and nuisance animals - geese, rats, insects. This cemented my belief that she was a food-obsessed Asian like myself. She had spotted some geese along the roadside and had said to me, "You know, we should really do something about the geese; I've always thought we should shoot them and eat them."

While I listened in partial shock to what she was saying she continued with, "I mean really, what a waste! They're not supposed to be here and they're infesting the area...you know, that's the type of geese that they use to make peking duck. Peking duck is about that size, you know?"
Well, no, I didn't know this. But since I do now, it's a good subject for discussion. Why don't we just shoot and eat the geese? (My Auntie brought up the fact that we could feed a lot of homeless in DC with the number of geese available - some Canadian senators have apparently thought the same: http://tinyurl.com/lzhmcx) Would they taste bad? Their diet, I imagine, doesn't encourage the average appetite. Still, people have eaten far less appetizing creatures.

Why not eat geese? Or your friends' pet bunny - they always look so plump. (And yes, I have said to my friends with pet bunny's, "that looks delicious.") Or insects - amazing sources of protein. I can't say they look pretty or appetizing....but for a country that is indoctrinated in beef culture, it's a step around certain sources of food like beef. Beef gobbles up resources, emits significant amounts of harmful gases, and itself suffers many pains before being packed into those shiny plastic and styrofoam packets that we see in our grocery stores today.