The brain, like most other internal organs, or offal, can serve as nourishment. Brains used for nourishment include those of pigs, squirrels, rabbits, horses, cattle, monkeys, chickens, camels, fish, lamb, and goats. In many cultures, different types of brain are considered a delicacy.
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The brain of animals features in French cuisine, in dishes such as cervelle de veau and tête de veau . A dish called maghaz is a popular cuisine in Pakistan, Bangladesh, parts of India, and diaspora countries. In Turkish cuisine, brain can be fried, baked, or consumed as a salad. In Chinese cuisine, brain is a delicacy in Chongqing or Sichuan cuisine, and it is often cooked in spicy hot pot or barbecued. In the southern part of China, pig brain is used for tianma zhunao tang. In South India, goat brain curry (మేక మెదడు కూర) or fry (మేక మెదడు వేపుడు) is a delicacy. Mumbai has its own version of brain masala curry. [1]
Similar delicacies from around the world include the Mexican tacos de sesos. [2] The Anyang tribe of Cameroon practiced a tradition in which a new tribal chief would consume the brain of a hunted gorilla, while another senior member of the tribe would eat the heart. [3] The Minangkabau people in Indonesia prepare gulai banak 'beef brain curry' in a coconut-milk gravy. [4] [5] In Cebu City, Philippines, tuslob buwa (fried pig brain) is a popular street food. In Cuban cuisine, "brain fritters" are fried breaded brains. [6] In the Ohio River Valley, fried brain sandwiches are popular, especially in the Evansville, Indiana area.
DHA, an important omega-3 fatty acid, is found concentrated in mammalian brains. For example, according to Nutrition Data, 85g (3 oz) of cooked beef brain contains 727 mg of DHA. [7] By way of comparison, the NIH has determined that small children need at least 150 mg of DHA per day, and pregnant and lactating women need at least 300 mg of DHA. [8]
The makeup of the brain is about 12% lipids, most of which are located in myelin (which itself is 70–80% fat). [9] Specific fatty acid ratios will depend in part on the diet of the animal it is harvested from. The brain is also very high in cholesterol. For example, a single 140g (5 oz) serving of "pork brains in milk gravy" can contain 3500 mg of cholesterol (1170% of the USRDA). [10]
Beef brain consumption has been linked to Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease outbreaks in humans which led to strict regulations about what parts of cattle can be sold for human consumption in numerous countries. [14] Another prion disease called kuru has been traced to a funerary ritual among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea in which those close to the dead would eat the brain of the deceased to create a sense of immortality. [15]
Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD), also known as subacute spongiform encephalopathy or neurocognitive disorder due to prion disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative disease. Early symptoms include memory problems, behavioral changes, poor coordination, and visual disturbances. Later symptoms include dementia, involuntary movements, blindness, weakness, and coma. About 70% of people die within a year of diagnosis. The name "Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease" was introduced by Walther Spielmeyer in 1922, after the German neurologists Hans Gerhard Creutzfeldt and Alfons Maria Jakob.
Scrapie is a fatal, degenerative disease affecting the nervous systems of sheep and goats. It is one of several transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), and as such it is thought to be caused by a prion. Scrapie has been known since at least 1732 and does not appear to be transmissible to humans. However, it has been found to be experimentally transmissible to humanised transgenic mice and non-human primates.
Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), also known as prion diseases, are a group of progressive, incurable, and fatal conditions that are associated with the prion hypothesis and affect the brain and nervous system of many animals, including humans, cattle, and sheep. According to the most widespread hypothesis, they are transmitted by prions, though some other data suggest an involvement of a Spiroplasma infection. Mental and physical abilities deteriorate and many tiny holes appear in the cortex causing it to appear like a sponge when brain tissue obtained at autopsy is examined under a microscope. The disorders cause impairment of brain function which may result in memory loss, personality changes, and abnormal or impaired movement which worsen over time.
Offal, also called variety meats, pluck or organ meats, is the internal organs of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of edible organs, and these lists of organs vary with culture and region, but usually exclude skeletal muscle. Offal may also refer to the by-products of milled grains, such as corn or wheat.
Malay cuisine is the traditional food of the ethnic Malays of Southeast Asia, residing in modern-day Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand and the Philippines as well as Cocos Islands, Christmas Island, Sri Lanka and South Africa.
Feline spongiform encephalopathy (FSE) is a neurodegenerative disease that affects the brains of felines. This disease is known to affect domestic, captive, and wild species of the family Felidae. Like BSE, this disease can take several years to develop. It is currently believed that this condition is a result of felines ingesting bovine meat contaminated with BSE.
Transmissible mink encephalopathy (TME) is a rare sporadic disease that affects the central nervous system of ranch-raised adult mink. It is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy, caused by proteins called prions.
Beef brains and veal or calf's brains are used in the cuisines of France; Italy; Spain; El Salvador; Mexico, etc. where they are called sesos in Spanish and are eaten in tacos and quesadillas; Pakistan and Bangladesh also in parts of India like Kolkata and Kerala, where they are known in Urdu and Bengali as Maghaz; Portugal; Egypt, where they are eaten fried and Indonesia.
Laura Manuelidis is an American physician and neuropathologist. She is the head of neuropathology at Yale University, where she teaches and does research.
Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD), formerly known as New variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (nvCJD) and referred to colloquially as "mad cow disease" or "human mad cow disease" to distinguish it from its BSE counterpart, is a fatal type of brain disease within the transmissible spongiform encephalopathy family. Initial symptoms include psychiatric problems, behavioral changes, and painful sensations. In the later stages of the illness, patients may exhibit poor coordination, dementia and involuntary movements. The length of time between exposure and the development of symptoms is unclear, but is believed to be years to decades. Average life expectancy following the onset of symptoms is 13 months.
Endocannibalism is a practice of cannibalism in one's own locality or community. In most cases this refers to the consumption of the remains of the deceased in a mortuary context.
Kuru is a rare, incurable, and fatal neurodegenerative disorder that was formerly common among the Fore people of Papua New Guinea. Kuru is a form of prion disease which leads to tremors and loss of coordination from neurodegeneration. The term kúru means “trembling” and comes from the Fore word kuria or guria. It is also known as the "laughing sickness" due to the pathologic bursts of laughter which are a symptom of the infection.
Padang dish or Minangkabau dish is the cuisine of the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra, Indonesia. It is among the most popular cuisines in Maritime Southeast Asia. It is known across Indonesia as Masakan Padang after Padang, the capital city of Western Sumatra province. It is served in restaurants mostly owned by perantauan (migrating) Minangkabau people in Indonesian cities. Padang food is ubiquitous in Indonesian cities and is popular in neighboring Malaysia, Philippines, Brunei, and Singapore.
Organ-limited amyloidosis is a category of amyloidosis where the distribution can be associated primarily with a single organ. It is contrasted to systemic amyloidosis, and it can be caused by several different types of amyloid.
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, is an incurable and invariably fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle. Symptoms include abnormal behavior, trouble walking, and weight loss. Later in the course of the disease, the cow becomes unable to function normally. There is conflicting information about the time between infection and onset of symptoms. In 2002, the World Health Organization suggested it to be approximately four to five years. Time from onset of symptoms to death is generally weeks to months. Spread to humans is believed to result in variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD). As of 2018, a total of 231 cases of vCJD had been reported globally.
Nasi padang, sometimes referred to as Padang rice, is a Minangkabau dish of steamed rice served with various choices of pre-cooked dishes originating from West Sumatra, Indonesia. It is named after the city of Padang, capital of the West Sumatra province. A miniature banquet of meats, fish, vegetables, and spicy sambals eaten with plain white rice, it is Sumatra's most famous export and the Minangkabau people's primary contribution to Indonesian cuisine.
Frank O. Bastian is an American physician and neuropathologist, who previously worked at Louisiana State University, moved to a university in New Orleans in 2019. He specializes in the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), which include, but are not limited to, Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) "Mad cow disease" in cattle, scrapie in sheep and goats, and Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (CJD) in humans.
The United Kingdom was afflicted with an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, and its human equivalent variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease (vCJD), in the 1980s and 1990s. Over four million head of cattle were slaughtered in an effort to contain the outbreak, and 178 people died after contracting vCJD through eating infected beef. A political and public health crisis resulted, and British beef was banned from export to numerous countries around the world, with some bans remaining in place until as late as 2019.
Michael Coulthart is a Canadian microbiologist who is employed as the head of the Canadian Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease Surveillance System (CJDSS) within the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), which terms CJD a zoonotic and infectious disease. In 2006, a working group named "classic CJD" as well as Variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease as two notifiable diseases. It is unknown whether PHAC tracks in an official capacity other transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSE), but Coulthart is on the Advisory Committee of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy for Chronic Wasting Disease of cervidae.
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