☀️ Is liver to be treasured or trashed:
Liver — treasure or trash?
Trash:
Vilhjalmur Stefansson, the artic explorer, said they'd throw the liver
to the dogs.
The term "humble pie" refers to a dish made of organs discarded to peasants.
Treasure:
Dr. Weston Price witnessed cultures that prized organs like liver, often viewing them as sacred foods.
After a kill, the
Hadza often go after the liver first.
Which is it? Treasure or trash?
My previous stance was to eat liver if you enjoy it, but if you don't, I don't see a reason (absent some issue) why you must.
This vague position has always been
unsatisfactory to me. I thought there had to be a reason why historically some people treasured liver and others trashed it.
Prediction #2:
I'm thinking the answer might be in your environment.
Beef liver is very high in vitamin A.
Vitamin A works complementary with vitamin
D.
The sun is your best source of vitamin D.
If you're not getting much sun, like Vilhjalmur Stefansson living in the artic, you're not getting much vitamin D to balance the large dose of vitamin A in liver. So, perhaps it's best to trash the liver to avoid a vitamin A/D imbalance and hypervitaminosis A.
If
you're hunting under an African sun like the Hadza, the vitamin D from the sun could increase your tolerance (and perhaps requirement) for vitamin A, whereby liver becomes a prized food.
This is just a hypothesis. I'm not sure if this has been researched already or discussed by anyone else.
The hypothesis makes the case for eating liver if
you're getting sun, and avoiding it if you're not.
Eat liver if you're in the tropics, in the summer, and in the sun.
Avoid liver if you're in the tundra, the winter, or getting little sun exposure.
NOTE: I've read accounts of indigenous Inuit eating organ meats. However, this traditional Inuit diet
was rich in fat marine animals like seals, whales, and fatty fish, which can provide significant amounts of vitamin D in their fat. Also, even in northern regions, there is seasonality where the diet could have varied. For example, in the summer, they could have consumed more liver, but in the winter, they could've discarded it, though I'm not aware of anyone describing this in practice.
Other ideas mentioned in this thread:
- UV from the sun may degrade vitamin A (more sun = more liver tolerance)
- GNG from low/no carb may compete with aldehyde clearance (fewer carbs = less liver tolerance)
- Carbohydrates trigger insulin which can cause vitamin A release from the liver (more carbs
= more liver tolerance)
- Vitamin C is antagonist to vitamin A (more vitamin C = more liver tolerance)
