In two recent BBC Food Programme broadcasts, devoted to fermented foods, Part 2 was a fascinating study into the hunter gatherer tribe of the Hanza in Tanzania in the Great African rift Valley. It was noted that when these hunters killed an antelope or similar animal, the very first part of the body they ate was the contents of the colon. This is highly significant, because they are consuming the micro-bacteria and fermented green food that are found in that area of the gut, which means that they are partaking of the same micro-bacteria from the very animal with the same flesh and meat.
That this practise is not purely a cultural phenomenon unique to the Hanza, appears to be indicated by the way that big cats do exactly the same thing. It seems that lions and other big cats kill their prey and immediately open the carcase and begin by devouring the colon.
Whether that is consistent among all carnivore species is an unknown, but this surely points towards the Hanza simply following a practise which had been around long before humans existed. It also reveals just how important the consumption of fermented foods and the development of a healthy gut flora, is essential for human health and well being.
Any organic food, will by its very nature have more mineral content because of the healthy alive micro bacteria in the soil and the animals that graze in ancient flower filled meadows and forest clearings, will have a more natural gut flora as a result; more disease resistant and of course, a better taste, especially if one treats our fellow plants and creatures with the care and compassion they deserve. The reader may have noticed, just how hypnotic an owl's eyes are, as are other carnivores and this is the kindness and compassion of Mother Earth; because when the owl flies above its prey, the powerful eyes hypnotise the prey, to the benefit of any pain it may feel at death. This was replicated by hunter tribes when they would perform sacred ceremonies before the hunt. For these dancers, the prey was sacred, given to them by Mother Earth and consequently to be hypnotised by the repeated ancestral motions of the dance and its chant; ancestral because the ancestors of the tribe in the realm of death, were guiding the animal's soul into the beyond.
The hunt was considered so sacred, sacred beyond measure, that in the shamanic rites of passage, young people were initiated into the out of this world nature of the hunt. Pictish art reveals how goggle eyed and trippy the hunters became and I once had a dream that involved a youthful Neolithic hunt to the west of Avebury Stone Circle, that has lived with me for years as being part of the essential nature of the ceremonies at these ancient sacred centres. This survived in the sacred animal offerings given by the keepers of Epping Forest to the Cathedral of St Pauls in London; again similar to the wondrous autumn first fruits offerings in our ancient churches.
As the old saying goes; 'The body is a temple' and it is filled with the chemical tripped out consciousness of God's almighty creation on Mother Earth. The closer we can imagine that cosmic state of affairs, the greater the well being we will receive.
