Jef the Taxonomy Geek

[urbpan]

I seem to be momentarily obsessed with the following bit of trivia: What is the number of different Classes of organisms eaten by humans? What the significance of the answer to this question may be is up for grabs.

I’ve decided to make the question more digestible (ha!) by simplifying it thus: What is the number of different Classes of animals commonly eaten by North Americans? If I’m still obsessed by this later, I can try to tackle the other Kingdoms of life, and the edible oddities of North Americans and other cultures.


Commonly eaten animals/Class
Cattle/Mammal
Swine/Mammal
Sheep/Mammal
Goat/Mammal
Chicken/Bird
Turkey/Bird
Duck/Bird
Goose/Bird
Lobster/Decapod
Crab/Decapod
Shrimp/Decapod
Crayfish/Decapod
Clam/Bivalve
Oyster/Bivalve
Mussel/Bivalve
Scallop/Bivalve
Squid/Cephalopod
Octopus/Cephalopod
Cuttlefish/Cephalopod
(Now here’s where I get into trouble: I used to think of Fish as one Class, but I bet that they are considered to be several different ones now. At least Cartilaginous and Bony Fishes will be different Classes.)
So if we take Fishes to be two different Classes, and add Gastropods (Snails, Abalone), that’s only 8 different Classes. If we pretend that North Americans commonly eat Alligators (Reptiles) and Frog Legs (Amphibians) that brings us up to 10 different classes. This pie chart http://www.learner.org/channel/courses/biology/archive/images/1912_d.html shows that when you count by number of species, one Class has more than all the others combined, including Plants, Bacteria and Fungi. This is one of the Classes that North Americans generally don’t eat (but that most other cultures do).

Comments

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

Last time I walked by the tree, I had this thought:

They smell exactly like a mixture of vomit and diarrhea.

Very un-foody.

[anais2.livejournal.com]

Does anything eat them? Please say no...

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

Interestingly, I checked on line and found them on 2 lists...

One on a list of plants that are HIGHLY TOXIC to children (http://www.childfun.com/safety/plant.shtml).
One on a list of trees that shoudln't be planted near crazy people (I swear!!) (www.doh.wa.gov/hsqa/fsl/CRS/ pdf/guideline_toxic_or_poisonous_plants.pdf)


The Ginkgo nuts are mentioned in Japanese textbooks from 1492 and on as used at tea ceremonies as sweets and dessert. In the Edo-period (1600-1867) common people began to eat them as vegetable and ingredients for pickles. In the 18th century the nuts (called ginnan) became used as a side dish when drinking sake. Today they are used (grilled or boiled) in chawan-mushi (a pot-steamed egg dish) or in nabe-ryori (Japanese fondue). The grilled nuts are still often eaten in Japan when drinking sake.


Dessert? EW!

The fruit itself is about the size of a large cherry, and is of a greenish-yellow color when ripe. Like the cherry, it has a fleshy pulp with a single stone or seed in the interior. To most persons the odor of the fruit is very disagreeable, but the fruit plays a very important part in Chinese gastronomic arts. The grand dinners of the Chinese usually last all day, and every help to digestion is needed in order that the guests may experience the fullest enjoyment. The fruit of the Ginkgo is the chief element in promoting this desirable result. They are first slightly roasted, and then placed in small plates by the side of the guests, who every now and then take one between courses, as an American or Englishman would an olive. Mr. Wister states that the odor of the fruit of his tree is very disagreeable, and those who have handled the fruit can scarcely credit its use as described by the Celestials.

Um, that's more like it.

I found a bunch of sites saying that dinosaurs probably ate it (it's a prehistoric tree).

[anais2.livejournal.com]

Well! That explains what happened to the dinosaurs.

I'd have to drink a LOT of sake to get one of those near my mouth (of course, we've all said THAT before, right?)