The Giant Meat Platter

October 18, 2018 • 1:15 pm

This is how my hosts and I celebrated after my final talk in Zagreb (the topic was our lack of free will, and it was delivered at the University of Zagreb’s philosophy lecture hall).

Voilà: the Giant Meat Platter, designed to feed six, preceded with pickled red peppers and flatbread, washed down with beer, and finished off with dessert and slivovitz (the local plum brandy).

My hosts hastened to tell me that they don’t always eat like this, and I hasten to tell you that I don’t, either. This is Traveling Food. But it sure was good!

44 thoughts on “The Giant Meat Platter”

  3. If there is no free will, why do people respond differently to the exact same stimuli? Are the determinists claiming we are all programmed to respond as we do, uniquely?

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    1. Essentially yes, the response is considered an emergent property of a complex series of inputs (genetic, environmental, experiential)over a lifetime. That meat platter made my mouth water, my vegetarian mother would probably have a different response.

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    2. Yes. How on earth could that possibly pose a problem? Given that the “programming” is everything each individual has experienced since conception how could you suppose that anyone could possibly have the same programming as someone else? Rather, it is impossible for any two people to have the same “programming,” even identical twins.

      Reply

  4. I’ve eaten my apple and my orange, all I have left is a banana, it’s six hours until dinner time, and you put that in front of me…. 😉

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    1. +1
      These food posts have been great. I have a running list of places I want to go (to eat!) and Croatia just jumped up quite a bit.

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  7. I love the implication that the greens for this meal amount to maybe a third of a lettuce leaf each; and the carbs are perhaps three saute spuds each. That’s getting your priorities right!

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  8. Many years ago I consumed a large quantity of slivovitz one night. But then it was called Yugoslavian peach brandy.
    Funny how booze outlives politics.
    Alan.

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        1. Wikipedia:

          Nose tackle

          Nose tackle (also nose guard or middle guard) is a defensive alignment position for a defensive lineman. In the 3–4 defensive scheme the sole defensive tackle is referred to as the nose tackle.[2] The nose tackle aligns across the line of scrimmage from the offense’s center before the play begins in the “0-technique” position.[3] In this position, frequently taking on the center and at least one if not both of the guards, the nose tackle is considered to be the most physically demanding position in football.[4] In five-linemen situations, such as a goal-line formation, the nose guard is the innermost lineman, flanked on either side by a defensive tackle or defensive end. According to Pat Kirwan, a traditional 3–4 defense demands “a massive man who can clog up the middle,” while a 4–3 defense is looking for “a nose tackle who relies on quickness to penetrate and move along the front.”[3]

          Typical 3–4 nose tackles are “big wide bodies who can hold the point of attack and force double teams by the guard and center.”[3] They are usually the heaviest players on the roster, with weights ranging from 320 to 350 pounds (145 to 159 kg). Also, height is critical, as they are supposed to get “under” the offensive line, which means ideal 3–4 nose tackles are no taller than 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m).[3] Recent examples of such nose tackles include Gilbert Brown, Casey Hampton, Jamal Williams, Vince Wilfork, and Damon Harrison. Rather uncommon are taller nose tackles, such as Ted Washington and Ma’ake Kemoeatu, who each won a Super Bowl ring are both 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) tall.

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          2. TMI (LOL).
            I am probably the “ignorantest” Yank re: football. I do understand soccer and hockey and baseball and basketball…

  16. Feed 6? I should think that divided up for 30 people would have provided a sufficient daily dose of animal protein. What are the yellow objects in the middle? Potatoes?

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  17. The first time I was invited to a Harvard Professor’s house for dinner (freshman seminar so there were about 8 of us) Dr. Damon pulled out slivovitz for us to sample. I grew up with prohibitionist parents so I had no idea what it was. It was so fiery that I triggered a major sneeze; very embarrassing

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  18. 1) Wouldn’t it be amazing if a small family of Neanderthals joined you for dinner.

    2) Are mostly men excited about a meat serving like this? Are the women waiting for the vegetables to follow?

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      1. My wife and daughter like Brussels sprouts and kale. To me, they are just this side of fatally toxic. I’m actually less a meat fan than fish.

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        1. Ya gotta cook the brussels sprouts right, i.e. roasted in the oven or in a pan with lots of garlic and lemon and a little balsamic vinegar and brown sugar. The mushy kind are abysmal.

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