In the south there is one dish that is only served once a year. The dish is liver and lights and its only cooked at butchering time. Hog butchering is usually done in the fall because the weather is cooler. Another reason is because it just doesn't make sense to feed an animal over the winter when there is less forage for its feed. Everybody has heard that when a pig is butchered you use everything but the squeal and its absolutely true.
Butchering time means that there are portions of the animal that easily spoil and would typically be cooked the next day. One of those next day meals would be liver and lights. The lights are the pork lungs and they would be cleaned and chopped into one inch pieces along with part of the liver. They would be browned with some onion and sage then cooked into a thick gravy which is served over homemade biscuits. It's a once a year dish that many people still look forward to.
The rest of the pig that is only available at butchering are the other organs which are chopped, breaded and fried, the intestines which are cleaned and used for sausage casings, the brains which are fried with eggs. Then there's always the tail, the lard, the scratch backs, the bacon, hams and all the "normal" cuts of meat.
The point is that at butchering time nothing was wasted whether the meat being processed was pork, beef or venison every part was saved and used for food if possible. At some time along the way people began to get away from eating those parts of the animal that we now find objectionable. I admit to feeling a little queasy at the thought of eating some portions of the offal meats but I recognize the value in them all the same.
The thought of eating organ meats and other parts is hard for people today to accept. Thinking that they are somehow less tasty or acceptable. The reality is that those parts are used in meat products that are sold in the form of lunch meat and sausages among other things and they are eaten all the time. There is absolutely no reason that they can't be eaten as they used to be. Other cultures eat many things that we find strange but we feel that way just because its not a part of our upbringing and we just don't think of them as food we can eat.
Its time to reconsider what is acceptable for food especially if there is a food shortage. Nothing can be discarded and wasted if its good for food even if its not what we are used to eating. If prepared properly all of them can actually be enjoyed. It's only in our mind that those foods are not good or tasty. If you have the opportunity to cook those meats because you raised your own pig or other livestock or even if you are lucky enough to hunt for deer or other game, save those portions that you may have wasted in the past. Cook them and try them before throwing them away. You may just decide that you like them. Even if they're not your favorite meal it is still a good thing to at least be open minded to trying them. One day it may be the only meal available. It might be a good idea to know how to cook it.
Southern Wood Elf