I believe I have posted that I've never had a Jew hassle me about eating pork. I haven't.
However I did have a Jew tell me I shouldn't eat a specific batch of pork. Under the circumstances his reasoning made perfect sense based on what little he knew under the circumstances. I think he was afraid of trichinosis.
He was a fairly new captain assigned to battalion and was OK. We'd crossed paths several times and done each other a couple of small favors.
I had been assigned to help him with some damned thing or another and there were maybe 5 or 6 of us. It was during a field problem and took us well past chow time.
When we got to the chow truck the cooks were exactly where they were supposed to be. They were sleeping and resting up for another day of feeding about 200 hungry GIs.
Thoughtfully they had left a couple if insulated Mermite cans of chow out for people like us. One held a bunch of fried pork chops. There was also a case of C-rations beside the cans.
On top of that, because the usual trash cans of heated water were not available to clean mess kits. The water was cold. Not to worry. we'd wipe them out as best we could and sterilize them in the morning.
Anyway the good captain opened the can containing the pork chops and said, dubiously, "That's pork. It's been out there a while. Pork can be some pretty bad $hit. You probably shouldn't eat it." He grabbed a box of C-rations, dismissed us and went back to Battalion.
When he was out of sight someone asked me what I thought and I asked JC Middle. Middle was from SC had no name, only the initials JC and knew pork as only a Southern boy could. He picked a chop out of the can, took a bite and pronounced it good so we ate. It was OK and still a little bit warm thanks to the Mermite can.
After we ate one of the guys accused the captain of pushing his religious beliefs on us. He didn't get far.
"The captain doesn't care if we eat pork or not. He's just another misinformed officer trying his best to take care of us. He just doesn't want us to get sick," I said. "He's a big city New York City Jew and doesn't know squat about pork. What do you expect? He was only going with what he had learned. Give him a break. Besides if he doesn't eat it that means more for us."
That pretty much ended it.
As a kid I had been trained to avoid trichinosis by cooking pork well. I was never served pork unless it was well done. The disease is rare these days.
No comments:
Post a Comment