Dazed and confused? Not me. I’m just Lost in the Cheese Aisle.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

FOUR QUACK-TIONS

Mister Mallard
Male mallard, photographed at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.

I’d hate to be the Easter ham,
No fun to be the Paschal lamb.
Some animals have all the luck -
Just ask my friend, the Paschal Duck.


I’m not exactly sure why lambs and pigs ended up on the holiday platters of Jews and Christians, respectively, but it seems that the duck - a wonderfully tasty beast by my accounting - managed to get left out of the equation.

Had ancient Israel been blessed with more lakes, perhaps things would have turned out differently. I can just see it now: a duck leg on the Seder plate in lieu of the lamb shank. One of the Four Questions (Quack-tions?) might be “Why is this night different from all other nights? On all other nights, we eat chicken. On this night, only duck.” And wild waterfowl would dread the arrival of the Mallard ha-Mavis - the Duck of Death.

As far as She Who Must Be Obeyed is concerned, the duck versus lamb debate is moot: She loathes them both equally. Whereas I love ’em.

Update: Friday Ark #335 is afloat at the Modulator... your place for Fun with Fauna!

3 comments:

BobG said...

My dad used to raise green-heads when I was growing up. Between the eggs and the ducks themselves, we ate pretty good. And the ducks were good at keeping the bugs out of the vegetable garden.

Erica said...

SWMBO is not alone. I detest lamb and duck...although mushrooms, unquestionably, supersede these things.

Randy Rager said...

Well, Ellison, you can at least console yourself that she has good taste in men.