There were…..
Great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts
mutilated monkey meat, little dirty birdie feet
and I forgot my spoon
Wow, I had to rummage through the borgo
memory banks to recall that childhood ditty. I think we used to sing it in the school cafeteria back in the first or second grade and I’m sure I forgot some verses along the way. As always, I’m open to suggestions from any other folks out there to add their renditions of that popular childhood song and I’ll make sure I attribute them..
Anyway, the term “mystery meat” generally refers to those mouth watering delicacies such as any kind of chicken nugget (even more disturbing might be the discovery that our own Webster 1913 chooses to define the word “nugget” as “a lump, a mass”), that all American favorite known as SPAM, whatever a Salisbury steak might be, just about any kind of sausage and of course, that gourmet favorite between the bun, the hot dog.
If I had to hazard a guess I venture to say that the one thing all of those “food stuffs” have in common is that they’re held together by some kind of meat glue.
Here in the States your average run of the mill mystery meat is usually found in public school cafeteria’s, summer camps, military bases and most notably, prison systems.
But is it good for you?
I’m not really qualified to answer that one and the debate rages on amongst the so-called “experts” on whether it’s ok to consume massive quantities of mystery meats and what the downstream effects might be. Recently, the term pink slime has made some headlines about the use of beef trimmings in your hamburgers. Let your conscience be your guide but I’d suggest some sort of moderation is in order.
In the world of computers and websites, the term “mystery meat” refers to some god awful navigational design whereby the user clicks on something that looks attractive at first but then leaves them utterly confused and wondering what the fuck just happened.
Source(s)
For the food related stuff, it comes mostly from the succulent memories I have from grade school and my time spent in the suck. For the website related stuff, you can try clicking on the link provided earlier or go to our very own mystery meat navigation write up.
Other users whet their palate
wertperch says re mystery meat: "My memory includes glop, gristle and wobbly bits. Cheap meat pies and school dinners. Thanks for the memory. Do you have any brain bleach handy?"
ChristineWinter says re mystery meat: Haha, nice. :) I would also toss in Potted Meat. I agree with Steve; any product that has to assure you it is in fact a "food" is cause for concern. Second runner-up would be Vienna sausages. I have probably eaten them a grand total of twice in my life and good lord...I'd have been better off licking the bottom of an ashtray.