Delivering the Meat

Meat gets delivered everywhere, but perhaps not so obviously in US cities as in Rome.  Indeed, we can't remember ever seeing a meat truck transporting carcasses in the United States.  They surely exist, but they must do their thing in the back of supermarkets, far from the eyes of squeamish shoppers, who would rather not know they're eating animals. 

We had these and other thoughts when we came upon a meat delivery, this one in front of a butcher shop on Via Gregoriana XIII, in a vibrant neighborhood known as Boccea (after Via di Boccea), to the northeast of Rome's center--behind Monte Mario and beyond, even, Parco del Pineto.




The delivery guys wore long burgundy coats (all the better to hide the bloodstains) with hoods, the latter to shield them from the cold and clammy meats that inevitably press against their heads.

Bill

More meat!

Somehow paintings of meat figured in our recent gallery hopping around Rome. What is it with the raw meat fascination?

Although the paintings we saw were from earlier in the 20th-century, apparently the artists' attraction to meat has a long history and a contemporary bent.

Francis Bacon's 1954 Figure with Meat (a take off on a painting of Pope Innocent X - so more Rome connections) may be the most famous "meat pic", but other artists have gotten into it, so to speak, including contemporary artist Zhang Huan's "meat suit."

In any event, we offer some paintings we saw this year, at a gallery on via Piacenza, along with the real thing coming off trucks at our local market.

Thoughts, anyone??

Dianne