Eating Tongue? The Real Mystery of And Then There Were None

Agatha Christie’s popular novel And Then There Were None is one of the most successful mystery novels selling over 100 million copies. But the real mystery is not who the killer is, but instead why are they obsessed with tongue in this book? As we chatted about on our podcast canned tongue was all the rage:

Now it’s nearly impossible to find canned tongue despite it being eaten all over the world. And most American cookbooks had tongue recipes until the 1950.

It’s supposedly tastes similar to lamb shank, filet mignon, or flank steak, but is fatter and more mild. Sign me up, right? So what happened?

I think the real reason we’ve seen a drop in popularity is simply it’s marketing.  No one wants to eat something that they can imagine or is on the human body. It’s all in the name.  Pig stomach? No thanks. Bacon? God yeah. Baby Cow or Sheep? Nah, I’m not evil. Veal Parm or Lamb Chops? Sound delicious. Cow Ass/rump? Uhh no, I’m not eating ass. Well, actually I won’t go that far…

What Tongue needs is a rebranding. That’s where the Buddy Book Club comes in. Here is what I propose: Cow and Ox Tongue should change it’s name to “Lingualy” (deriving from the medical term for the tongue region). Lingualy is a delicious red meat on par with filet mignon.  Season it, grill it up and serve this new(ish) delicacy. Just don’t tell people what they’re eating. Look at that this picture, looks delicious!