Unchewability

I chose it by default: The mushiness seemed less offensive than the near unchewability of the other three. All the cooked meat was overcooked, making judgments difficult if not impossible. The veal chops should have been trimmed of fat. Excess fat put off most tasters. Some tasters got end pieces of the scaloppine and were unhappier than tasters with thicker middle cuts. My Provimi scaloppine was so overcooked it tasted like shredded cardboard.

The reason is that the body of a scared animal or bird releases adrenaline, a hormone that leads to unchewability. Toulouse-Lautrec also offers several mouthwatering recipes, including this one for Fricassee de Poulet: Have a nice chicken and joint it.

Martyn muttered, his stomach gurgling at the reminder of his last meal. The portion of animal intestine he'd spat out after feeling its jellylike unchewability in his last mouthful of processed meat from a can still disgusted him. He really didn't want to eat anything the earth had to offer anymore. "Gentle, easy food," he said.