Strange Foods and Disturbing Practices

Re “Monkey Brains on the Menu,” Feb. 25: Well, here’s an easier way to put inexpensive reality programming on the air: A show like “Fear Factor” can hop a flight to Indonesia, put a cameraman on the corner and start filming. According to your article there are enough bizarre and grotesque edibles to keep American viewers tantalizingly glued to their television sets for quite a while. Isn’t that what successful reality programming is all about? Oh, dear, I forgot about the babe factor....

Oh, well.

Amy Hendel

Encino

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Pity the poor fruit bats! They are held in an unnatural environment of bright sun, filthy air and loud noise, with “their feet and mouths bound tightly” until they are killed in a “very brutal” manner. But wait! The same thing happens to lobsters. They are removed from their dark and quiet natural habitat, have their claws bound and are kept under bright lights and in tanks of dirty water until being boiled alive. Perhaps your article will encourage consumers to be more critical of the cruel practices that they encourage by their demands.

Jo-Ann Shelton

Santa Barbara