Americans are slowly warming to cooking with animal blood

Animal blood, long used in many global cuisines, is appearing more often on U.S. menus and in cookbooks, and the USDA relaxed rules in 2021 that had limited the sale of coagulated blood.

Animal blood is showing up more frequently on U.S. restaurant menus and in recent cookbooks, prompting conversations about taste, tradition and waste. Some diners react with hesitation when menus name ingredients like pork blood, while chefs and cookbook authors describe ways to balance its flavors. Blood has deep roots in many global cuisines — from morcilla and boudin noir to blood tofu and dinuguan — and has been used historically for both flavor and nutrition. In the United States, most slaughterhouse blood was long diverted to animal feed and fertilizer, but a 2021 USDA review relaxed restrictions on coagulated blood, making it easier for restaurants to source the real ingredient. Key points: - Blood is a traditional ingredient across many regions, including Europe, East and Southeast Asia, and parts of Africa, used in sausages, stews, pancakes and confections. - Jewish and Muslim dietary laws prohibit consuming blood, and those religious rules have shaped attitudes toward the ingredient in many communities. - In American culinary history, blood appeared in older cookbooks but largely disappeared from mainstream U.S. cookbooks and tables as food production became more distant from slaughter. - A 2021 USDA review concluded there were no scientifically supportable food-safety concerns with coagulated blood and eased prior restrictions, expanding sourcing options. - Contemporary chefs and authors cited in the article use blood in diverse ways — from Thai nam-tok moo and Spanish morcilla to blood meringue, cocktails, chocolate puddings and a pig-blood caramel — as part of nose-to-tail and sustainability conversations. Summary: The ingredient’s reappearance on menus reflects a mix of culinary tradition, sustainability and chefs’ interest in authentic techniques. Undetermined at this time.