Kelly Pi, a 30-year-old electrical engineer from the Philadelphia suburbs, has built her diet around raw animal organs, minimally processed meat and dairy products.
She visits Amos Miller Organic Farm in southeastern Pennsylvania several times a month to buy foods she selects for their production and sourcing practices.
During a visit in August, Pi pulled a container of buffalo brain from her bag, showed the raw tissue and ate a piece.
Pointing to a dark fragment in the pink and white material, she said, "Look, you can see a little bit of the skull!"
She then lifted the brain from its container and tasted it, describing the experience enthusiastically. "Mmmm," she said.
"This is so good."
A Cart Full of Unconventional Staples
Her shopping goes beyond animal organs.
At the farm's walk-in refrigerator, she filled her cart with large quantities of beef, yellowish colostrum, three varieties of raw-milk ice cream and kefir water, along with buffalo brain.
Pi typically eats beef brain and was eager to try buffalo brain as an alternative.
Her purchases reflect a preference for products she identifies as free of hormones, vaccines, corn and soy.
The farm visit offered a firsthand look at Pi's purchasing routine and her interest in less conventional animal-based foods.
Her selections included both familiar meat and dairy products and ingredients such as buffalo brain and colostrum.
Pi's visits are part of a broader investigation into unconventional eating practices.
Sophie Haigney traveled to Tennessee and Pennsylvania and interviewed more than 40 people experimenting with their diets over five months.
