Venison Chops Wrapped in Bacon With Asparagus

I've been going to hunting camp since I was 10 and hunting since I was 12.  Two years ago I got my first buck.  I sat out in the woods for hours at a time for eight years waiting for the perfect buck to run across my sights.  When it finally did, time slowed down.  What lasted two seconds felt like five minutes.  I saw the antlers, lifted the rifle, and that was that.  No running, no chasing, no tracking, it was a perfect shot.  I called my dad at home, my hands trembling.  He told my that my mom said I probably felt horrible.  That wasn't the case.  Excitement is all I felt at that moment.

The first meal my dad cooked with the meat was venison chops wrapped in bacon with asparagus.  It was, without a doubt, the best meal I had ever eaten.  I don't think anything will ever taste as good, not even another deer.  I believe this is because of the amount of time and effort I put in to hunting this buck.  The feeling was like nothing I'd ever experienced before.  Every time I took a bite of that meal, I was taken back to the woods.  It might sound barbaric or primal to some, but that buck fed us for the entire winter.  None of it went to waste.  That meal is my favorite meal, even though it will never taste as good as the first time.

To relate to the Kniazevah and Venkatesh article, this meal created a social connector for my dad an me.  It allowed us to bond over something that we have been doing for so many years which I believe made the meal even better.  The meal itself is delicious, but being able to enjoy it with someone else who understands what goes into producing it makes it a much more enjoyable and rewarding experience.