> On 25/10/04, Bob W, discombobulated, unleashed:
>
> >Certainly they do eat raw meat, a dish called 'kitfo', which is
> >somewhat like steak tartare.
I discovered Ethiopian food before I went vegetarian. I've tasted
kitfo; didn't care much for it, but it was better than I'd expected.
Back then my favourite Ethiopian meat dish was zilzil tibs.
Fortunately Ethiopian cuisine is so rich in flavourful vegetarian
dishes that I don't particularly miss the meat, but at a time
when most of the meat I ate was because it was convenient rather
than because I liked it (realizing that was one part of my decision
to give it up), all but one of the meat dishes I actually _enjoyed_
were in Ethiopian restaurants. (The other was a burger as prepared
at one particular ski lodge that I've only ever been to twice in
my life (when an employer paid for the trip). I sometimes also
liked orange beef or kung pao beef, but I liked both of those
dishes despite the meat, not because of it.)
> >I've always had a pet theory that the
> >idea of them taking a slice from a living beast is some sort of
> >amalgam from kitfo, and the practice of cattle herders in the south of
> >draining blood from the animal to mix with milk as a source of food.
Whatever the source of the idea, the meme is old enough to be
in the Kosher laws in the Old Testament. Now I'm wondering
whether it was ever practiced or if the prohibition was based
on the type of misunderstanding you suggested.
-- Glenn, craving stuffed jalapenos
