{"id":51,"date":"2011-11-20T12:40:52","date_gmt":"2011-11-20T12:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sandralangston.com\/?p=51"},"modified":"2011-11-20T12:40:52","modified_gmt":"2011-11-20T12:40:52","slug":"meat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.sandralangston.com\/?p=51","title":{"rendered":"Meat"},"content":{"rendered":"

We live along the Mediterranean coast, so we consume a healthy Mediterranean diet, of course. \u00a0 Well yes and no. \u00a0Visitors imagine the locals consuming a healthy diet of leafy greens, legumes, crusty bread and fresh fruits ripe and locally-grown. \u00a0 This is all true, and yet there is another reality as well.<\/p>\n

I have never seen people eat so \u00a0much meat! \u00a0 Breakfast is the only meal that excludes it, so bacon and sausage are not acceptable choices for most in the morning. \u00a0 Breakfast consists either of a coffee and nothing else, or some refined flour and sugar confection, usually industrially-produced. \u00a0 \u00a0Might as well eat nothing, I say. \u00a0 \u00a0 (Yes, I know Italian coffee and pastry bars are the best in the world, but only the most un-thrifty types head there for breakfast every day.) \u00a0 \u00a0 But then there is lunch, and there is dinner. \u00a0 \u00a0Plenty of animal offerings, red meat mostly. \u00a0 A man will eat fish, but chicken is considered \u00a0a demeaning choice, a feminine choice!…for real men. \u00a0 \u00a0 And cured meats never are far from any respectable table. \u00a0 \u00a0You will be offered sliced cold cuts and cheese for the antipasto, meat sauce on pasta, mixed grilled meats, roasted haunches of meat, meat stuffed with more meat and cheese for a main course. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Not surprisingly, Bernalda, which squeaks over the line with twelve thousand inhabitants, is rife with butcher shops: \u00a0there are at least fifteen boutique-type shops, \u00a0plus numerous supermarkets with their own butchers.<\/p>\n

There are three butcher shops in Bernalda specializing—to the exclusion of everything else—in horse meat. \u00a0 \u00a0You can pick your cuts and they will cook them for you right there. \u00a0 \u00a0My sons are not unusual in their love of horse meat, \u00a0which is considered a more robust and nutrient-packed alternative to beef and pork. \u00a0 \u00a0Pregnant women and wimpified men, as well as sickly children, are encouraged to partake. \u00a0 \u00a0Young men and boys here have the regular pastime of getting together and going out for a huge meal of freshly-prepared\u00a0carne equina<\/em>, which they swear is more flavorful than any other meat. \u00a0 \u00a0My husband and I will not eat horse meat, but of course any explanation from people who freely partake of chicken, \u00a0pig, \u00a0and cow slices would be hypocritical. \u00a0 \u00a0It just feels wrong. \u00a0 \u00a0 One visit to Calabria has provided me the stuff of nightmares. \u00a0 \u00a0I saw butcher shops with the heads of cows and horses hung up high in doorways so as to stare out at the sidewalk. \u00a0 \u00a0Their sad eyes looked out from behind those multi-string fly barriers which adorn every doorway, \u00a0 a mute rebuke to every carnivore passing by.<\/p>\n

Even these familiar animals can offer some daunting cuts for the table. \u00a0 \u00a0A very popular dish for festive occasions are the involtini \u00a0(wraps) \u00a0of organ meats, called\u00a0niummurriedd<\/em>. \u00a0 \u00a0These can be tiny and charcoal-grilled, or very large and slow-roasted in the oven. \u00a0 \u00a0 The large wrapped meat roll–“u marro<\/em>“— that my mother-in-law used to cook was absolutely excellent. \u00a0 \u00a0They are made of heart, lung, liver, and more, and wrapped in lengthy pieces of sheep gut. \u00a0 \u00a0They require hours of preparation time and are considered a great delicacy when made correctly. \u00a0 \u00a0 Folks say the best ones are those which aren’t exactly scrupulously free of, \u00a0well, \u00a0 extraneous matter. \u00a0 \u00a0Not recommended for the cholesterol-challenged.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>“Homeopathic Diet” \u00a0 oil on canvas, 2006<\/p>\n

I have been offered tiny birds, \u00a0arranged on a plate with their startled eyes staring up as if to say, \u00a0“I was swatted out of the sky for this?” \u00a0 \u00a0Snails are popular, \u00a0not large ones served with garlic butter sauce, but tiny little gritty ones. \u00a0 They are called “lumache” in Italian, \u00a0but here they are known as “varvaliesc<\/em>.” \u00a0 \u00a0They are a very popular choice during the Spring, \u00a0and folks can be seen alongside the roads with plastic bags collecting them on any humid morning. \u00a0 \u00a0One unfortunate dining convocation had me refusing the main dish, \u00a0a large stewpot full of boiled chicken feet. \u00a0 You should know that boiling them plumps them up and removes most traces of color, \u00a0but not the toenails. \u00a0 \u00a0The sounds produced by a table full of folks enjoying boiled chicken feet is similar to the sounds produced by people eating small garden snails in tomato sauce; \u00a0 musical sucking sounds punctuated by loud staccato slurping. \u00a0 \u00a0I cannot deny that to a blind guest it might seem quite appetizing.<\/p>\n

I have been served fox, without knowing it at the time. \u00a0 \u00a0A fox is close enough to a dog to be, \u00a0 well, \u00a0dog. \u00a0 Rabbits are popular, \u00a0and my first neighbor across the gorge had a large corral of them. \u00a0 \u00a0I always knew when the family was having rabbit for dinner, \u00a0because the accoustics were such that I could hear the screams the poor animals made. \u00a0 \u00a0There are wild hares, \u00a0and pheasants, \u00a0most of which have been added by the hunting associations for sport. \u00a0 \u00a0Often in their dazed confusion, freshly released from a crate into an unknown territory, \u00a0they are hit by cars. \u00a0 My son’s friends have been known to improvise a barbeque if the victim was fresh enough. \u00a0 \u00a0Just the day before yesterday a boar ended up in the stew pot after being hit by a distracted driver. \u00a0 \u00a0They say that Italians have perfected the art of making do, \u00a0 and this is prime evidence of the truth of that! \u00a0 \u00a0I once gave my husband a T-shirt with a Road Kill menu on it, \u00a0 very amusing to some, \u00a0 but not to all.<\/p>\n

Years ago I participated in the making of sausage, \u00a0 just pork mind you, \u00a0 and I suppose I made enough snide comments during the session that the women never invited me back. \u00a0 \u00a0I will admit I am not sorry. \u00a0 Making sausage is, \u00a0after all, \u00a0a lot like politics. \u00a0 \u00a0Another pork-related dish is\u00a0sanguinaccio<\/em>\u00a0: \u00a0 If you are served a dense chocolate pudding after the meal, \u00a0you might want to ask what it is called before you eat it. \u00a0 \u00a0It is just what it seems, \u00a0a chocolate pudding, \u00a0made however with a large percentage of fresh pig blood. \u00a0 \u00a0To my mind, one could leave out this ingredient and have a wonderful dessert. \u00a0 With it, not so much.<\/p>\n

It should also be said that people here are equally disgusted by \u00a0things like \u00a0peanut butter, fried rattlesnake \u00a0(this one never fails to earn me stares of disbelief), \u00a0root beer, \u00a0bottled salad dressing, \u00a0Spam, and Velveeta. \u00a0On the other hand, things do change rapidly in our traveling world. \u00a0My husband loves Pizza Hut pizza over the original Italian kind, and imported Budweiser beer, \u00a0pancakes and nachos \u00a0are all the rage here this year! \u00a0Do they sell chocolate Cornflakes in the U.S. \u00a0yet? \u00a0Go figure.<\/p>\n

Of course the typical Mediterranean fare is available as well, \u00a0 but I will leave that for other posts. Enough has not yet been said about the quality and variety of Italian cooking. \u00a0 \u00a0There are so many wonderful concoctions of beans, greens, \u00a0vegetable stews, \u00a0 grains and fresh flavorful fruits, \u00a0that becoming a vegetarian would be an easy step to take. \u00a0 We are almost there, \u00a0in terms of quantity, but we do like a little added flavor in the form of animal flesh once in a while. \u00a0 \u00a0But some will consider us cowards when it comes to adventurous preparation of animal parts. We keep to our safe ground, \u00a0 or sliced, and above all, \u00a0recognizable, \u00a0culinary path.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

“At Pasture” \u00a0oil on board, 2011<\/p>\n

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