Sunday, March 2, 2008
Never in Canada!
Well, Ken & I went for the first time meat-shopping - chicken, of course, as you can't buy beef (no killing cows allowed). What an experience! There are many local 'shops' where you can buy freshly killed chicken - all on display on the outdoor counters - no fridges, in the sun, covered in flies (extra protein, you know). You go and order whatever chicken you want - you have a few choices. Choose the one less in the sun and with less flies. Go early in the morning before it's been standing out all day. The vendor will take the chicken - no gloves - and put it onto the scale (you know, one of those old kind with weights and balances). The scale has probably been used a few times. Then he puts it onto the counter and hacks off a few pieces to arrive at the correct weight you want. He bags the pieces for you and takes your money - with the same hands - and puts the money into his drawer-ful of money. You take your chicken home and wash it - with only water. Then you cook it with many spices and presto! You have a delicious chicken dinner! We haven't gotten sick yet and tonight we dined with Pastor Shem and his wife Sumi. We made 'saffron chicken' - the most expensive spice in the world, but very cheap in Nepal. I did wash all surfaces and utensils with soap, just to be safe. But the Nepalis were surprised at my precautions. They don't even bother! Maybe the fresh chickens here are fresher than the ones back home. Who knows what we don't see back home? Ignorance is bliss, they say. Well, here what you see is what you get! I think we'll come back with fortified systems!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
The chickens were probably killed that morning. You can probably even find a place where they'll kill them while you watch. Then you KNOW the meat is fresh.
I remember visiting Lower Fort Garry many years ago. I was on a tour of some sort and in one of the smaller buildings where the soldiers slept the tour guide explained how they would hang a large piece of meat for days on end. They would cut a chunk off for cooking and let the rest continue to gather flies. I'm guessing they, and the Nepalese, had stronger immune systems than we pampered North American city folk have.
You'll have to bring home a supply of saffron! That stuff's so expensive and tiny that Safeway, when it carries it, keeps it behind the customer service desk.
doesn't boiling almost anything kill most of the bacteria/germs/make-you-sick sort of things?
notice a difference in the taste of chicken that hasn't been pumped full of steroids? not to mention a difference in size!
Post a Comment