We were recently invited to the wedding of one of our
residents. It was a lovely affair with
a beautiful bride, energizing music and good fun all around.
After the ceremony we headed to the wedding lunch; and what
a huge spread it was. In a country where
most people fast (no meat or dairy) at least twice a week, I have been
surprised with how much meat gets served when you are invited out. This wedding was no exception.
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Tere Siga Vendor near our house |
Raw meat is part of the Ethiopian cuisine. There are raw meat vendors on almost every
corner. It comes in various forms like
kitfo and kurt or tere siga. Kitfo is
raw or very rare minced beef that has been marinated in various spices. Tere siga comes straight off the animal
(usually a cow) in alarmingly large chunks and is dipped into spices.
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Tere Sega station at the wedding |
It is thought that kitfo and kurt
started as a necessity for Ethiopian soldiers.
During various wars, Ethiopian soldiers would hide in the mountains and
need “quick to prepare meals” that could
be made without using big fires. The
smoke from the fires and the smell of cooking food could point enemies towards
the secret location of the soldiers, so the “food that doesn’t require cooking”
option was a good one.
I guess after the wars were done,
soldiers brought these new recipes home.
I think the reason kitfo and kurt have become so popular is because the
soldiers’ wives and girlfriends were so pleased with the “no cooking required”
portion of these recipes.
I was lacking in courage the day of the
wedding and probably appeared to be a ferengi wimp but couldn’t bring myself to
sample any tere siga---maybe next time.
Of course raw meat is not limited to
Ethiopian cuisine; there are recipes in Korean, Japanese, French, Italian,
Lebanese… cuisines.
Should you decide to broaden your
repertoire of recipes, here is a link to LA’s top 10 raw beef recipes: http://blogs.laweekly.com/squidink/2011/08/raw_beef_dishes_los_angeles.php