Back in the States, being a vegetarian was something I did not necessarily because I enjoyed it but because I thought it was the right thing to do. I gave it up because I was told that being veggie in Cambodia is very difficult. This turns out to be true.
But being a carnivore has its pitfalls as well. Specifically, organ meats. Cambodians don't waste edible meats, so in the last few months I've dined on liver, kidney (at least I think so), intestines, and even chicken hearts. Some of these meats are delectable, specifically the meat which I am fairly sure is kidney (it is the color of liver but has an appearance like a leaf under a microscope, small cells outlined in a darker color. [Note: if I want to pursue biological anthropology, I should probably learn to identify organs a bit more accurately.]). Intestines, if they're fried, are also pretty good. Liver is a little bit...ferric. And the chicken hearts it's probably best not to mention.
Don't let this give you the wrong impression of Khmer food. Khmer people eat mostly rice, stir-fried vegetables with meat, and fish cooked many ways, all of which are delicious and healthy. Organ meats make it into very few dishes; I've had them only occasionally with rice porridge for breakfast. I'm trying to learn to enjoy them more. Hopefully before long I'll be ordering extra liver with my porridge.
2 comments:
Hey Liz,
Over the weekend I picked up a pro-vegetarian pamphlet that contained all kinds of images of cruelty inflicted on animals, and it made me want to stop eating meat... or at least stop eating mass-produced meat.
And then I was thinking about the meat you're eating these days. I would assume that it's raised in better conditions than mine, which, in my mine, makes it less of a bad thing to do. I mean you're still eating it, but at least you're not torturing it, right?
In any case, enjoy those livers!
I think my 3 reasons for being veggie (meat "done" Western style is unsustainable, unhealthy esp. regarding antibiotics and BSE, and sometimes inhumane) don't hold here in Cambodia. Or at least not as much. I'll probably go back to being veggie in the U.S. but here sharing meals with my family is fairly important.
Apparently liver is really good for your eyesight...or is that something they tell you just so you'll eat it?
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