Balkan Shopping: Meat Markets

The meat is really really fresh here.... I mean so fresh that it's hanging in the window for all to see! Simply go in and ask what cut of meat you want and the butcher will promptly hack it off the poor thing for ya. Honestly, it took me a while before I could walk past a butcher shop without averting my gaze from the pork butt literally hanging in the window, or the piles of "tripe" for the local specialty soup with the same name, or sheep or goat heads with eyes and tongues...

ok, I'll stop. ;)

You know, my Mom used to tell me stories of when she was a child in the early 40's and having a fresh chicken dinner for a very special occasion--that is, after having to catch it in the back yard. Somehow I think we all think that the meat we eat was created right there in the neat, sanitized plastic-wrapped packages and sitting pretty in a fridge. My wake-up call was when I was in Kosovo in 2001 and the family our team stayed with slaughtered a cow in their backyard, sold off a majority of the meat to local restaurants, and served the best bits (including the tongue--eeek!) to us that same night at dinner. I must say, that was the most difficult meal to eat... it was delicious, but difficult all the same... I mean, it was the cute cow I'd seen the day before and referred to as Bessy. ;)

Over the years I've gotten used to seeing the sides of beef or whole lambs hanging in butcher shops or the fresh chickens occasionally sold in the open market. Only when visitors come from the US am I reminded of how strange this can seem and even of my first reactions to this site... something like shock and awe. lol. One thing's for sure, though. The meat here is delicious and the Macedonians are experts at grilling it! :)

[Pictured: my roommate from 2004, Brittney, and our Regional Bookkeeper, Val. We'd taken a break from her audit of the books to have dinner at Ljutes, the best grill place in town]