The Meat???

As many of you know, the Eid el Kabir was this past Saturday. All of the talk leading up to this feast has focused around Lhem (the meat). Everybody talks about how much meat you will eat, how much meat you will see. So much meat. Everywhere meat meat. It basically sounds like a vegetarians hell. I am not a vegetarian and consequently was rather excited about the meat. Moroccans do not eat a lot of meat in the first place so this is a treat. However, as it has been three days since the Eid I have realized that Lhem has a rather loose relationship to what we in America refer to as meat.

The Eid begins with the slaughtering of the sheep. We need to get the meat from somewhere! And on this holiday everyone gets to see, first hand, where the deliciousness originates. However, one is not immediately confronted with meat. In fact, the first couple hours are filled with blood more than anything else. Blood. It was in the meat.... but not anymore. It sprays from the neck of the sheep like an overused windshield fluid dispenser. Strong at times... then it stops. Then an occasional burst about 10 minutes after the neck has been cut. After the blood drains, the animal must be skinned and dismantled. At this point you can see lhem, but you can also see the stomach, the heart, the head, and any other body part you would like to imagine.

The dismantling takes a while. Its usually done by the oldest male in the household. In my case it was my badass grandpa with a huge knife. When the majority of the animal was taken apart and all of the entrails were in different buckets for storage, the fire is started. Yes!!! Time for the meat! Now, everybody is talking again about lhem. Lhem. Lhem. It rolls off the tongue like a nice steak! However as I am watching my family prepare the kebabs, I am positive we will not be eating meat for lunch. We have, over our modest fire, kabobs of heart, liver, and pancreas wrapped in a white fatty part of the sheep that was taken from somewhere around the stomach. As I am still the guest of the house I was offered the first, best, and most quote meaty end quote kebab. (Note: I still have not figured out where the actual quotations marks are on a french keyboard. Any help would be grand). I chowed down. And it was delicious. It tasted like meat, but the texture was a bit off. I think the meat taste was due to the fatty substance that engulfed the small pieces of liver and heart.

Since then, we have eaten the head. Its basically fat and skin with a little meat in the cheeks... oh yes and the eye. Also not meat. We have eaten the testicles. Also not meat but kind of chewy. So where is all this meat that everyone keeps talking about. I have recently found out the meat is in a large bowl in the refrigerator. Every lunch we each get 2 small kebabs of meat. Delicious. Marinated in onions and parsley. However, it never ends at the kebabs. Something else always follows; some other part of the animal that mosty certainly cannot be disregarded. Perhaps tonight we will eat the feet. (Not joking, I saw them in the kitchen today.)

Anyway, the point is this: in Morocco the word for meat, Lhem, has a much broader meaning than one would find in the states. Quite simply it refers to any part of the animal. I would say any edible part, but it seems that everything is edible. So, if you ever find yourself traveling around Morocco and are offered meat, you might find yourself in a surprising situation.

On a bit of a lighter note it is December first. It rained here yesterday, but I noticed as I was walking around this morning that the mountains surrounding my town have snow. Below is a picture of the mountain range. I found this on the internet but it is exactly what it looks like right now. The mountain in the background is Bou Iblane. The foreground is the large plain between my town and the mountains. Hope everyone is having a good December!

-Kitlas