Balkan Reflections

This blog has been set up to assist in communicating with friends and family while we are in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Name:
Location: Ontario, Canada

Striving to a better day.

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Tuesday was definitely a vignette of live in B-L.

I was on the balcony at about 8am hanging out laundry. I was reminded that Tuesday is livestock day at the market when a large truck backs up into the driveway.

A small steer is taken off the truck and tied to a tree in the back yard. We found this rather interesting! Our neighbourhood is NOT rural. I figured he was going to be fattened a bit, as he didn’t look very large to me.

Throughout the morning, we heard the occasional ‘moo’ coming from the back yard. Our girls, while not actually going anywhere near it, named it ‘Ben’. I named it Čevapi (a ground beef dish), in honour of its ultimate destiny, as I saw it.

Later on, I was out on the balcony again checking on the laundry. I cast a look over to where the little steer was…or wasn’t. What I saw was a head on the ground. Little Čevapi was hanging from his back legs from a frame by those same trees. Sigh. This city girl just isn’t used to being this up close and personal with dinner.

I decided not to mention ‘Ben’s’ fate to the girls. They’d find out soon enough and I’d rather they NOT see his fate in progress.

They discovered ‘Ben’s’ demise after the mess had been cleaned up. They came home from a walk to see some of the butchering happening. Minor stuff. The older of the two was a bit pale as she re-entered the house.

She was aware of where beef came from, but like me wasn’t used to seeing it in process. Our youngest daughter didn’t seem too fazed by it, but her resolve not to eat beef was strengthened.

Such is life in Banja Luka. At home this wouldn’t be permitted by zoning regulations!

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh that is rather yucky about the beef. When we first to this rual area, you know where.. Well, people would do thier Moose, deer the same way as you described. I nearly fainted seeing my first one. After that I could keep up my composure and fake it. I have never eatten the meat though. I know that most now use the Butcher.

6:36 pm  

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