Kitimoto !

---

How many of you choose to have bacon added to your cheese burger? Many folks enjoy honey cured ham for special occasions. I can remember the time the Jensen family enjoyed "Grandmother Woods' " special pork chops grilled on the BBQ. All these edibles mentioned require kitimoto. That is pig meat! Actually kiti moto means "hot seat (word order is: seat hot)." I really don't know the etymology of the word.

We now realize how spoiled we were living in Arusha. There, we had easy access to "Meat King" - the local butcher shop. However, here in Iringa meat is not readily available. A while ago Carey Samford got adventurous and bought a whole hog and prepared the meat himself. So the next time he was "in the market for a hog" I asked to join in. So we bought two small pigs and went to work just like many of our grandparents did not so long ago. Largely in America these days the general public is shielded from meat processing. We are content to just go to the supermarket or mega-market and choose a nice cut, neatly wrapped and labeled. Or we whip our automobile through the drive through and grab a cow burger and some diced oily spuds.

Our meat preparation here in Africa began in the morning with boiling water and the animal being shaved. This due to the fact that the locals want to use any part we will not eat - including the skin. I will spare our readers the entrails details. But the circular banda in Carey's yard served as the skinning shack. As one who enjoys fine cutlery, I was pleased to use a skinning knife I purchased from a good brother in the States who has his own meat processing business (it is actually Luke's knife). Thankfully we can get some zip-lock bags here and the finished pieces were deposited therein.

Many of you are aware of Joy's excellent culinary abilities, so you can imagine how much we have enjoyed what she has been doing with the kitimoto! Just another example of how a missionary needs to be willing to improvise. And for those of you who already have a question forming in your head --- Yes, I am thinking about trying to buy a cow.
George 2011

P.S. Thanks to Bonnie for taking pictures while our hands were too messy to be touching a camera.

---