The Assman Cometh


Advertisement
Italy's flag
Europe » Italy » Apulia » Brindisi
March 19th 2007
Published: March 19th 2007
Edit Blog Post

I Am CarnivoreI Am CarnivoreI Am Carnivore

Hear me roar! Sara used to be a vegetarian. She moved to Italy and came to her senses.
Friday, 16 March was Eat An Animal for PETA Day. I kid you, not! I ran across that while I was scanning various blogs and news sites. I had a good laugh over that one since life in Italy is a daily celebration of that particular day. As I noted in my previous post, there aren’t many animals that aren’t considered food by the Italians. So at the risk of incurring the wrath of some local PETA-tites, we celebrated the day by bbq-ing some cavallo and asino. That would be horse and ass (donkey).
Our Italian teacher at the school told me that in the aftermath of WWII, beef was hard to come by and so the eating of horse served as an alternate meat source. He didn’t mention asino, so I suspect that it too served as a poor man’s meat. Nowadays, eating cavallo and asino isn’t particularly popular and you won’t find that meat on most ristorante menus. It is also not widely available at most butcher shops. However, one can find horse meat rather easily as it is still sold at supermarkets.
We have never seen asino on menus, but at one of our favorite places, they do
Stoking the CoalsStoking the CoalsStoking the Coals

Vincenzo getting the grill ready.
serve horse. We like both meats. I think that the asino is far richer than the horse and in fact superior in taste to beef. The horse needs a lot of prep and cooking effort since it tends to be tougher and muscular. Does it bother me to eat my friend Flicka? Neigh!!
We had a very fine ’99 Barolo with the meats, fried red potatoes, grilled zucchini, fried black olives (new to me and I liked them!), finocchio, and afterwards some excellent chocolate (75% cocoa) washed down with a tasty shot of port.
Sunday 18 March - Vincenzo’s parents invited us to Sunday family lunch. We feel very much honored. The Sunday family lunch is the holy of holies in the Italian religion of eating. It was a grand lunch fit for a king. Vincenzo’s family made us feel right at home. His mom is a hoot and of course, a fabulous cook. After the 2 ½ hr extravaganza we went home for a nap to recuperate. We are hoping for a second invite. Next time, I will eat a smaller breakfast to make more room for that great food. Sara told us that this is the usual meal
Mind the flames!Mind the flames!Mind the flames!

My ass is getting burned...
size on Sundays.
Next post will be our discovery of the perfect wine shop and the best pizza in Brindisi. After that, it will be a report on our spring break trip to La Thuile. This is a ski area on the border with France. Lots of pictures with that one, for sure.



Additional photos below
Photos: 6, Displayed: 6


Advertisement

Beth the ElderBeth the Elder
Beth the Elder

Imparting wisdom to Sara the Younger. "Those two better watch their ass!"
MeanwhileMeanwhile
Meanwhile

Back at the ranch...the horse 'n ass are being looked after.
Cowboy Up!Cowboy Up!
Cowboy Up!

Adds new meaning to: That's some mighty good looking horseflesh there, mister!


19th March 2007

Deeply Disturbed, Niegh?
OK Izzy, now I wonder if you'll be ALLOWED to come back.
19th March 2007

you are so entertaining
Israel, I have to say I really look forward to what you and Beth are doing next! I hope you are keeping all of these blogs and print a book! Keep up the good work and sending those updates. They are fun to read. You should videotape your next trip abroad and document it as well. :) when you coming home?
20th March 2007

The Assman Cometh
It is interesting that people that come here either really like the life here or rally don't like it. The perfect solution for me would be to live half the year in the US and half the year here in Italy. Now where will the money come from? Hmmm that's the rub.
20th March 2007

The Assman Cometh
Glad that you are enjoying them. I do plan on working on a travel book for people that want to do more than a tour but not sleep in hostels. Anything but a regular job will do at this point!
21st March 2007

joking
I think you sent the record for the most ass jokes in a blog entry!!!! My American boss is a horse lover so I'm not allowed to talk about this. I find it pretty good too.
21st March 2007

The Assman Cometh
Ciao Jeff, we met Francesca at Vincenzo's Sunday dinner...hmmm parallel universes and all that...any good stuff coming to Goblins?

Tot: 0.125s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 57; dbt: 0.0864s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1; ; mem: 1.2mb