What you are probably asking....Where is this blog going?? I am going to discuss MEAT in India. I am a firm believer that as a traveler in India, I AM a vegetarian. It makes perfect since, read my following list:
1. 80% of India's population is Hindu and are vegetarian.
2.Vegetarian does not have three choices on a menu in India and is not a "special" diet here.
3. It is over 100 degrees everyday and there is not refrigeration.
4. Meat NEVER comes in plastic. It is hanging on hooks on the side of the road.
5. There are more flies and crows than you can imagine (next to, above, and on!)
6. You know you are close to a meat market. First with your NOSE, then with your eyes.
7. All the chickens we see in the morning on hanging by their feet from bike handles and this IS everyday.
(Callie likes to believe they are up for adoption, she WAS eating chicken in India...Then she saw the chicken aquarium!)
Chicken Aquarium you ask...Yes, this is my made up Indian term for a glass box that is used to keep food clean India. The man sits on the side of the road with the chickens and the chicken aquarium. He beheads the chicken and hold them until they quit squirming (Callie also realize that running around like a chicken with your head cut off is a real term!) To one side of him is a pile of feathers. The street dogs wait in the front for the chicken guts and chicken head (street dogs eat well in India). Then the featherless, headless, gutless chicken waits inside the glass box until someone comes along to buy it, as the other chicken friends watch from the basket on the man's other side. How long does that chicken sit in that box...I am not sure, but all I can think of is how hot it is outside (who knows how hot in the glass aquarium) and all the chicken germs that where previously in there, and that salmonella is NOT my friend!
Yes, other volunteers do eat the meat here. Yes, many do get sick (is it the meat??) Many say the worst things is most likely the water. I have realized that I am the first one to follow what the guide books say, I have only had one iffy stomach day a few weeks ago. The idea a getting sick in India is worst than missing a food group in my opinion. I have loosened up a little on this trip and have been eating yogurt and curd, but only eat it at two restaurants that we regularly eat in. I did not eat any dairy on my last trip, due to typhoid. I still stay away from milk and ice cream, I am not that brave yet!
1. 80% of India's population is Hindu and are vegetarian.
2.Vegetarian does not have three choices on a menu in India and is not a "special" diet here.
3. It is over 100 degrees everyday and there is not refrigeration.
4. Meat NEVER comes in plastic. It is hanging on hooks on the side of the road.
5. There are more flies and crows than you can imagine (next to, above, and on!)
6. You know you are close to a meat market. First with your NOSE, then with your eyes.
7. All the chickens we see in the morning on hanging by their feet from bike handles and this IS everyday.
(Callie likes to believe they are up for adoption, she WAS eating chicken in India...Then she saw the chicken aquarium!)
Chicken Aquarium you ask...Yes, this is my made up Indian term for a glass box that is used to keep food clean India. The man sits on the side of the road with the chickens and the chicken aquarium. He beheads the chicken and hold them until they quit squirming (Callie also realize that running around like a chicken with your head cut off is a real term!) To one side of him is a pile of feathers. The street dogs wait in the front for the chicken guts and chicken head (street dogs eat well in India). Then the featherless, headless, gutless chicken waits inside the glass box until someone comes along to buy it, as the other chicken friends watch from the basket on the man's other side. How long does that chicken sit in that box...I am not sure, but all I can think of is how hot it is outside (who knows how hot in the glass aquarium) and all the chicken germs that where previously in there, and that salmonella is NOT my friend!
Yes, other volunteers do eat the meat here. Yes, many do get sick (is it the meat??) Many say the worst things is most likely the water. I have realized that I am the first one to follow what the guide books say, I have only had one iffy stomach day a few weeks ago. The idea a getting sick in India is worst than missing a food group in my opinion. I have loosened up a little on this trip and have been eating yogurt and curd, but only eat it at two restaurants that we regularly eat in. I did not eat any dairy on my last trip, due to typhoid. I still stay away from milk and ice cream, I am not that brave yet!
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