I can't understate how much there is to say about farms in Namibia. It is a HUGE part of the culture here.
Farms here are pretty special. They are the livelihood of so many people (owners, and also workers and their families who are quite poor) because farming is a major industry in Namibia and an even more major industry in our region. Namibians love their meat, and South Africans and Europeans love their Namibian meat so a large portion is exported there.
So many people we meet have their own farms. And if they don't, then many times they work on them. And with all the wide open space here, farms are ENORMOUS. About 5-6000 hectares a piece enormous.
The farmers we meet are the happiest people, very successful, and express really high satisfaction with their work (especially after the record-breaking rainy season recently experienced!). They often describe a peaceful connectedness that comes with spending a day or weekend checking on things at the farm. It's the dream of many Namibians, even full-time teachers or principals / part-time farm-owners, to quit their teaching jobs so they can farm exclusively. They just love it.
And again, it cannot be understated, Namibians LOVE their meat. Beef, goat, and donkey especially. If you ask a Namibian what their favorite food is, 99 out of 100 will say "meat." Just "meat."
Have you & Kevin eaten goat or donkey meat?
ReplyDeleteKris likes curried goat. Don't think he's ever had donkey, though.
ReplyDeleteI saw a Bizarre Foods episode where the host visited a Namibian desert tribe and they cooked the whole goat, hair and all. Ugh! But yes, I did get the impression that meat was a huge favorite. : ) The markets where they grill all sorts of meat were a real draw.
Well as we said in the post, the favorite food of Namibians is "meat," just "meat." It often doesn't make much difference what kind it is! So many times, we don't know what exactly we are eating either! But we are pretty sure that the meat we have had here has consisted of beef, goat, sheep, donkey, and chicken. Oryx and kudu also. And with the former four, we haven't taken notice of too much of a difference. Guess we are "integrating!" "Billtong" (jerky) of many varieties is also popular.
ReplyDeleteAnd while we have noticed that our neighbors take part in every process of preparing meat to eat, from slaughtering to cooking, we have fortunately never seen the inclusion of hair/ feathers in the final product. But we do know that, perhaps except for the hair/ feathers, just about every part of the animal is eaten. This seems to exclude from the knee of the animal down, the skull, and other bones, all of which Patches proudly finds and brings home (outside!) to enjoy! Lucky dog..!