After the hunt comes the meal

From Len – November 10^th:  Yesterday we feasted on the armadillo that Rudy and I caught on Saturday.  I brought some spices, brown rice, frozen chicken, and the butchered half armadillo to Rudy’s sister, Charlotte, along with some huge cooking pots from the clinic.  She smoked the armadillo for a while before adding it to an East Indian curry stew.  She cooked over an open hearth while copying the armadillo recipe (though I doubt that she actually used a written recipe) for a chicken version of it. 

At around 5:30 the four students, and 10 Hillside staff and volunteers gathered.  Rudy and I regaled them with stories of bravery in the face of determined burrowing creatures.  I presented my fellow intrepid hunter with a framed picture of the two of us happily clutching our prey in the jungle.  And then we went into Abby’s House (the Hillside student dormitory) for our feast.



Armadillo stew downstage center.  Chicken stew upstage left



Betty, our senior volunteer nurse, offered a prayer that included thanks for “our mighty hunters”.  This mighty hunter cannot recall ever being so aptly described in the context of prayer.  And then we ate. And…. the armadillo stew tasted fabulous.  Really.  Honest.  It was great.  To be perfectly frank, I expected it to be not so good.  The most I was hoping for was edible, with an expectation of tough and tasteless (if I was lucky).  Though, if that was the case I was going to still act as if it was amazing.  But, and Sue and everyone there will attest to this, it was truly one of the most tasty meats we’ve ever eaten.  I’m not sure if it was Charlotte’s cooking, or its freshness, or the intrinsic taste of armadillo, but it was delicious.   Only two people at the meal had ever had armadillo before and all but the sole vegetarian were impressed.  Also notable was that based on the consumption I saw that a large armadillo could easily feed around 20 people one meal, or if you wanted to stretch it out by thinning the stew it could feed a family of four for well over a week.

For dessert, we had ice cream and fruit salad.  As you can see from the picture, the fruit salad was a form of armadillo that even our vegetarian was able to enjoy.  It was a wonderful day and it leads me to want to go back into the bush to bag myself another meal or several of my new favorite meat.



Two themes on "A Fruit Salad". Anyone want to guess who prepared these?