February 23, 2003 - Personal Web Page: Pick Pick'n Moldovan Style

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Moldova: Peace Corps Moldova : The Peace Corps in Moldova: February 23, 2003 - Personal Web Page: Pick Pick'n Moldovan Style

By Admin1 (admin) on Sunday, February 23, 2003 - 9:11 am: Edit Post

Pick Pick'n Moldovan Style



Pick Pick'n Moldovan Style

Pick Pick'n Moldovan Style

This page is really graphic, and was photographed with little regard for young'ns so if you don't have a fairly strong stomach and want to be able to get to sleep tonight *read*no*further*. You have been warned.

Pick Pick'n Moldovan Style

It was July 16th and i was sitting outside on my balcony and the dog starts to go wild, this man walks into the backyard with a rifle slung over his shoulder, strolls into the pig pen and i start to get the idea of what is going to happBANG! the piggy is dead. That was only the beginning of my pick picking experience kickin it Al a' Moldovaneasca!

P1010001.JPG Here is the guy that was toting the rifle, i didn't have my camera the night we did the main carving but i got it back the next day and caught him recovering from the night before (whether he is recovering from the work or the booze i don't know). They toasted to the pigs death, then to the skin munching, then drank some more wine to complement the pork rinds, then toasted to the completion, then had some to go along with the pork itself.

P1010002.JPG Here is the grab box/bowl. My host has been working all day further dissecting piggy into more manageable parts, when i tried to ask them about pickled pigs feet or chitlins they just looked at me cross eyed. If this ain't finger lick'n good i don't know what is!

P1010003.JPG Smile! here is piggy minus one ear (and a body). I actually approved of the way they killed it with a rifle instead up just cutting it and letting it bleed to death. Anyway i helped dehair and cut up piggy and as i did they would rip pieces of flesh (example the ear) off, dip it in salt and eat it on the spot, before it had even been cut open! Think "Pork Sushi". I had made it clear awhile back that while watching other people eat parts other than the actual meat didn't bother me i preferred to stick to plain ole meat. My personal preference for meat phased them none at all as they dissected the corpse taking little tidbits as they went.

P1010004.JPG This is the refrigerator, complete with fatback (my southern brethren might appreciate this) top, mystery meat middle and some organ on the floor of the fridge beside the tomato juice; Oops! I forgot (how could I forget) the soda bottle ful of "Vin" beside the mystery meat.

P1010005.JPG Here is some pieces of coveted fat, i wish i had my pork anatomy book with me cause i couldn't figure out what made this piece of fat so special.

P1010007.JPG Offal! Yep, despite the fact that they were munching on raw pigs ears and are *much* more efficient when eating poultry and other animals (they have told me they can tell when an American has eaten because Americans leave alot of good pieces... Americans *only* eat the meat) they weren't planning on using the stomach or intestines (maybe for sausage but this picture was taken after cooking in the sun for 12 hours so lets hope not).

As if fermenting in the sun for 12 hours wasn't enough, here is the same basket (no that isn't fried rice in the basket) brimming over with maggots two days later. I almost cried at the waste (and that is an American crying over waste), I begged the family to let me drag the basket into the chicken coop which would provide excellent protein (the maggots not the offal) and at least a day or twos worth of self perpetuating food... nada, they let it sit for another day for no apparent reason.

Well the basket of goodies (from a chicken's point of view) was killing me (i never professed to be normal) so i scooped about a liters worth of maggots out and sprinkled them in the chicken coop while the family wasn't looking. The chickens went insane gorging on the smorgasbord of pubescent flies. It started raining afterwards and they *still* (chickens hate rain) stayed out devouring the morsels. Of course the ulterior motive is that i passionately hate maggots, here the chickens were happy and the maggots weren't (mission accomplished).

I have dissected pigs before, fetal and full grown; have done my fair share of castrations and so on but despite that i proved of little help, apparently things are done a bit differently here (plus while i know they did it differently than i learned i also can't remember much of how to properly butcher a pig)... oh well until my next adventure.

Try out these other pages:

GAD Camp, GLOW camp, or "Dave's Sexy Summer Adventures in Moldova"

Some other good places (That other Peace Corps Moldova Volunteers made) are:

www.chadpfitzer.com & www.stephlozeau.com




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This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Moldova; PCVs in the Field - Moldova; Photography - Moldova

PCOL3183
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