Meet the Meat

While in Athens we went to the meat market. It is a bit different from the sterile, saran wrapped way we procure meat in most of America.

Here the goats are split down the middle and shown with internal organs intact to prove how fresh they are. There are baskets of livers, tables of heads, lines full of plucked chickens that still have their heads and feet.

Goat heads anyone? The butchers are standing by in their bloody aprons with huge cleavers ready to chop off whatever you wish from that side of beef, or perhaps carve you some pork chops. It was fun to watch the older Greek women poking at the meat and haggling over the prices.


The most interesting thing though was the rabbits. They have been skinned except for their feet and tails which still have fluffy bunny fur. I couldn't tell if they had been gutted or not - I think not.

I couldn't help wondering what happened when your average Greek woman arrived home with the bunny. Did she cut off the feet and hang them in the kitchen to dry for good luck? Was the rabbit cooked with the head on or off? Did they have a specialty made with the internal organs? Things to ponder.

UPDATE: We were talking with Willy, who we met at the hotel on Paros, and she says that the reason they keep the fuzzy bunny feet and tail is so that you are guaranteed the product is indeed rabbit and not cat. Yes, apparently it is difficult to tell the difference between a skinned cat and a skinned rabbit and butchers now find it necessary to guarantee that they are selling the real thing. Now we know.