two year tripThe nomadic Mongolian diet consists almost exclusively of the animals they herd, and the dairy products they make from their animals’ milk.
While on the 9 day tour of the Gobi desert, we were offered the chance to see how these remote people kill and prepare a goat for food and materials. Our group clubbed together and bought an (unlucky) male goat which was then slaughtered, skinned, butchered, and cooked for us by our host family.
“Hi there, I’m not really that tasty..”
We weren’t sure how we’d feel watching an animal being killed, as neither of us had seen it first-hand before. We were relieved to witness an apparently very quick death of the goat, with no bloodshed, and we weren’t immediately compelled to become vegetarian either.
Here’s a short video of the whole process which is mostly still shots, but does include footage of the killing itself which I mention in case you’d rather not see it.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x46iPUVuUTY]
Still Another Goat Joke:
The Deep Hole
Two guys are walking down a road when they come across a deep hole beside it. Being curious, they go over and check it out. When they look down, they are surprised to find they can’t see the bottom. So they drop a couple of rocks down the hole and listen… Nothing. One of them says, “Man, that’s a deep hole!”
Thinking they might hear something larger hit the bottom, they find a big, old cinder block and pitch it over the side. The pause and listen intently… They hear a sound, but it is coming from behind them! They quickly turn around to see a goat bearing down on them with it head lowered, flying along, its feet barely touching the ground, its moving so fast!
The two men dive out of its way just in time and the goat plunges past them, into the seemingly bottomless hole, to its doom. The two look at each other and say, “Boy that was close! We’d better get away from this thing before we end up with the goat!” .
So they continue on their way down the road until they happen across this farmer working near it. The men again put their heads together and figure that the goat belongs to the farmer and the decide to tell him what happened.
“Hey Mr. Farmer. Do you happen to own a goat?” , one of the men asked.
The farmer replies, “Yeah, why do you ask?”
The men then tell what happened at the hole and how they narrowly avoided death in the hole from the speeding goat.
The farmer said, “Well boys, I don’t think that was my goat. You see, my goat is really old and crippled up with arthritis. There is no way he could have been moving that fast. Besides, I have him tied to a big, old cinder block.”
One More
What’s for Dinner?
The young couple invited their elderly pastor for Sunday dinner. While they were in the kitchen preparing the meal, the minister asked their son what they were having.
“Goat,” the little boy replied.
“Goat?” replied the startled man of the cloth, “Are you sure about that?”
“Yep,” said the youngster. “I heard Dad say to Mom, ‘Today is just as good as any to have the old goat for dinner.’
Oh dear, what have I started.. ;o)