What's for Dinner....Raw Meat!

The Ethiopian people are very friendly and hospitable. In fact, during our time in Ethiopia, every time that we went to a person's home, we were asked to eat--injera. In an effort to turn the tables around, we decided to take two orphaned children that we know and their social worker out to dinner. We thought the two young girls would ask for pizza, chicken, or something other than Ethiopian food, since we were paying the bill. To our surprise, they wanted something even more traditional than injera--Kitfo. What is Kitfo? Raw meat! Yes, Ethiopians are notoriously passionate about raw meat. Kitfo comes minced, like steak, with spiced butter, curd cheese and wedges of false banana. Oh, don't forget the injera; no meal is complete without injera! The two children showed their affection by feeding us some of their injera. Generally, Ethiopians of all ages show their affection for each other by gathering a handful of injera with Kitfo, in this particular case, and putting it in your mouth. This is typical for many Ethiopians to do and is a a display of friendship and being a part of the family.