Warning, not for the squeamish animal loving vegetarian! Strap your seat belts on my Steemit friends and get ready to see food at it's most real! You like hamburgers? Chicken wings? Ribs? Filet o' fish? a Pork Chop? How about a little pepperoni on your pizza? Well, something's got to die to make that happen and here at Four Apples Market in Guayaquil Ecuador they make no bones about it! Pun intended :)
While conversing with a butcher as he gutted a pig he went on to explain that he's been doing this for forty years! This is how things are done in most of the world. There is no plastic, there are no people saying eeeew, no, I don't want to see the head. Things in this market are raw, old world, and quite frankly how I like it and this is what I've gotten used to over my eleven plus years of travel.
To respect your food, and know your food, for me is to appreciate your food. The world of hot pockets, TV dinners, and canned soup I left back in the states a long long time ago. When I cook for myself from Cambodia to Nicaragua processed food comes in a bag of chips or a box of cereal and is normally imported from my country; land of of the obese home of the diabetic.
I believe the separation between food and people back home in the USA has done nothing but have a harmful effect on the health of my country men. When clean raw meat is looked at as gross and unfavorable as one finishes off a bag of cheeze doodles made from GMO corn and god knows what else. I believe that is a problem all in itself.
In these parts of the world this real meat and produce not only is sold in this form, it's also incredibly affordable. You can get beef bones at fifty cents a pound and make some the healthiest most nutritious soup that will literally keep you going all day, for less than half the price of a two litter Pepsi.
A side effect of what I'm describing is that people here are generally healthier than people of wealthier countries. I believe this to be true because quality meat and produce is more affordable in their country and they often cannot afford to eat any other way. There for not only is buying this quality meat and produce their only option, learning how to cook is a must. That alone brings a whole other relationship between the people of this country and their food. Then you compare it to the American and their relationship with the drive through window. It really makes you think doesn't it?
So I love the realness of shopping at a place like this. I've learned all the cuts of meat on all the animals in English and in Spanish. So here at this market I'm right at home. I know to come early in the morning and what to ask for. They cut me the piece of meat right from the dead animal's hanging body, and I'm on my way. To me it's no different than coming home with something I just got at Walmart.
Quite frankly it literally is no different. When you come home with a piece of meat that you selected at your local supermarket. Guess what? It's no more or no less equally a chunk of dead animal flesh just like I buy here at this market. I must admit, it just looks a whole like nicer. Now I'll get off my soap box I hope you didn't mind this little rant. I guess I'm a bit more passionate about this topic than I realized ;) On that note. Let's have a tour, and see what's hangin' in the Quatro Manzanas Mercado in Guayaquil Ecuador!
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With over 11 years of travel experience I answer travel and international lifestyle questions. Leave a question in the comments and I may make a Steemit post just for you!
