Lamb Chops Don't Grow on Trees

WARNING!!! If you are the type of person who might be saddened or hurt by a story of animal sacrifice you may want to avoid this blog post. There are no graphic descriptions or photos, I just know that this may be hard for some people.

For the past week Erin and I have been on holiday in Ankara and Konya. It was great to get out and explore different cities in Turkey. What made this holiday special was that we went with our friend Zeynep to visit her family, we had a Turkish tour guide. In Ankara we visited Ankamall and Anıtkabir, both great sites to see when in Ankara. While these are both great places to visit, neither of them make the top story from this trip, that award goes to the experience of kurban (an animal sacrifice with the intentions of having good fortunes in the next year.)

About 2 weeks ago near our house there appeared some new wood fences and slowly different animals started to fill the pens, sheep, goats and cows. "The Sacrifice Holiday" was coming. 

When we committed to visiting Ankara and Zeynep's family she excitedly informed us that her sister purchased a sheep that would be sacrificed so that we could be a part of it. "How will you feel about this?" She sensitively asked.  "That will be a new experience..." "How will you feel about me crying? And throwing up?" Erin wondered. Luckily Zeynep said that is is very natural to cry over the lost life, and that no one would be offended. (Or call Erin a little wussy pants.) Phew.

Let's be real.  We aren't naive. Although we are both life-long meat lovers we are well aware of where meat comes from. But as Americans that don't own a farm, we aren't used to seeing the meat go from walking around in the form of a fluffy animal to "mmm-mmm-good" in an afternoon.

But in the name of learning about new cultures and having new experiences... off we went to the sacrifice grounds, which looked like the animal barns at the fair (for good reason: I have heard many similar stories of 4-H and FFA raised animals being sold by a tearful child). We found the sheep with our number spray-painted on the side and a man drug it off to the area with the butcher. This is where Erin bowed out of the witnessing, not a surprise for someone who once had to be consoled while her father killed a juniper bush in their front yard. So with her head down and my arm around her I guided her through the area where the sacrifices were happening (of course the path to the exit only passed by the sacrifices) and past the truck full of sheep heads and pelts to an area that looked like a butcher shop, much easier to take. I went back just in time to hear the man call our number, watch the sacrifice and then see a little of the aftermath. While our sheep died peacefully, others did not. It was hard to handle for more than a minute or so. I too went to the makeshift butcher shop to comfort Erin.

There's one DEAD sheep in those bags

Stage 2 of Sacrifice Day: Meat Party (conducted on the kitchen floor with large knives and techno music). Of course when you butcher an animal there are extra "parts" left that us grocery store carnivores are not used to dealing with.

The discovery.

Looking Oh-so Turkish

As you can see Erin found these things and had to ask "will you eat those?" This led us on a conversation about how different organs are used to make soups and yes, they do eat those. In fact Zeynep exclaimed "I hella like testicle soup!" (a potential contender for this blog's title). So although they hadn't planned on eating them that night they cooked up the sheep's testicles and Erin and I bravely sprinkled some salt on them and took the first bite. For those of you who are wondering they tasted like an extra tender chicken breast.

Surprisingly tasty.

Funny enough, none of the Turkish people jumped in to take a bite with us.  Instead they made nauseous faces and asked us how it tasted.  UHHHHH.... was this some sort of Fear Factor practical joke!?!?! Make the silly Americans eat sheep testicles?!?! Apparently some people eat balls, just not the ones we were dining with.

Less than a year ago we were sitting in Roseville for Thanksgiving beginning to hatch a scheme that would lead us to quit our jobs and move to Turkey. I knew life here would be different but who knew we would be starring in a Turkish version of a gross out reality show? Yea for new experiences! 

Note: For those of you who, like us, are wondering about the practice of ritual sacrifice, this is what we understand: this holiday is really about making a sacrifice of an animal while praying for good fortunes during the year. Since the blood of the animal has been shed, the blood of the family won't be. Once the animal has been sacrificed the meat should be shared with friends relatives and those less fortunate.