A little over a week ago, Scott and I journeyed to a store called Metro (much like a Sam’s Club or Costco) and got ourselves a bunch of groceries that we were desperately in need of.  The very exciting thing about our trip to Metro was that we found something that thus far has been in short supply for us:  Meat.

Meat is a bit different in Hyderabad.  For example, upon walking into the meat section (a gigantic freezer), this is what you are met with:

I could only find that small picture off the website, but if you have good eyes, you can see that it clearly says “lamb carcass” above there.  Its a bit disconcerting, but we handled it.  The poultry has a lot more neck than I’m used to on my cleaned and skinned chickens, and the skinless animals that I encountered could have been anything from pig to goat to dog, hard to tell really.  However, there was a good selection and variety, provided you actually know how to cook a whole lamb carcass or baby goat.  (I have no clue, in case you hadn’t guessed). 

I was looking for ground beef of some sort, as the kids were asking for something, ANYTHING with meat.  What I encountered was either ground buffalo or ground mutton.  I chose a bag (a freshly filled  plastic bag with a twist tie) of each so I could compare them.  The mutton looked just like the US ground beef, but the buffalo was much darker and um…bloodier.  I brought them home and promptly froze them for just the right moment (and because I had to psych myself up for the taste testing). 

Tonight was the right moment for the mutton.  It cooked up just like ground beef, looked just like ground beef, and, with taco seasoning, tasted much like ground beef tacos would at home.  Texture was the same, look was the same.  Kids didn’t know the difference.  But, because I had previously told them that regular ground beef was not easy to come by here, they asked me what kind of animal it was from.  I waited until they had eaten several bites and voiced their approval before admitting that we were eating sheep.  Thankfully, it didn’t faze them a bit, and they happily gobbled down 2 tacos a piece. 

Nothing here ever tastes quite the same, though.  Lettuce is a different variety and only seen occasionally at the corner store (that’s why tonight was the right night…lettuce was available).  Tomatoes are not really sweet at all.  The only cheese available was the very soft processed white cheddar hunk (but I actually HAVE a grater, so that’s ok).  Sour cream has thus far been elusive, so we used a very creamy, slightly cheesy dip, kind of a 2nd cousin to sour cream:  You can sort of see the family resemblence, but its rather vague.  So, as a result, the tacos did taste somewhat different than what we are used to.

The kids gave it a thumbs up regardless.  They did inform me, though, that it has not topped the previous “best meal ever”.  It seems that only unhealthy meals borne out of pure desperation make that list.