The butcher shop.

Tonight, I unwantingly found myself in a butcher shop. I will not be visiting the butcher again. My stomach is still churning.

Allow me to ruin your dinner by settting the scene. In Italy, food is bought daily. You go to the cheese store for cheese, the bread store for bread, etc. Guess where you go for meat? Yep, the butcher store. Since everyone tends to go at the same time, you grab a number when you walk in the door and wait for your turn. This provides ample time for you to peruse the goods. Ignorantly, I think I'm prepared to enter the butcher store. I've been around the meat section at the supermarket before, right? I can handle this. We go in and lucky for me, the line was rather long. There are many kinds of meat lying around - unwrapped and out in the open. No problem, I've seen similar things before. Then, there is an animal that is staring at me. It is fully intact with eyeballs and all, just no skin. "Ummm...what is that?" I ask. "Oh, those are cats," the person I'm with answers. "Here in Italy, we eat cats." Now, I'm not very fond of cats and would usually think this was funny, but in this situation - not so funny. Of course, he was teasing me and upon closer inspection I could see their little ears and even a little fur left. Rabbits. Ewww.

I had already noticed, but was trying to avoid looking, at the man in the corner. Since I have to avoid looking down at the rabbits, I have to look up and there he is in clear view. The butcher. In front of him is a large animal hanging from a hook, by what I'm guessing used to be his legs. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORE! The man is wearing a blood-stained apron and has a sharp knife. He will cut for a second on the animal and then literally hang on the meat to rip it off. When it's off he throws it to another man who is slicing and chopping and putting it out to sell. That's right, straight from the animal to your table people. I mean, I know this is how you get meat, but is it necessary to put it out there for everyone to see?

To make matters even more disgusting, everyone is doing everything with bare hands. This means touching meat, touching money, putting things in bags, handing things to customers - bare hands! Ewww again.

It's at this point in my butcher shop visit, that my stomach and I agree we can take no more. I feel it starting. It's the "I'm about to get sick" feeling. I tell the people I'm with that I will be outside. The fresh air and a few deep breaths and I manage to hold it in. Several hours later, and my stomach has not settled completely. I'm thankful that there are many pasta combinations that do not require meat. I don't know if I can go back into one of these here butcher shops. I'm very thankful for Annie. She graciously volunteered to buy all of our meat while we're in Assisi. Right, Annie? Right? ;) Per favore?