When I learned that Willie was in charge of picking up the pig and preparing it for our Wards Thanksgiving feast I asked him if I could help.
And when I said help I meant tag and long and watch. He knows me. It was all good.
And so I did. I tagged along with Willie, his brother and his two cousins to a Pig farm in Mangilou.
It was in the middle of no where.....down in the jungle. And when we got out of car it stunk to high heaven. SOOOO gross. Ugh.
I said hello to the piglets on the way to see the pig Willie and his father had chosen.
They shot it and dragged it out to hose it off. I won't lie. I was disturbed. I didn't watch it. But I heard the gun shot and so did the little piglets.
Then they loaded it into the back of Brother Alberts truck and we headed to the church.
(Travis, JC, Langston, Nolan, Dan)
The process actually began earlier in the week. Willie and some young men dug a big pit near the church. Then on the morning of thanksgiving they built a fire and covered it with special rocks that they found in Yona.
The next step was to burn off all of the fur with a blow torch. They burned it and scraped it all off with knives. It took quite a long time and wasn't easy to do. I know this from watching them. Tyson came to help and he brought Lydia over to the church to check it out too.
Tyson took a turn with the torch.
The Lafferty boys held on the pigs legs while Brother Albert sliced him open.
He did not use any gloves. No big deal.
He pulled out the organs one by one and showed them to us. I actually thought this part was very interesting. We saw the heart of the pig. Dun dun dun.
The lungs.
The intestines were HUGE.
And then he pointed this out and it about broke my heart. The big was not a he, he was a she and she was pregnant. This is the placenta and you can see a whole litter of pigs. Sad.
Nolan cut open one of the sacks so we could get a closer look.
I headed home after this.....I needed to shower and get cooking my side dishes for the feast. While I did the pig was placed on a metal grate, wrapped in foil and placed over the hot coals. Then they wrapped the pig in banana tree leaves and threw a big old rug on top of the pit to keep the heat in.
He roasted in there for a few hours and then everyone arrived and came to see the unveiling.
They used bamboo sticks to carry the grate to the table. I thought was a clever idea.
And here is the roasted pig.
I liked seeing everyone's reaction.
Mr. Pig even got Snapchatted.
It was quite the process and I'm grateful that I could "help," I mean give them moral support in all of their hard work.
Are you wondering if I ate any?
I couldn't. I just couldn't. I love ham, bacon.....but I couldn't. Tyson brought me some on a plate and encouraged me to have a taste and I think I might have thrown up if I put any of it in my mouth.
This day didn't turn me into a vegetaraian or anything that drastic. I have since eaten ham and bacon on more than one occasion. So call me a hypocrite or call me something,,,,,but I didn't eat this guy. I mean girl.
Waaaaaah. So sad.
Happy Thanksgiving.
1 comment:
Very interesting but sad. I don't think I would have eaten it either. I enjoyed seeing all the pictures of the process. Thanks for sharing.
Post a Comment