This little Piggy...

A month or 2 ago we discovered what to me might be the bestest thing about Pemba. A butchery! Tucked away around a corner on the road leading into one of the local village markets stands a small building, a plain store front with only a cardboard sign advertising mineral water - there is no storename, and nothing to indicate that it is a butchery.

Inside the owner, a sweet little portuguese lady, deals with the crowds - she opens at 8:45am and usually by 10 all the good cuts of meat had been sold out.

Yesterday we decide to go buy some meat - she has a selection of beef, goat and chicken. We wanted some good 'primera' beef, or if that was sold out 'segunda' beef would be fine too.

Its cheap too, for 1kg of 'primera' its only $6, for a kilo of 'segunda' its $4.50. (well cheap considering that at the local restaurants a single steak would cost your $12...)

Well we arrived and found the store fairly quiet - we know we are kinda late, but we hope that the good stuff was still available.

"Tem Primera?" (Do you have Primera?)
"Sim"

Oh yeah!! She still has nearly 3kg of primera and we buy it all. We also buy 2kg of ground beef (some for us, some for our neighbor)

Just as we are about to leave, a truck pulls up infront of the store, and the driver comes into the store. In a whisper he asks us, "Do you want some PORK?"

Are you kidding??? Pork was next to impossible to find here in this largely muslim town and recently I had been dreaming about a good pork chop. Of course we wanted some pork! The guys quickly scans the area to see if anyone is watching. The coast is clear, and he holds up half a pig. "Front or Back?" - I pick the front "Chops?" - Oh yeah! "How much do you want?" - Everything!! :-)

People come into the store and quickly the pig carcass is hidden. They leave and the workers start cutting me my chops. The guys uses his body to block the view to the ferocious looking meat saw - If the locals found out that they were cutting pork on the same saw as the beef there would be some serious trouble!

Finally we get our chops (just under 4 kgs) for $3.50 and we head home VERY happy!