A Traditional Food Experience

This Thanksgiving week is also a week of Albanian holidays! (None of which are Thanksgiving, by the way. I'm definitely gonna miss waking up to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this year!) November 28th is Albania's Independence Day with schools and the government closed, so at least it will feel normal for Americans to celebrate a holiday, too.

Various parts of Albania were ruled by different nations at different points in history, from the French, to the Germans, to the Turks. A great deal of variety exists between cities and villages, which means that each city represented in our squatter community celebrates different religious and cultural traditions. Last weekend the Albanian family with whom I used to live invited me to celebrate a holiday of theirs celebrated in their northern village.



An older sister from out-of-town came with her husband and father-in-law to eat dinner with us, as well. Each person was first served a plate full of food including baked fish, beef, byrek, fried potatoes, olives, cheese, and bread. After working on those plates for a while, we were served a bowl of sheep meat cooked in oil. I was so full of other food that I couldn't eat much of the sheep meat. Plus, it's a new taste that I am still not very accustomed to yet.

Then something else I wasn't accustomed to was brought in: the entire sheep's head, cooked. Since my dad is a hunter, it's not the first time I've seen a dead animal head. It just isn't our tradition to eat any part of the head. The head is a delicacy in northern Albania, however. They cut it straight down the middle. Half is served to the head-of-household and half to the male guests. Llesh is the father of the house and loves to help me feel like part of the family, so he asked if I wanted to try any of the sheep's head. It would have been totally okay for me to politely decline, because they know I'm not a fan of the organs like heart, liver, or kidneys. I wanted to be a little adventurous, though. It also helped that the electricity was out, and I couldn't see what I was eating very well. I forewent the tongue and instead decided to taste the brain. It wasn't exactly a pleasant experience in my mouth, but I successfully fought off the gag reflex and got it down.

Now that sheep brain is in my arsenal of new tastes, I think I deserve a very American Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow of turkey, mashed potatoes, veggies, and pumpkin pie!