01/12/2020
Not for the faint-hearted, one of Ethiopia's most popular delicacies is cubes of raw red meat. Two people typically order half a kilo of tere siga to share, which is eaten with injera or bread to clasp the meat you carve off the raw slab, and dipped in copious amounts of mitmita.
One of the stories about how Ethiopians developed a love of raw meat is that it was developed as a military tactic during the 16th century so fighters could avoid detection by not having to start fires to cook their meat.
While most Ethiopians seem to suffer no adverse effects from eating tere siga -- the majority avow it makes them feel on top of the world -- eating raw meat does carry a relative health risk. This ranges from tapeworm to salmonella, though this author hasn't experienced any problems post-tere siga (though if one is concerned after a trip to Ethiopia, a simple tablet available from pharmacies can be taken to neutralize any tapeworm risk).
