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Like most state fairs, at Minnesota's you can make a meal (or even more) out of things served on a stick. There are your corn dogs, of course, as well as drumsticks, cotton candy, and popsicles. You can even get bacon-and-cheddar mashed potatoes on a stick.
But this year, as Minnesota Public Radio reports, there's something new being served up vertical: camel.
"It's the food of kings," Jamal Hashi tells MPR. A native Somali, Hashi runs Safari Express, a food stand in Minneapolis, but he's currently manning the eatery's outpost in the International Bazaar section of the fair.
Served kebab-style, Hashi's camel tastes a lot like bison, he says. "It's a very, very lean meat...it's high in protein, and it doesn't have any of the gamey taste you would imagine from other game meats."
That's most likely because the camel he's serving isn't wild; it actually imported from a camel farm in Australia.
But serving up this Somali delicacy smack-dab in the middle of a quintessentially all-American milieu isn't just a publicity stunt for Hashi. He says that by bringing some of his beloved East African fare to his new country, he's hoping to change American perceptions of his war-torn homeland, even if just a little bit.
"Somali culture is a very welcoming culture; that's what we're all about," he says. "There have been so many negative things that have been going around."
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9-03-2010 @2:45PM Anne Voloshin said... Isn't it enough that you stuff food down a goose's throat to make his liver bulge so you can eat foie gras and kill a beautiful alligator for a taste of his meat as an appetizer and hunt wild animals for trophies and little bunnies for fur. Now camels, what's next. This is a sick sick society. We can't even treat our food animals humanely at slaughter, cows, baby cows called veal, lamb another baby, piglets, it's all so sickening. Do you really need more protein?? Eat a nut because that's what you all are, nuts.
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9-03-2010 @3:47PM Carla said... You know, many people are slowly making switches here-and-there in their diets to soy-meat-products, rather than something that comes from an animal. I have eaten soy-"chicken" strips many times, and they are delicious. However, there are times I like to eat meat as well--- if I could find good soy sausage or bacon, I would buy it. You aren't the only person in the universe (as you seem to claim) who wants better, but it's not really on you to judge everyone else, either.
9-03-2010 @3:47PM Don said... Anne my dear, please remember there is room for all God's creatures. Right next to the mashed potatoes and gravy.
9-03-2010 @5:56PM Renee said... Amen Don! I've never tried camel but would if given the opportunity. I see nothing beautiful about an alligator and gator-on a - stick is delicious! Deer are beautiful and rabbits are cute but they look much better on my plate. I was raised on wild game and don't regret a bite of it. I'm not particularly found of people killing for sport; just to have something to hang on the wall, but if you're goning to eat what you kill I'm all for it. Oh and by the way....every tried Rattlesnake? It's awesome!! and no it don't taste like chicken.
9-03-2010 @6:56PM Dave said... Anne what about all the beautiful plants you murder just so you can eat .
9-03-2010 @3:03PM Marvin said... It sounds tasty.I hope it makes it to a fair near me.Alligators aren't really what I would call beautiful,just a large, gnarly lizard(and also tasty). If a nut eats a nut,does that make them a cannibal? :D
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9-03-2010 @5:10PM joe said... Blah, blah, blah, blah...bleeding heart idiots. If you don't want to eat meat, wear animal fur or leather...feel free. It is none of your business if the rest of us do eat & wear animal products farmed for that purpose.
And if you think an alligator would think twice about chomping down on your silly ass because you think they are sweet, get real. People who live in areas like Florida can tell you how dangerous they can be especially now that there numbers have grown so huge.
I guess you've never heard of the food chain. Just be grateful that you are at the top of it and are able to avoid other meat eating preditors.
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9-03-2010 @7:08PM Catherine said... sadly I do not think people realize the food they are consuming. I didn't know about CAFO's until a week or so ago. I am totally sickened. I believe if they knew they would not purchase and be outraged and demand grain fed humane farm animals. Certified Humane raised and handled. Not caged never seeing the light of day, being injected with hormones, antibiotics and not enough room to turn in its cage. That is not how I visioned farm animals. Check out Farm factorys and make your choice.
9-03-2010 @6:15PM Anne said... Wow, I never expected to be called out like this. I should have had some of my vegan friends make comments too but it's really not worth their time and energy. If you really think you have to eat something like veal, that is taken away from it's mother shortly after birth and raised for a few months in crates, mostly standing all the time, then slaughtered for your veal parmigiana, the next time you eat it think of how you got it. Don't even get me started on Dairy Cows and pregnant pigs. By the way, I've lived in Florida for thirty years and often see alligators sunning themselves on the golf course. So far I haven't been chowded down on, as you put it. Thanks for reading this.
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9-04-2010 @6:59AM dude said... Change the perception of his war-torn homeland???? You eat freakin camels.
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9-03-2010 @6:36PM omraee entertainment LLC. said... Camel if it's inspected by the USDA and FDA why not try it.
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9-03-2010 @6:45PM Rick Badman said... I ate camel when I was in Egypt in 1983, It tasted like the leanest beef I had ever eaten. If it were served in a sandwich, I would suggest using peta bread and serving either one lump of camel or two inside.
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9-03-2010 @7:22PM DocFox said... I wonder why vegans visit such sites. You can eat what you want. We worry about how animals are treated but not the homeless or other bigger issues. God created a wonderful world full of many wonderful things to eat. You can limit yourself, over indulge and get fat and unhealthy or somewhere in between. Personally, being diabetic I eat a lot of protein. My internal heath is good (a car accident ruined my back, neck and head), my cholesterol is good. I would try camel if given the chance. But I would not force a vegan to try it. Are there not enough vegan sites?
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9-03-2010 @8:22PM Anne said... The next time you eat a slice of prime rib on the bone, or a filet, or lamb chop or even a lobster, they all had faces and brains at one time. See Time Magazine, August 16th issue, title: "What Animals Think" New science reveals they're smarter than we realized.
Don't have to tell me thery're not smarter than you guys. Bye.
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9-04-2010 @9:37AM Joyce Buckley said... I am not into eating any protein which is not farm raised for consumption. I do not to expand my palette to include alligator, turtle, rattlesnake, octupus, etc. Primates are rapidly becoming extinct in Africa because they are regarded as bush meat. Why aren't THEY eatting, farmed, sustainable camel? Famous Somalia exports = Pirates & Camel on a stick...oh goody!
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9-09-2010 @11:25AM donna said... Anne sure left in a hurry...must be going to round up some of her Vegan friends....so they can go on a rant like she did...what a fool!!!
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