Tasty Big Lizards

Before church started today Tanom our beloved Thai partner brought in a treat...a big lizard, probably about 6-7 pounds worth, very pretty. It both amuses and upsets us when they kill these animals to eat. It upsets us because we don't understand it, these wild creatures look beautiful to us, we'd rather raise them. Yet, this is a way of life for people here, and all over Southeast Asia, they eat stuff we don't, period. It also amuses us because we still can hardly believe all the different things they eat. It would be exceedingly rude to try to "lecture" them about it, so we gently show our feelings by smiling and saying how we feel sorry for the animal and wish we could raise it instead. Tanom's daughter said to me today in the kitchen, "It's not an animal to raise, it's an animal to eat!" Someone else said, "It bites!."
We wish we could just buy them a chicken instead, but they would rather eat lizard. If we were raised here, I'm sure we'd feel the same.