Off the Mark by Mark Parisi for September 01, 2014

This reminds me of a time, decades ago, when I was at a party at a Lebanese-American home. The hostess set a plate of raw meat down on the table, then walked away. I watched with alarm as a 4 year old little girl sidled up to the table, and began nibbling little pinches of what I thought was raw hamburger. “Oh, honey, you don’t want to do that, you’ll get sick!” She just smiled at me and kept nibbling. I hurried off to find her mother, and she explained it was ok, it was kibbeh nayyeh. Yes, they all had good, but indulgent, chuckle at my expense.