The Ethiopians' love of raw meat goes back many centuries. In Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1773, the Scottish adventurer James Bruce claimed to have seen three Ethiopians wrestle a cow to the ground, slice two steaks off its rump, patch the wound, send the bewildered beast on its way and consume the meat on the spot.

Chunks of raw meat, called gored gored, are traditionally served at weddings, along with awazi, a sauce made from t'ej, red peppers, garlic, ginger, onion, cloves, cinnamon and other spices. In addition to the standard cake-cutting photo, wedding albums usually contain a shot of the happy couple putting the knife to a side of raw beef. Gored gored is also found in restaurants such as Habesha, on the road to Bole Airport.