Food For Thought

I had forgotten that I had told Emmanuel on Friday that this was going to be the week that I tried new food during lunch.  So no rice this week.  Ugali is the traditional food eaten in Tanzania.  It is a maize product that is cooked until it is cakey and then served in a big ball.  I think it’s highly appropriate to start my food excursion with Ugali.  My general first impression is that it is really filling but absolutely tasteless.  Having a dry, mealy consistency, even dipping it in the sauce it comes with does not really help the situation.  I do suppose that no taste is better than a bad taste.  The fun part about Ugali is that there is a traditional way to eat it.  Having learned the right way to wash my hands before lunch came in really handy.  The traditional way to eat Ugali is with the right hand only and to use only your hand, no utensils.  I’m not gonna lie, it was awesome (but a little difficult since your left hand is not allowed to touch the food at all)!  

Ugali

After lunch the entire office cleared out.  Apparently everyone had appointments outside of the office so I was left all by myself.  Because it is so quiet anyway, I barely noticed.  It is certainly a different atmosphere from where I have worked in the past.  Since everyone had left already, when the internet became temperamental and shut down, I decided it was an omen telling me to leave a little bit early (which is allowed).  So at 4:30 I locked up and left the building.  I grabbed a daladala (the right one this time!!) and was happily surprised that I was the only one on it and so I grabbed a prime spot next to a window right by the door.  Even though the bus was not full and there were plenty of empty seats, a lovely woman came and sat next to me and started talking to me.  This is beyond exciting since even though everyone says mambo or habari to you as you walk down the street, I had yet to have a proper conversation with someone and usually everyone keeps to themselves on the daladalas.  She was a delightful woman named Margaret and works in the Bank of Tanzania and sells cosmetics on the side.  She was very engaging and I almost missed my stop but since this time I had told the conductor where I needed to go, he made sure I got off.  All in all a very pleasant daladala experience and I hope to have many more of those (maybe I should leave work early more often J

So yesterday was my turn to cook and since my repertoire of recipes is not that extensive, spaghetti Bolognese was on the menu.  I went to a new supermarket down the road from the bus-stop and found all the ingredients I needed that I couldn’t get at the vegetable stand around the corner.  With my shopping bags in hand I wandered back to the house.  Olaf invited his colleague, Sunday, who is also a lawyer, to come for dinner so the pressure was on.  Thankfully I kept expectations low!  As luck would have it, as I was trying to boil the water the gas stove ran out of gas (after nearly burning my eyebrows off on ignition).  So no spaghetti.  We did stick with an Italian theme and ordered pizza instead.  Perfect!  We had a wonderful time discussing all types of interesting subjects, including the law, politics, movies, and so much more.  A truly memorable evening (even without my culinary extravaganza!)

Today for lunch I tried chips mayai.  This is an omelet with chips (potato wedges) cooked into it.  This was right up my alley.  Initially I had said I was going to try the banana stew today but now I have to admit I was not quite feeling brave enough for that today so it’ll have to wait until tomorrow.   I also took a picture of this delightful meal as you can see.  Notice how the egg is really white- that's because the yolk in eggs here is really super pale.  Explain that.  There is also a picture of the actual “restaurant” where we have lunch.  Notice the name- Careen Café.  I think that’s kind of appropriate!  My new phrase for today was nina njaa and nime shiba (I am hungry and I am full).  Those are very important for me to know.  Anyone who knows me knows that nina njaa will become a permanent fixture in my vocabulary J

chips mayai



My regular lunch spot



On a side note.  There is some strange bird outside the office that is making a noise very similar to a squishy toy.  Not sure what that’s all about.

Since our internet is still on the fritz this will be a long update.  On the plus side, I do have the pictures uploaded and they are included so you can get a visual of all the lovely food I’m getting to try.  Yesterday I really did cook and although some of the ingredients and I exchanged some profanity, all in all a successful experience.  To my surprise, Olaf had gone to market and bought a ginormous bag of fruit which he intended on juicing in his magnificent juicer- just make sure the waste cup is in position or it can get quite messy.  What I’ve learned from this is that it takes a gazillion pieces of fruit to make a small amount of fantastic juice (so totally worth it!)  We mixed passion fruit, mango and avocado.  Healthy and delicious, I could really get used to this.  When I move out, the juicer may have to go with me!

passion fruit and mango

Yesterday was a quiet evening and we watched Kick Ass.  Now that is a movie I had imagined being completely different.  It was honestly a little disturbing but hugely entertaining.  I actually thought it would be funnier, imagine my surprise.  I won’t ruin it for anyone but again, not for the faint of heart. 

As for plans for the weekend, those are starting to take shape.  Since I have yet to actually go into Dar city center, that is on the list for Saturday.  The thought right now is for me to rent a bike (thank goodness I don’t have to ride Olaf’s again.  I feel sorry for him already that he’ll be riding it!) and ride with Olaf and Sunday to Dar center where we cycle around and then take the ferry to the beach.  Sounds like a pretty good day to me (really anything involving beach is going to be alright with me!)

At work I have been working on a brochure about female genital mutilation (FGM) and have to say that some of the stories you read are so heartbreaking.  The fact that this is done for no other reason than tradition is unfathomable given the psychological and physical damage it does to the victims of FGM.  Tradition is also something that is very difficult to argue with.  I am noticing that much like with religion, tradition is so deeply rooted that the idea of there being something different that might be better is inconceivable. 

Today I finally tried banana stew for lunch, known as ndizi (In my quest to learn Kiswahili I have found that it really is about wrapping your tongue around a lot of consonants you are not used to putting together but end up making very pretty sounds).  It was surprisingly good.  I will post a picture of it tomorrow.  It doesn’t appear very appetizing but in this case looks are deceiving.  I was telling Emmanuel that I ugali was not on the top of my list of favorites and he told me it was all about the sauce and vegetables you eat with it so he told me to have it again somewhere else and I would probably like it better.  So not to be disheartened, I will absolutely try it again (somewhere else).  So far, so good on my excursion into different foods- no weird side-effects (yet).