Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Food post #1!










I suppose the first part of a food blog should be seeing where the magic happens.  This is the kitchen!  Notice the lack of appliances, we have a coffee maker and that’s about it.  There is also a can opener, which is rare, but no vegetable peeler or rice maker and most devastating to me: no food processor.A typical fully stocked refridgerator.  Almost everything they eat is bought from the local market where people from the community man their tables and sell produce that they have made.  The milk and yogurt (not pictured here) comes from the school’s own dairy farm.


However, in Save when we stayed with the Benebikira Sisters, they put us up in a guest apartment that was clearly specially suited for Western tastes.  The most abnormal objects in the refrigerator are the several types of juice (they typically will drink only mango and ‘passion squash’), bread, apples, jam and the cheese. 

So let’s get back to the typical meal for Rwandans.  The first thing I noticed is people use their stoves much more than the oven.  In fact, the only time I have seen an oven in use here was for an American making her own food.  Another important feature of Rwandan food is absolutely nothing is measured, even for making rice!  This is likely due to the previously mentioned fact that there is little baking, but it is always surprising to me that everything works out.

Breakfast

Breakfast is usually a sweet drink consumed from a mug.  It is prepared on the stove and then put into a thermos to keep it hot for any stragglers as well as to remove the tea leaves by pouring the liquid through a filter.  The three options for breakfast are usually yogurt (a thin, drinkable form of yogurt), tea or porridge, but rarely more than one of these options.  In addition, people will eat a hot dog looking piece of bread and some bananas.

Porridge, another drinkable food.  Boiling water, hot milk and flour made from various cereals are mixed to create the consistency of thin applesauce.  Then people add as much sugar as they prefer, which is usually abundant for Rwandans.  I have seen people add 2-3 tablespoons of sugar to a single mug.  They told me they add that much because they do not eat dessert, so it is their only form of sweetness.  The sugar in the picture is raw sugar and it is the only type I have seen in the country so far.


Tea (about 60% milk and the rest water).  This is also served to the teachers everyday during break at school.  Rwandans love tea!  Again, people add abundant amounts of sugar to their mug.

Bananas used for snacking are typically tiny, as shown in the picture!

Lunch and Dinner

 


Bananas are a staple in Rwanda and there is another type, shown here, that is always cooked before eating.  It is the size of most bananas found in the USA but it is always green.  These are treated like potatoes and boiled or fried.  In the picture we are making ‘chips’ and frying them.




Final product!  You can see the banana chips in this picture.  There is also rice, a staple, as well as a flavorful sauce made with eggplant, carrots and cabbage.  Every meal is very starchy with at least two different forms.  Here it is ‘only’ the banana chips and rice, but they also commonly have [mushy, overcooked] spaghetti or cassava bread, which I will explain later.  It is interesting to me, because in Ghana there was a similar starchy consistency to the meals, but people tended to eat one large meal only.  Here people pile their plates very full for all meals.
Another example of a typical meal.  The sauce is made with eggplant, carrots, and peppers.  Avocado is on the side along with chips made from potatoes, so your run of the mill steak fries.  They are just as likely to boil the potatoes; it is only by coincidence that both plates have fried foods.


Here is dodo, which we went out to garden next to the house to cut and then brought it to use for a sauce.  It is great to eat green vegetables as seems to be a bit uncommon.  The leaf is consumed and is very flavorful, a bit bitter, similar to spinach, but with an herby flavor.  For this meal it was boiled and some groundnut (peanut) flour was added to the sauce.


We also had cassava bread to eat with the sauce.  Cassava flour is mixed with water and boiled together (all unmeasured, of course).  It is then stirred and stirred until it becomes the consistency of spongy dough.  It is difficult to stir so it is held between the feet to keep it still and two hands use the spoon.  I can think of nothing in the US that is eaten with this texture and I believe it is an acquired taste, but I had similar food often enough in Ghana that I really love it.  People traditionally eat with their hands to scoop up sauce rather than using utensils.


Cassava bread


Final product!
 The bread on the upper left is cassava bread, the sauce over the rice in the upper right are made with beans and cabbage.  Beans are very common here and eaten with almost every meal.  Rwandans do not approve of my portion size.  They are constantly encouraging me to get up and have more, asking if I do not like the food or asking if I wish to lose weight.  But the truth is, after a meal I am stuffed.  I don’t know how they do it!



Meat is rarely eaten in Rwanda.  It is more commonly consumed to entertain guests, so we had it often with the Benebikira sisters, but otherwise not more than once a week.  Common meats are goat, chicken, and beef.  We had fish once.  I believe goat is most commonly eaten of all meat. 

Miscellaneous: ‘groundnuts’ are a common, healthy, protein filled snack.  But now I want groundnut sauce (peanut butter) L  They had it at the Benebikira House in the Western accommodations and now I really miss it.  It is very expensive to buy here though.  A single jar might be $8.  However, I am begging my roommate to show me how to make peanut butter without a food processor, which apparently is relatively common.

And lastly is akabanga! This little gem is Rwandan hot sauce.  It is sold in containers about two inches tall and is dispensed with a dropper.  That’s right, a dropper, because so little is needed before your mouth is on fire.  In fact, we are advised told to wash hands after handling it to prevent from us burning our eyes if we touch them after using the dropper.

3 comments:

  1. You are an amazing writer and observer of life! Your photos are very good too! I loved reading every word. Please don't feel as though you must write such lengthy posts at any one time. Little nuggets will do. Just don't want to infringe on your time, but it is your blog, so whatever works for you! Many thanks for all you are doing. Look forward to your next report!!

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  2. Hi Kiddo,

    Now you have made me hungry. Hope you are ready to cook when you get back home.

    I noticed that your pictures do not have people in them (posing or otherwise). Would there be a reason why this is?

    Dad

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  3. I wanted to make the food post pretty detailed because it is hard to describe for me. Even I didn't expect it to be so long though!

    And yes, Rwandans are very sensitive about privacy and feel especially awkward and like they are in a zoo when rich white people come and post pictures to the internet for all to gawk at. However, today I did notice that some teenager was trying to snap a picture of me with his phone :p Maybe I should have done the same right back! For the most part they didn't really pay us much notice though, I don't want to be scolded for taking unwanted, rude pictures of people. I would not do that to Americans. I might try to get and post more posed pictures in the future though.

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