Let's Talk Food

 

A couple of nights ago,  I was at meeting with many of the wonderful volunteers that work with Hands of Hope.   They were eager to know of our adventure and for us to share first hand how the  projects that they helped to raise money for were being used. (http://www.handsofhopeonline.org/ )

There were so many questions and as I listened I realized again how very hard it is to put yourself in another persons culture especially one that is so very foreign to us.  On the flip side the Zambians from the Western Province have no clue on how we live either.  Beside living many thousands of miles apart we are equally as far from each other in life styles and expectations.

Americans are blessed with food.  We have grocery stores loaded with shelves, carrying the same product but different manufactures trying in some way to convince us that theirs is best.  In my area we have grocery stores popping up that are like 'food' department stores.  The produce, the meat, to all of the canned goods, the items are showcased and staged like a fashion show.  We can basically get every fresh fruit available to man kind, not to mention fresh vegetables and herbs. These blessings come to us any time of the year.  We can get fresh cut flowers, sushi, and meals 'to go',  all under one roof. In some stores grand piano's set the mood for something much more than a food store. Nothing remotely close to our poorest convenience store or tiny neighborhood grocery store or outlet is in Zambia.  Nothing.

I knew from other travels that I should have no expectations of what we would eat.  That was a very good mind set as one goes into Mongu.  But knowing in ones head that food was going be quite different and experiencing the reality of different food are two different things. Adjusting to food and liking the food are also two different things to grapple with.

My last post told of the awesome discovery of the 'bread lady'. I also shared that I too bake bread.  I also grind my own wheat or grains or even corn when I bake. This is not so impressive as one might imagine.  I have this wonderful strong electric grinder that turns even the hardest of grains into fine powder/flour in short order.   With my awesome tools and a desire to know more about 'grains' this whole masa/corn for every meal intrigued me.  As in my last post I came away humbled and grateful for the blessings in my life. What I do is a hobby and for pleasure. What these people experience is a very hard life, just hoping to eat each day.

Food in Mongu is quite simple. Not healthy but simple.  Masa/Maize/Homony/White Corn each of these words describes the main staple in the Zambian diet.  It is cooked in water, not always clean water, whatever water is available.  It is boiled and seasoning was not part of recipe. Masa is grits with no flavoring.  It is eaten by hand,  most often ground by hand.  It is in the most remote village and in every restaurant. Even the chickens eat it.  Later we eat it with chicken :).

The white oval mounds were my first exposure to Masa.  Every restaurant serves it just like this, 3 oval mounds. It is eaten with your fingers, you scoop your vegetable or your meat along with the masa

I was allowed to cook in one of the villages we visited.  This village was a larger compound and this was a community 'kitchen'.  We were part of a celebration so to the left you will see a second pot of 'stew'.  Beef is not a normal part of their meals, this was being prepared for us.  The Masa pot is set over hot coals. 

These are the ladies that invited me into their kitchen.  They were so much fun to be with. 

This is just a village lady preparing to cook her masa.

A young sister is feeding her brother masa. Soon after everyone was back to work.

 







In the photo's below you see how masa/maize is ground.  Take a kernal of popcorn, triple the size and you have the property of maize.  The shell is very hard and grinding is tedious when done by hand. I only played with this for a few minutes but I will admit I am grateful that this not my every day task! The pestle is heavy and the mortar made from what appeared to be stone.  To feed a family their daily supply of food requires a lot of hard work.


However, in one of the villages we visited, progress had been made.  Through a micro finance loan from Hands of Hope technology had come to the bush!  This simple, simple area that were visiting had a business!  They owned a 'hammer mill'.  It is loud, it is messy and it is awesome!  


Everyone uses, needs and grinds their masa!  When a village has a machine that will grind it, hours of time is saved daily for the women!   The cost to own this machine is several thousand dollars and the micro finance loans allow individuals to serve their village and surrounding villages.  A business is born. 

Business is done here!

The cost to use the mill is based on the weight of the product.

 As Americans we know that the food value of corn is weak.  It is a grain with few nutrients.  As you sit down at your next meal, note one that you are 'sitting' at a table, in a home with a floor.  As you sit down and you have a variety of food on your table or at the very least something other than ground corn pause and give thanks.  Your simplest meal is a feast to most of the world.

Farming looks might easy when your plow is a pencil and you are a thousand miles from the corn field.  David Eisenhower