Here it is, the long awaited food blog.
The food here really isn’t bad. If there is one qualm i have, it would be the monotony of it. We have the same thing for breakfast every day, and only about 1/3 of lunch changes, and 1/2 of dinner changes. For example, we have potatoes, rice, these weird African dishes, and rolls every single night for dinner, guaranteed. The quality itself isn’t bad though, and when we have a Brie (barbeque), or lamb, it’s actually really good. I’m very fortunate though, considering that I am fed three meals a day, is pretty amazing, and really frees up time for other things (like working more).
As far as weird things I’ve eaten, sadly there is nothing too crazy that I know of. A lot of times I’ll look at something that looks like it came from Fear Factor and ask what it is, but will be told “beef.” Now, no one knows what part of the beef, but it came from somewhere in a cow, hopefully…
What i have had is:
Gizzard – A part of a chicken’s stomach that grinds food. It’s actually an African delicacy here, given to guests of honor, or heads of house. A chicken goes for like $10 here, which is actually more than the states from what I understand, and this is for a country where the average income is $200/year or so. Something of note, in many households in this part of the world, women aren’t allowed to have any of it, as it is reserved for the men. However, in our restaurant everyone may have as much as they’d like, both men and women. Kind of cool for a lot of the locals who eat here I think.
Ugali (sp?) – Now, this is the most African thing I have had so far. The Ugali is actually the white, starchy stuff, made from Maize. It’s pretty bland, but is supposed to be good for you. The green stuff is cassava, which is grown a lot around here. It’ll really miss with your stomach if you’re not used to it, but the black Africans have it all the time. It’s primarily East African, hence why the South Africans don’t eat it. I got mad respect for trying it from the local guys, but that was definitely a one time thing until I can get used to everything else.
The rest are pictures of just the typical day-to-day stuff. I’d say 2/3 is pretty ‘normal’ for us, and the other 1/3 is pretty African/European. Lots of custards for desert, lots of bread, and then a bunch of starch.
This is Ugali. It’s really weird, it’s just Cassava leaves, but it’s still the weirdest thing I’ve knowingly had so far.
This is a typical breakfast for me.
The weird peach colored thing is potatoes.
The meat pictured is lamb.
1/2 of our option for breakfast. It would be much better if the milk wasn’t warm, probably the nastiest way to eat cereal, second only to the yogurt that Swedes put in their cereal. Sorry family, I’m all for the mother country, but that’s weird.
Fish and something, if you close your eyes it’s pretty good.
More of what we have for breakfast
Dinner, meatballs, onions, potatoes, green beans and rice.
I took this on my way out to the field. I was told the cow was being lead to the kitchen. So, at least it’s all fresh, lol.
I took this in Kisanga. Their maize is not like our corn, it’s very starchy. It is actually somewhat filling compared to our corn, though I don’t really know the health benefits, or lack thereof. If anyone would like to private message me who knows, I’d be very appreciate, as this is a main staple here.
Well, sorry I couldn’t provide some crazy stories of eating strange animals, but I’m actually kind of glad to be well fed instead. It’s been sort of slow recently, but I’ve got enough for another blog post in a few days. I’ll also try to have a post in the next week or so where I talk about my friends here so far, and show any pictures I have managed to sneak of them.
Thanks for reading! Let me know if you have any requests, or questions.
