Nalitemwa ifya kulya! (I Love Food!)

Nshima on the right, okra on the bottom,
and fwakfwak (Chinese Cabbage-like greens)

Food—I love food. Really, I LOVE food! So, you might be wondering what I’ve been eating here; especially since I’m a vegetarian. Well, I am extraordinarily fortunate because I really enjoy nshima which is the main staple here. I guess you could say it’s kind of like the bread and pasta of Zambia. When I say that I’m extraordinarily fortunate, it’s really true since of the 115 days that I have been here in Zambia there are probably only six that I haven’t eaten nshima for at least one, if not two, meals. 



Nshima is usally eaten with some form of yama (meat), beans, and then greens or some other vegetable. Tomatoes and onions play a main role in the seasoning of food. The good news is that beans are a favorite food of mine and kale relishes are quite tasty. It also doesn't hurt that I associate theses meals with my childhood and the accompanying memories of aunties and the other workers at our home--I guess there's a bit of nostalgia tied into it. While the food is simple, it's satisfying and filling, and I have not, in any way gone hungry!

So, what are the dishes? I’ll start with the meals I eat with the girls.

Breakfast for the first half of my time in Zambia

Breakfast for the girls consists of a large slice of bread and hot, black tea. I don’t handle caffeine well so I skip that and just go with bread with chimponde and uchi (peanut-butter and honey) on top. Oh, when kotapela (avocado) were in season I was forever ruined by the most exquisite avocados I have ever tasted. Towards the beginning of my time there, I was also given milk, eggs, and cold-cereal with full cream milk! You can see an example of that meal on the right. Not only did I feel bad that I was eating something different from the girls, the egg and dairy just sent my tummy into acrobatic flips and my poor digestive system has a hard enough time anyways. Even though I felt awful, I finally put my foot down and said I couldn’t eat them anymore. 

The foundation of both lunch and dinner is nshima and occasionally rice which is then supplemented with other foods. Except for the nshima and beans, everything comes from our garden. In addition to the nshima we eat a lot of Chinese cabbage, rape (Collard type greens), cabbage, chibwabwa (pumpkin leaves), fisachi (ground peanuts with any of the aforementioned greens), and my favorite—kalembula (sweet-potato leaves). The main vegetable supplement is impua (bitter baby-eggplants that I prefer smothered in tomatoes and onions), tomatoes, egg-plant, okra, and, occasionally, green beans. When it comes to protein the girls eat beans three times a week and then sausage, fish or kapenta (little, dried fish), and inkoko (chicken), and meat pies that are donated from a shop in Kitwe for the other four days. Protein for sources for me are beans—yum!—occasionally soya pieces, and milk and an egg here and there—until I was no longer willing to pay the cost, which took me, unfortunately over a month of misery because I didn’t want to hurt feelings!

Frozen Mangoes from our own trees!

Something I missed dreadfully was fruit since mangoes and guavas are out of season and our citrus tree wasn’t yet producing—same thing with the bananas. The budget for food is so tight that there isn’t the ability to add, unless we grow it ourselves, fruit to the girls’ diet. Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore and ventured into Kitwe to get fruit from the market which was a small feat in itself. The girls, caregivers, and I savored every little bite of orange (two cut into 16 pieces), apple, and vwembe (watermelon). Another special treat was inshaba (groundnuts/peanuts), but they are unfortunately now out of season. The girls prefer them boiled or roasted, but I love them raw—which is absolutely mind-boggling to them!

Meals in Mwami were much the same with additional vegetables—green beans, potatoes, carrots, soups, fried potatoes, lentils etc.—added in. Auntie Mary also made incredible breakfast porridges with ground peanuts added to the rice and porridge. I also made Jungle Oats for everyone a couple of times which they enjoyed. A huge treat were the oranges that we had for each meal—yawama (“yummy!”).

Where have I run into trouble? In addition to the dairy and eggs, believe it or not the tea caused the biggest problem and not digestive reasons. People are astounded that I don’t drink tea in the morning. I don’t do caffeine (and those of you who have seen me when I do have some know why!) so that meant no black tea or coffee. I also don’t drink tea in the morning; it’s something I save for when I’m sick, cold-nights before I go to bed, or really rainy days where I wrap up in a throw and read a book. I brought a few packets of tea with me but when I finished it off things didn’t go over so well. In fact it was so bad with one of the care-givers that I resorted to drinking hot water with a bit of lime squeezed into it! I got less than approving glances but we’d found enough of a middle ground that she no longer harangued me about it. Unfortunately this repeated itself, to some degree, everywhere I went! For the most part, my vegetarianism was accepted though they were sorry that I was missing out on inkoko/nkuku (chicken) , imbushi/imbuzi (goat), inama (beef), and isabi/somba (fish)!

The only thing I really, really don’t like is delele (perfectly good okra that has been ruined by over-cooking, adding sodium-bicarbonate, and turned into a gooey, snot-like, texture-less mass—which some people absolutely LOVE; I’m just not one of them).

What do I miss the most—okay, fresh salads are definitely on that list, as are butter croissants, smoothies, and desserts—oh, and pizza (though I managed to get a fix toward the end of the trip). What just about sends me into tears is the thought of tabouli. Yes, I have sniffled over not having tabouli! I’ve tried to explain to the girls it’s like my nshima at which point they said, “Okay, we understand”!  I considered sending parsley seeds ahead of me to Kitwe but figured that wouldn’t be the best way to introduce myself. It seems I should have since there is hardly any parsley here, and they would have loved to eat real tabouli.  As is, I have carefully rationed out the bulgar wheat I brought with me (yes, I packed bulgar wheat) and made adapted batches of African Tabouli: Bulgar, tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, lemon, olive oil, and salt. The girls loved it too, so I must confess there were two nights where I mixed a batch up in my room and binged—yes, I can be a small person at times. 

Since the trip is coming to an end, I’ve decided to cook a couple of “foods [I] eat at home”; today we had pancakes, tonight I'm making a Peach-Orange Mousse, and I plan to make an apple crisp for the girls Sunday. Oh, and I just found out that Zambia has the best Pink Lady apples—who would have thunk it?!? Anyhow, they’re my newest addiction/special treat and I am proud to say that I am sharing—pretty much equally! LOL