Forodhani Night Market

If you ever go to Zanzibar and are wondering what to eat, my first suggestion to you would be to go to the Forodhani Night Market. It's pretty easy to find (it's on the waterfront in a nice park and many people go there when the sun goes down). There are a number of vendors selling: sugar cane juice, various seafood, Zanzibari Pizza (kind of like an omelet in chapati, but you can also get them with banana and chocolate/nutella), and many other things. The cost is pretty low and the food is pretty good. Here are a few pictures of the market at night:

Food. Part II

I already wrote about the foods that I have been eating here, so this post will discuss where the food comes from and how it is cooked.

Local Foods (Market)

The majority of the foods that are eaten here are grown locally and sold locally. There are not many large grocery stores (there aren’t many small ones either), so most food is bought in open air markets or in small dukas (shops). Tropical fruits are very cheap here (even with the inflated mzungu price I often get) and I’m really going to miss them (well, I won’t miss bananas, we get decent bananas back home). Generally, this reliance on local foods seems like a very good idea to me, though I’m sure here it’s done out of necessity rather than choice. Still, I think the food I eat is much healthier (i.e. it has more nutrients) than food from back home.

Imported Foods

Despite an abundance of local produce, there are still many places where you can buy imported and processed food. The majority of the imported food seems to come from South Africa or the Middle East (Oman has been seen on several labels). There are very few brands that North Americans would recognize (Coke, Pepsi, Snickers, etc.). My homestay family does not seem to eat a lot of process and/or imported foods.

Food Preparation

Cooking food in Tanzania is a very different process than in either Canada or Korea. There are no stoves or ovens here (at least none that I have seen). Usually, a family makes a fire with charcoal (in a special container whose name I’ve forgotten or was never told). The food is cooked in pots on top of the burning coals. Like many other things here this often takes a long time. Once, we made pancakes for one of the family’s here and we spent over 2 hours and only made about 25-30 very thin and small pancakes (but boy were they good).

Poetry Inspired By My Food

Ugali - A Haiku

ugali

white tasteless mush

given to me every single day

I hate it

Ugali, Ugali

Ugali, ugali

Why must you torment me?

What have I done to thee?

I only came to this place,

To help the human race.

But here is where I met you,

Now, whatever will I do?

Ugali, ugali.

Every day I hope to find,

Something that will put my mind,

At ease when it’s time to eat,

Maybe some rice, maybe some meat.

But here is where I met you.

Now, whatever will I do?

Ugali, ugali.

Every time I see my food,

I hope and hope and then I brood.

I hope that when the lid comes off,

There might be some stroganoff.

Or even plain rice would be fine.

But, no, those foods won’t be mine.

Ugali, ugali.

When I see your lumpy white mush,

I get the urge to stand up and rush

Right out the door and run away.

I hope that soon will come the day,

When I can eat real food again.

That doesn’t make me go insane.

Ugali, ugali.

You will be the end of me.

You don’t believe? We shall see.

Nutrients, where have you gone?

There are more of you in my lawn,

Than in this awful, awful dish.

Not eating ugali is my one big wish.

Ugali, ugali.

Why do you torment me all the time?

So much that I write so many lines.

One day I will be far from here

And my dinner plate will be all clear

Of you and all your kind,

And that will give me peace of mind.

Food in Tanzania. Chakula.

Breakfast
Since I’ve been here, my breakfasts have been pretty much standard fare, with some small variations. Every day we have tea. I’m not sure exactly what kind of tea it is, but it’s not bad. I don’t have sugar in it, but I think everyone else here does. With the tea I usually get some sort of bread product. Among the various things are: plain bread and butter, chapati bread, and mandazi (dense like a bagel, but sweet like a donut, and in the shape of a ball or square). Lately, I have started topping my breakfast up with some peanuts bough from local stands.

Lunch and Dinner
The second and third meals of the day vary a bit more than the first, though often they are the same on any given day. Generally, there is some sort of starch. The two main ones are rice and ugali. Ugali is described as “dense porridge” but looks like mashed potatoes (or rice cakes) and doesn’t really taste like much. It can be filling and good if it is accompanied with something tasty. It is definitely not my favourite but it is sufficient when you’re hungry. I know my colleagues on Zanzibar have not had the pleasure of having this day in and day out (I can’t believe they’d complain about having rice every day) but I know Melissa and Nicole are not fond of it.

Usually with the ugali or rice there is some sort of vegetable. Often it is beans and spinach (or some other green, leafy thing). Cabbage and carrots or tomatoes sometimes make an appearance as well. Occasionally I get some sort of meat. Most often it is fish or beef, though I think I had chicken once.

Every now and then, I will get something without rice or ugali. I got potatoes in a tomato sauce once and then got cooked bananas another day.

Usually the later meals come with fruit. Usually this is bananas (if you’re wondering, the day I had cooked bananas, uncooked bananas were the side – I won’t be potassium deficient for a while), but I have also had oranges and watermelon, and Nicole and Melissa have had papaya.

Eating Out
Often I cannot make it back to my homestay for lunch, so we eat at a local restaurant. The options are a bit more varied than home. We can get chips (which are basically potato wedges) on their own or cooking in an egg. We can also get some meat on a skewer (not quite the same as the street meat in Seoul, and a lot of it is really just fat), as well as the same foods we have at home, with a bit more variety in the vegetables (and sometimes the meat is cooked in a tomato sauce/salsa).

There are a few places to get more gourmet food, but that is mostly Indian or Chinese and we haven’t had a lot of that.

Drinks
Though I can’t remember the last time I actually bought and drank a whole pop back home, I have had quite a few here. I have become somewhat addicted to Mirinda (made by Pepsi). It’s basically fruit flavoured pop (called soda here). My favourite is Pineapple, which incidentally I had for the first time my second last night in Korea. Other than that, I basically stick to water, which – if you buy it in the 12L jugs - is super cheap, though a bit heavy to carry.

Snacks
I had originally brought several clif bars and other snack foods, but alas, they were stolen so I have had to improvise. I can get small crackers and the above mentioned peanuts for really cheap and am currently looking for other snack foods to help supplement my diet (hopefully nutritious ones).

All in all, the food here is decent and I’m getting by. I definitely have to remember to take my multivitamins (I actually just replaced the ones that were stolen from me – and I got ones with ginseng from Korea – 18 months there without trying it and it takes me going to Tanzania to do so). I’m not starving by any means, though a bit more variety would be nice. I shouldn’t complain though. I feel healthy (surprisingly I haven’t really gotten sick in the almost three weeks I’ve been gone) and this is only temporary. Some of the food is even very enjoyable.

Karibu Morogoro!

Written: October 3rd, 2009

Before I begin, I should note that free time is at a premium here, and often I have other things I need to do to stay sane, so I am sorry in advance if I miss some time. I will do my best to keep people up to date, but if my schedule this first week is indicative of my future schedule, the entries may be less than stellar. I will try my best though.

I guess it has been a while since I last wrote (not including the previous entry which I probably posted at the same time as this one. A lot has happened since then. To keep things interesting, I will use this post as an overview and then go through one by one the major things about my life here.

We (assume I mean Nicole, Melissa and I, the three YCI volunteers here) arrived in Morogoro on Wednesday night and were brought to our homestays. I will be as honest as I can. My first impression was not one of being happy about my situation. I'd be lying if I said this was the worst place I've stayed, but it is definitely the worst place I've stayed more than a few days. The house is basic, though we do have electricity (when there is not an outage), running water (sometimes, I think only in the mornings, but I have not asked). I have a bed and a lock on my door. I also have a fan (not the first night) to keep me cool while I sleep. The Hilton it is not, but I should be able to survive here for the next 7 weeks (me having already completed my first week... well almost). The facilities (i.e. the washroom) are not what one would hope for, but I will say that it's suprising what can seem normal when you don't really have a choice.

The family I am staying with is very nice, though basic English is a bit of stretch. Still, I am learning a bit of Swahili and we understand each other mostly (my Swahili-English dictionary comes in handy often). The food they make me is edible and tastes good. I probably won't be seeking it out often when I return, but I am pleased. There is a strong emphasis on white bread and white rice, but surprisingly I am feeling mostly healthy and energetic (this might be the multivitamins at work).

Mosquitoes are numerous (I've killed 7 today... I really should have started with a tally), but they don't seem to bite me. One of the other volunteers (not sure who) has a theory that the malaria pills make me less enticing. Any medical professionals (or soon to be medical professionals – I know I should have both reading this) want to comment? I've been bitten a few times, but so far I have had no signs of malaria, yellow fever or Japanese encephalitis (or any other mosquite-borne bugs).

Morogoro is definitely very different from any other city I've lived in (since I get this question a lot, you'd think I'd have an easy time explaining things, but I don't, so specifics will have to come in bits and pieces over time). Some big things that are noticeable: 1) No traffic signs (rules?): for those of you who live(d) in Korea, this place makes Seoul look like a well ordered city when it comes to traffic. And they drive on the left, so I'm always forgetting which way to look for traffic. Hahaha. It's all ok though. 2) Buildings are very basic. This is hard to elaborate, but as I post pictures, you will see over time. 3) There is sand/dust everywhere. I have to clean my feet when I come home. 4) People talk to/greet each other much more often than those in any city I've lived in. Honestly, there are more differences to list and I could probably write a blog post on all of them (maybe I will if I have time, tough I think that is unlikely.

As for what I did the first few days in Morogoro. Orientation and tours of where we will do our projects was the first order of business. Things are coming into focus and I've actually been assigned some of the projects. The only ones I'm not doing (see the post about the projects) are the Secondary School HIV/AIDS club and working with the older PLHIV kids (though I probably will help with them). I will be busy planning I think, but it does look like I will have a good time and be able to use my skills to help people. There will likely be much more (perhaps I'll do a very in-depth post on each project I am working on) at a later date here.

We have met many people here (I have forgotten most of their names) but as time goes by, I'll probabl do formal introductions of all the important people in my life here.

As for now though, this post is getting way too long (congratulations if you managed to get this far). Sorry, but I don't have many pictures of Morogoro now (you'd understand why if you were here – more on that later), but I will try to get some shortly (the post after this will have some). Thanks for reading and keep on keeping on!

Tutaonana! (See you later – yes, I am a language snob, get used to it).