what we eat

We eat mostly rice or lipalishi (a corn-based staple) or samp (another corn-based staple) with stewed veggies ladled on top—lots of potatoes, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, celery, onions, spinach, cabbage, beets… your usual winter-crop variety. Delicious and fresh. And of course avocados, but soon they’ll be out of season. Sometimes we’ll have meat, but not very often. Tuna from a can, sometimes chicken. This country really loves to eat beef and chicken and meat in general, but we don’t usually prepare it in our own kitchen (it just doesn’t keep without a fridge). For lunch we’ll usually eat a sandwich—peanut butter and banana, tuna, egg) or rice/stew leftovers, and a piece of fruit. For breakfast we’ll eat oatmeal or cereal (corn flakes, muesli) or boiled eggs. We like to make popcorn in the evenings, and Jamie sometimes bakes something delicious and sweet for me—brownies or cookies. The grocery stores in Nhlangano are well-stocked, and the local gardens/farms are providing our host family with a good, fresh supply of basics (they’re among the fortunate homesteads).

Our diet here is, for the most part, seasonal; it will dramatically change when summer rains bring new and different veggie harvests and a wider variety of fruits. There’s nothing quite as enjoyable as eating from the family’s farm and gardens—when we get to our home in Zombodze, we’ll plant our own garden. In fact, we already have plots waiting for us at both the big community garden and at the OVC garden.

I like our current menu. I do, however, miss pizza. And Mexican food.