Food with a Capital “F”

While we’ve made an effort to update the Food File (see right), we think it’s necessary to say a few words about the general food situation.

The classic images of famine many of us associate with Africa don’t necessarily apply to here, but that’s not to say malnutrition isn’t an issue. Put in the simplest of terms, the culinary options are boundless and only limited by the unyielding stubbornness and/or indifference of the locals. We eat very well while just about everyone else eats the same three meals every single day. They choose to eat Pate (essentially Elmers paste, corn flour suspended in boiled water through 2 solid hours of stirring) with a primarily tomato paste sauce seasoned with powdered chicken stock and palm oil. This stuff is just awful, fills you for the sake of filling you. The Beninese also eat that and In'game Pilet, which is only a slight improvement over pate as it was at least a tuber to start with. The gigantic, furry potato that is an In'game, when petrified in a large wooden mortar by two mamas using pestles the length of golf club. Usually served with the same red sauce as well as a couple of pieces of fried wagashi cheese (ricotta with the water -- and flavor -- pressed out).

That said, we're eating well seeing as how we know what we're doing a bit in the kitchen. Our first week here in town Steve had a bunch of time on his hand and the 1964 edition of the Joy of Cooking, which he proceeded to read cover to cover. It was a great primer for cooking here because a) it traded in ingredients at there most base level and b) there were far fewer of the kitchen gadgets available so the tools involved are available locally.

Overall, eating tons of fresh tropical fruit, using the In'game in the millions of ways one uses a potato, and the meat is so fresh I have to wait for the cow to finish bleeding out before I can order (making things better, because they over-cook everything, all meat is priced the same. 1400 francs for a kilo, regardless of cut. Put another way, we can get an 8oz filet minion for under a buck.)

All in all, we’re having the most success with meals that actually come from our traditional family recipes. With the ingredients available, most traditional Jewish and Norwegian food can be reasonably replicated.