Daily Food

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Kovas writing…The food here is different, along with everything else. For one thing, one drop of tap water could give us explosive diarriah. Because of this we have to boil and filter our water. There is no stove here, so we must use hot plates. Also, because we are at a high altitude, it takes a really long time to cook. We are constantly boiling water on the little hot plate.

The question isn’t “Are you hungry?” I’m always hungry. A better question is “Will you be hungry in an hour?” Ethiopians eat a lot of meat, but our family is not eating a lot of meat. They hang up the meat outside with the whole carcass. People come to the little stall, the butcher hacks off a portion from the carcass and gives it to the customer. We have not ordered meat this way, but we have purchased small packets of packaged meat from the expensive supermarkets.

Originally we would not have had a refrigerator, but because we have to keep insulin cold, we were lent a mini fridge by VSO. Bummer that it only came at the end of the second week. At the market the main foods that are seen are onions, potatoes, garlic, lentils, beans, carrots, and corn. The corn likes just like our corn, but it tastes completely different. It is hard, starchy, grainy, and pale. It was a surprising shock to our tastebuds. Prepared food does exist here, but it is imported and very expensive. The biggest supermarket which is about half the size of a small Trader Joes. We buy fresh bread and bananas every day. We have eaten lots of ramen, eggs, onions, and peanut butter. Chocolate is a treat, but milk is a delicacy. The “trail mix” here is called gollo. Trail mix usually contains raisins, peanuts, M&Ms, and granola. Gollo contains grains, nuts, and some more weird grains. In America the picky eaters usually pick out the M&Ms, but here we pick out the nuts. We’re learning not to be picky eaters.

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Comments

[Asta Cuplinskas]

Juxtaposition
Labas, Kovai. Don't know if you see this on your screen, but the Google ad beside your entry reads, "How to lose stomach fat." Wow, it's pretty clear from your entry why not every culture has this "problem," or even perceives it as a problem!

[Viki]

Carcass?
Kovai, so at what point to you think your dad will break down and buy half a carcass, haul it over his shoulder and bring it home to make some mouthwatering ribs? Your posts are so intereresting; thanks for writing them! You are very missed.. we print of the blog entries every weekend and sit around the kitchen, reading them out loud. Hi to everyone.. myliu.