Meaningless Insight #3: Food

Food was one of those unknowns when coming to Malawi.

I'm pretty sure people assume that I am over hear eating berries, nuts and monkeys.

I mean... when I first got on the plane, I didn't really know what to expect either.

The reality is... I don't really eat "Malawian" food all that often. So, I'll give you a little rundown on what I eat pretty regularly, as well as what the typical Malawian diet looks like.

ME

On my first day in Malawi, I did what every other short-termer does in their orientation... go shopping. I expected that going "shopping" would be a nice stroll through the market to get some veggies and then perusing through the stock of animals to decide which one I would kill for dinner.

Oh no... this was not entirely the case at all. No one prepares us for the culture shock that always ensues. Blantyre has two well stocked grocery stores. Just when you get off the plane ready for this rugged experience of a lifetime, you walk through the doors of Shoprite and Game... your eyes get really big and head starts spinning. All around you, there are swarms of white faces, diligently selecting their items from the shelf.

Game is the name of the department store type place. It's a little pricey, not gonna lie, but you can pretty much get most things. They have computers, digital cameras, stainless steal cutlery, washing machines, and Doritos!

So, basically I'm not really doing without a lot. Granted there are a lot of things that we enjoy at home that simply don't make it over here on whatever boat it comes on, but there is enough. There are much less processed foods here. So, a lot of my cooking starts from the ground up. I love cooking now!

I do frequent the local market pretty often though. You just can't beat the fresh veggies and experience that you get at the market. I just love it!

For breakfast, most days I eat toast and some fruit or something. But, a few days a week, I will make some French toast and even pancakes from scratch. YUM!

My dinner is always interesting.

For a while, I was rockin' the spaghetti about 3-4 times a week. I was getting good at it too! Then, I expanded my horizons a bit and started trying other things. I eat rice a lot. Over half my meals have rice in them somehow.

I also do a little baking here and there. Never knew how to do that. But, I've made: banana bread, cookies, cakes, corn bread, ect.

Some of the funnier things in the food selection are:

Potato Chips: A lot of our food like that comes up from South Africa. For some reason, you just get really random flavors. My first time to shop, I bought a bag of tomato flavored chips. GAG! I ate like one, and out they went! But, some that aren't bad are: chicken and thyme, spring onion, sweet thai, and lightly salted.

Milk: it comes in a box... or a bag. Take your pick.

Also, cheese is really expensive. Oh how I miss cheese. And it even stinks more that you can't really ship it... so, it's not like I can tell people to send it to me.

Another thing you have to get used to is using the British terms for foods:

Cookies: Biscuit
Ground beef: Mince
French fries: Chips
Chips: Crisps
... and the list goes on and on...

Malawian

In one word, you can sum up practically the entire Malawian diet... NSIMA.

This is what most people eat day in and day out... occasionally substituted with rice.

So, basically nsima is kinda similar to grits. It's made from corn flour, mixed with boiling water... rendering a playdough-like patty (see picture at the top of the post). It's virtually tasteless.

You pinch off a chunk of this, using your "natural utensils", and mold it around in your hand. Then you dip it into whatever sauce you are eating with it and chow down.

Usually, Malawians make a tomato and onion based sauce that goes with it.

With that, you can have goat (mbuzi), chicken (nkhuku), beef (ng'ombe), fish (nsamba) or beans (nyemba).

Then, on the side they usually cook what they call relish or ndiwo. It's just leafy green veggies that are chopped up real small and cooked with tomatoes and onions.

Although there are slight variations on this, that's basically it.

Another Malawian favorite in the drink arena is: Thobwa.

This is basically corn mill fermented in water for a while, and just before it turns into beer, they drink it. I tried it once, but I didn't think I would be able to keep the second sip down, so I passed.

In the morning, people eat a slightly more liquid version of nsima, which they call porridge. It's got a little sugar in it.

A few other observations that I have made are that, as a whole, Malawians love two things: sugar and salt!

As a health guy, I usually just turn my head when I see that someone is about to sweeten their coffee or salt their food. If I don't turn my head, I usually open my mouth and start preaching about how that's gonna kill them. Which they are probably thinking is ridiculous considering the other things that they have to live through.

There you go... food.