“So, how was the food?

I’m thinking about food a lot lately. That probably wouldn’t surprise most of you, because I love to cook and definitely love to eat. But I’ve also just finished two great “foodie” books that were laying around the guesthouse – Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential and Bill Buford’s Heat – both highly recommended. And I’m just getting ready for bed after my best Malawian meal yet, hands down. So I thought this might be a good time to get down some thoughts, in preparation for the question I most often ask people when they return from international travel – So, how was the food?

I’ll start by telling you about this meal in particular. Dr. Miller and I were invited to dinner at Dr. Kalilani-Phiri’s house, just a few steps away from our College of Medicine guesthouse in Blantyre. Dr. Kalilani is a young female epidemiology professor, born and raised in Blantyre, who did her PhD in epi at UNC-Chapel Hill under Dr. Miller. She splits her time now between teaching and HIV research in Malawi, and her husband and home in Cary, NC.

We arrived at her lovely house to see a large round table, in the middle a huge wooden lazy-susan covered with enough dishes to feed 10! The starch staple in Malawi is called nsima, its made from corn. Imagine white grits, but ground very finely, and cooked into a dense paste not unlike very very thick mashed potatoes. You then pick up a spoonful of the nsima with your fingers, roll it into a little ball, smush the little ball into a patty, and use it to “pick up” whatever meat/sauce/vegetable you’re eating. Try picking up a chunk of beef stew using only a handful of mashed potatoes, and you’ll see it doesn’t work all that well. Honestly I ended up making such a mess I had to go back to the trusty fork and knife. Its funny, when you’re a little kid, your parents try to make you use utensils and all you want to do is pick up the food with your hands. Tonight I was so relieved to get a fork!

Along with the nsima, we had a sort of beef stew, white rice (yay carbs!), sauteed pumpkin greens, red beans cooked with tomato and onion, another Malawian green that we don’t have in the U.S., itty bitty whole fish cooked in a yellow curry-type sauce, and roasted chicken. For only three people! Dr. Kalilani swore otherwise, but she must have been in the kitchen all afternoon. A word on Malawian chicken – its fantastic. Every preparation I’ve had has been delicious, and I’m discovering its not because of any brilliant combination of spices, because I’ve been asking. The chickens themselves are small and scrawny and a million different colors, and they run crazy on the streets, darting in front of cars like squirrels do back home. But I guess because they’re not bred to death and force-fed to be huge, they’re naturally flavorful. Really, they don’t taste like any chicken I’ve ever had back home. OK, enough words on Malawian chicken.

As is the case anywhere, your best bet for buying good produce in Malawi is to buy whats in season. For right now, the winter/dry season, that means avocados the size of footballs, greens, apples, cabbage, tomatoes, some eggplant, tangerines, bananas, and pineapple. Summer season (U.S. winter) brings mangoes, which apparently you can buy by the bushel for about 25 cents. I also buy staples like wheat bread, jam, peanut butter, and eggs. Milk is ultra-high-temp pasteurized and comes in itty bitty 500-mL cardboard containers, which lasts me about forty-five minutes. Things like cereal and oatmeal are extremely expensive, as are most packaged goods, most of which come from South Africa.

What do I love about the food here? I’m actually a pretty big fan of nsima, and all the tasty sauces you eat it with, but I try not to have it too often. I love that you can get 20 huge avocados here for the price of one dinky little Hass at Harris Teeter. I love that mid-morning and mid-afternoon tea has stuck with the Malawians as a tradition long after the British ceased to run the show, and the native “official” tea, Chombe, is really tasty. And I love Cadbury Mint Crisp bars and Pineapple Fanta – which you can actually get in the States…but I don’t think they’d be as good. I think what I like most of all is knowing where my food is coming from – whether they’re greens and zucchini from the market or eggs from the guy around the corner who sells eggs, or the goat from our front yard. Haha OK, Mr. Delicious hasn’t met his end yet…but all the UNC ID big-wigs are coming into town for a meeting and barbecue so I think his number may be up soon.

I guess I’ll be pretty embarrassed if this is my longest post so far, although I’m not surprised. But I think you can learn a lot about a culture from observing what people are eating and how they eat it!

OK, time to rest and digest :)

meg