Nshima
Every meal in Zambia is virtually the same. There are the "relishes" - the meat and vegetable of the meal, and nshima. The 'meat' is usually kapenta (dried baby fish), beans, eggs, soy pieces (believe it or not), or very occasionally chicken or beef. Interesting selection. The 'vegetable' is rape, cabbage, sweet potato leaves, or cassava leaves. Imagine stripping the leaves off of a branch and frying them up until they're a greasy, stringly blob of green substance. I am not exaggerating when I say that this is an exhaustive list of the foods eaten in Zambia. I enjoy eating, so this lack of variety has been a bit of a problem for me.
The difference between eating here and eating in the US is that we eat for pleasure. They eat out of necessity. The finer points of flavor and texture seem to be lost on Zambians, if it's salty and provides the bare minimum of nutrients it's good enough for them. This fact is most apparent when you look at the filler food of the meal - nshima.
Nshima was described by the Peace Corps in my useless information packet as "corn porridge." In reality it is the consistency of grainy modelling clay. It is flavorless, colorless, and as far as I know virtually nutritionless. It's corn flour mixed with water and boiled until it gets that perfect rubbery texture, and is served as a gigantic (sometimes half of a soccer ball sized) mound. It is served so hot that the center of this mound is approximately the temperature of the Earth's core. No utensils are used. You grab your little lump of food substance off of the mound, roll it into a ball in your hand, and pinch up some delicious relish off of your plate with it and put the lot of it your mouth.
I have no real problem with nshima. It's like vanilla ice cream - the flavor (or lack thereof) is so inoffensive that you can't actively dislike it, you just prefer tastier things. Zambians, however, have an unhealthy obsession with the stuff. They think that it alone is what gives them strength to make it through the day, that it is delicious and soon there will be Zambian restaurants peppered all over the US, and that an ability to pack it down by the kg is a sign of virility. The truth of the matter is that they eat so much nshima that they have little room for any more substantial food, which serves the dual purpose of ensuring that they get full and that they'll be able to stretch the little meat they have for a few more days. Sad but true.
The difference between eating here and eating in the US is that we eat for pleasure. They eat out of necessity. The finer points of flavor and texture seem to be lost on Zambians, if it's salty and provides the bare minimum of nutrients it's good enough for them. This fact is most apparent when you look at the filler food of the meal - nshima.
Nshima was described by the Peace Corps in my useless information packet as "corn porridge." In reality it is the consistency of grainy modelling clay. It is flavorless, colorless, and as far as I know virtually nutritionless. It's corn flour mixed with water and boiled until it gets that perfect rubbery texture, and is served as a gigantic (sometimes half of a soccer ball sized) mound. It is served so hot that the center of this mound is approximately the temperature of the Earth's core. No utensils are used. You grab your little lump of food substance off of the mound, roll it into a ball in your hand, and pinch up some delicious relish off of your plate with it and put the lot of it your mouth.
I have no real problem with nshima. It's like vanilla ice cream - the flavor (or lack thereof) is so inoffensive that you can't actively dislike it, you just prefer tastier things. Zambians, however, have an unhealthy obsession with the stuff. They think that it alone is what gives them strength to make it through the day, that it is delicious and soon there will be Zambian restaurants peppered all over the US, and that an ability to pack it down by the kg is a sign of virility. The truth of the matter is that they eat so much nshima that they have little room for any more substantial food, which serves the dual purpose of ensuring that they get full and that they'll be able to stretch the little meat they have for a few more days. Sad but true.
posted by Wyatt @ 4:06 PM
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