Food and eating habits are integral
to our personality and culture. So getting used to a country with so much paucity
of vegetables, pulses and grains was a huge challenge in itself! Throw an Indian
into a tough situation and the jugaad in her, reigns up its head and roars. And
presto! we have a solution to the problem.
The broken rice that was
available in Ethiopia, when cooked had a somewhat sticky, soggy feel. It would have
been lovely to have this rice with sambar, but alas Indian Sambar could not be
prepared as toor daal was neither produced nor sold in Bahirdar.
Padma discovered that masoor (red
gram) was available and made it her own staple daal. She made Pappu (daal),
sambhar and wonder of wonders very tasty and slightly sticky Pongal. The
stickiness of the rice and the organically produced masoor dal meant that the Pongal
tasted like an offering from the heaven! It was our staple breakfast for our four
years stay in Bahirdar.
It was loved by all of us. Once a
little bit of Pongal was left over and Sahithi as a lark, offered it to her
battery of kittens.
The kittens almost killed each
other in their haste to sample this new type of food. They finished the Pongal in
a jiffy and we witnessed a yodelling war for a few minutes when they demanded to
be given more of this wonderful concoction that they have never tasted before.
So, from that day when ever Padma
prepared Pongal we had a patient army of kittens waiting with discipline to
partake in the amrut! Their expression and their earnestness were a sight to
behold. They would wait with rapt attention as if it was prasad from heaven!
Padma also made excellent rice
fryums (vadiyalu) had them dried in the crisp Bahirdar sun and we had excellent
side dish that was lip smackingly tasty and readily available. Senaga Pindi
(Bengal Gram flour) was available and for Indians it was like manna from the heaven
as Indian savouries like Murukulu, bajji, Mysore Pak could be made.
Our staple
snack was Murukulu, which Padma stockpiled! They brought in memories of Hyderabad
and of India!
In the afternoon I usually ate in
the college Canteen. It was wonderful to eat with the Ethiopians. It was a communal
lunch where a single Injira would be ordered and many would eat. They would eat,
the Indian style with their fingers. They would break off chunks of Injira, dip
it in the variety of curries (or wats) and eat with gusto and appreciation.
The second or the third time we
were having our lunch, one of my lady Ethiopian colleague broke off a Injira bit,
dipped it in wat and offered it to me. It was not offered to me like we share among
Indians. That bit of food was not given to me in the hand. She fed me just like
a mother feeds her baby! I was totally taken aback! It was a shock of a life
time.
Two or three iterations later, I
realized what was happening. Offering Injira was showing love and affection. It
was a badge of honour. It was a custom that was practised among close friends
or relatives.
It was extremely rare that a
foreigner would be offered a bite! I was so happy and humbled that Ethiopians accepted
me as a close friend and as a loved relative. It was such a nice but a
startling experience.
Sometime later our Vice President
invited all the faculty including the expatriate faculty with their families
for a dinner at the university. It was a typical Ethiopian feast. There was Injira
and dabbo (freshly baked bread). Also available were many varieties of wats. Vegetarian
and non-vegetarian wats were on display. Ethiopians use chilly, salt, ginger
and garlic in their dishes but are bland by Indian standards. Ethiopians
do not use spices and that means that their dishes do not have the flavour and
the aroma that Indian dishes give out in abundance.
Most of the Indian teachers were
suffering. There was hardly anything that they could eat. They had to eat bread
with veg wat and that was that! Padma who was a vegetarian was happily eating Injira
with masoor dal wat and vegetables. Suddenly she turned to me and whispered
“what is that smell” And she discovered the item that was giving out the smell/aroma.
“Don’t ask me now “I whispered “I will tell you later”.
Later that night I explained to
her “The dish that you were referring to is Kitfo. Kitfo is freshly minced beef
(like our Kheema which is finely chopped mutton). In India the Kheema is pressure
cooked and then made into meat balls which are deep fried. But in Ethiopia
Kitfo is eaten raw without cooking. Kitfo is freshly minced beef that is eaten
with butter”
Seeing Padma’s pained expression,
I added “Please remember, it is an Ethiopian culture and we are nobody to pass judgement about peoples’ food habits. Neither Ethiopian Christians nor Ethiopian Muslims worship
cows and most of the beef that is available in Ethiopia is cow meat. Kitfo is a
delicacy and no one has forced us to eat it. So when they eat, it is their
choice and we should not be objecting to their food habits”.
I went on “Food is a personal choice.
For example, in Kenya the Masai Mara tribe have a very different breakfast.
They would catch one of their cows and draw out a liberal dose of blood from
its neck. Then the cow is released and strangely the cow is not affected by the
ordeal. Infact the Masai Mara insist that the blood letting is good for the cows.
The freshly drawn blood is mixed with cow milk and the mixture is consumed by
the Masai Mara. For most of us this might be an extreme case of food choice”.
Padma was shell shocked. Her
goose bumps were clearly visible. She was dumb struck. It was uncomprehendable!
How can someone drink cow’s blood and that too freshly drawn?
Just to tease her I added “The
blood and the cow milk when mixed have the texture and colour of very strong Coffee!
The fact of the matter is, the Masai Mara are the most fit individuals in the
world with the least body fat and the least incidence of hypertension, diabetes
and life threatening diseases.
There is research that is being conducted
on Masai Mara to find out reasons for their low body fat and how they are able
to run many kilometres without breaking into a sweat or getting exhausted. Many
Kenyans are excellent athletes and win many gold medals in middle and long
distance running! So let us not be judgemental and judge people from our limited
perspective”.
Padma was thoroughly impressed and
also slightly bored with the lengthy explanation. I was sure that the next time
she sees something strange she would keep it to herself. If she asks, she would
be hammered with a long lecture. Talk of risks of being married to an
articulate management teacher! It was a marriage induced hazard of monumental
proportion.
Good evening sir. As you told, food habits differ from country to country and culture to culture. It is really very difficult to adopt any culture apart from ours and sustain in it for a long time. You have spent four years of time in Ethiopia where you have experienced various cultures and practices.
ReplyDeleteIn today's world, we have many changes and everything is available in handy. But, back then it was very difficult to sustain because of lack of developments. There was no proper food and entertainment too. My late uncle was a BTech graduate from a Russian university. He used to tell us about living abroad and its difficulties. There was no food at all except the bread pieces. There was only a choice of two vegetables which were tomato and potato. He hated tomato and he had to survive on potato which made him put his weight on.
So, back then (90's) people who traveled abroad had to face many difficulties. I remembered about my late uncle when I read the description of Ethiopian food habits.
And when I looked at the picture of fryms, I remembered my grandmother making them out of leftover rice. She does that daily and that is really a favorite snack.
The injira seem to be really tasty. I had seen the preparation of it, in your previous posts. Feeding each other is really an amusing culture sir.
And the Masai Mara tribe seem to be very healthy. The cow blood mixed with milk seems to be creepy. But as you told we cannot judge people on their eating habits as every nation has its own culture and principles.
Thank you sir.
Thanks Sneha, as usual very detailed feedback.
ReplyDelete