Food, Glorious Food

BUFFET VOLCANO

They say when you return from a big trip, other people want to know three main things: did you get sick, what was the weather like, and how the food was. To satisfy your curiosity and explain a little more about Rwandan culture, I thought I would describe for you my diet here. The Rwandan mentality towards food, for the most part, seems to be a eat to live, rather than my preferred live to eat. Variety is not high on the priority list, and my stomach is starting to settle into the routine. Here is my typical daily menu:

Breakfast: You can count on Quaker oats. I have them pretty much every day, varying my toppings depending on what is available. Our kitchen doesn't have a running fridge, so if I remember to buy yogurt the night before I might put that on top or maybe some bran flakes or bananas. If I've splurged, then dried fruit muscli really makes my morning. Peanut butter and bread are dangerous things to buy because we tend to go through those at break neck speed.

Lunch: BUFFET. Apparently to save time in the '80s when everyone needed to rush through lunch, the buffet was invented to allow for quick service, and the idea, like neon colors, scrunchies, and other silly ideas out of that era, has never died. For 800 frw ($1.50) I can pile my plate high with rice, beans, cassava, one piece of meat, stewed bananas, potatoes, fries, and sauce. I'll admit the amount of starch is a little overwhelming at times, and I've had to give up on the stewed bananas because they require too many follow-up tums. If I want to spend more and go to the Karibu buffet, the selection of vegetables is far more substantial and quite delicious. However, it never changes. The trick with buffet, I've discovered, is to not take a little of everything, but rather rotate through the dishes to keep the variety going. Rwandans pile their plates very high, and it is often referred to as the Volcano. Some days I just go to the shop for an apple and a cookie. Probably just as nutritious.

Tea: Around 10:30 at work I can go into a large tent and get a cup of African Tea. It is made with boiled milk, tea, and ginger. It is quite tasty, especially if you add sugar. It is also very filling, and if I drink it too often I feel the effects of too much milk. I like to have it with a chapatti, though - essentially a piece of fried four and water. Mmmm.

Dinner: If I cook dinner at home, I'm limited to dishes made on our hotplate. Thus, couscous is a favourite, along with stir fries and steam veggies. Last night I made a delicious home made pasta sauce, which I will defiantly be doing again. I was getting sick of zucchini.

Food cooked for traditional meals and celebrations varies according to religion and region. A lot of Rwandans use small outside stoves to save on power, fuelled by Eucalyptus wood, so the smell of the smoke often fills the air (but beats the burning garbage smell). At the end of Ramadan we went to a Pilau feast and got to learn how to eat rice with our hands (the trick is to squeeze it together and use your thumb to push the ball into your mouth).

For the most part, high end restaurants cater nicely to the business and ex-pat crowd, and then the typical Rwandan restaurants seem to serve a lot of the same things. Brochettes of goat, tilapia fish, or beef are very reasonably priced, and go well with grilled or boiled bananas, fries, rice, peas or roasted potatoes if you're lucky. My favourite order at the restaurant down our street is a “Mutzig grand (620ml beer) avec brochette de chevre et des bananes grille”. And then the waiter usually replies in Kinyrwanda and I say “Yego” (yes) and hope that whatever he brings me is tasty. As long as he gets the beer right, it usually is.