Food

I think a lot of you probably remember that before I left, one of the things I was most worried about when it came to living in Cameroon was food...so now that we are about to hit the two month mark in country, I thought I would maybe give you the low-down on what I eat and how delicious (or not) it is...

The staples – the foods we eat pretty much every day here in Cameroon:

1) Eggs
Lots of them. Like easily four in a day. Usually for breakfast I eat some kind of omelette soaked in palm oil. Often it involves onions, and occasionally my host family will sneak some kind of fish part in there (possibly just as a funny prank on me). It is seasoned with maggi cubes, which I think is basically just a block of powdered MSG. Awesome. Then for lunch or in the afternoon I will usually buy a hard-boiled egg...they are sold from large platters balanced on top of people's heads or also often at the bar down the street from our training house.

2) Plantains
Fried, boiled, or even mashed. It is very unfortunate that they have so little nutritional value, because they make up such a substantial part of my diet. Mostly you get them burned almost black and dripping with palm oil, which is not so great (especially because they usually end up also being lukewarm), but sometimes you can get really thin ones, fried golden brown which are almost reminiscent of french fries...but sweeter.

3) Fish. Fish fish fish fish.
Sometimes I think about how hilarious it is that six months ago I did not eat fish at all...and now sometimes I literally eat it at every meal. Not always intentionally – Cameroonians are very crafty about sneaking it into your omelette in the morning, or onto your sandwich, or into your mystery sauce. Anyways, it turns out I actually like fish a lot...well, parts of the fish. Not a big fan of skin or bones or eyeballs, which end up in a lot of stuff here, but usually if you are vigilant you can avoid them. Or you can just close your eyes and pretend you are eating something else, which is what I did this morning when my host dad made me a sardine sandwich for breakfast (the stove had run out of gas, so this was the clear alternative to frying me eggs).

4) Starch
I guess I already mentioned plantains, but seriously we eat so many of them that maybe it is acceptable for them to be on the list twice. The bulk of the Cameroonian diet consists of starches – plantains, sometimes potatoes, but more often macabo and patates, which are kind of like potatoes, but drier and more flavorless.

5) “Legumes”
In French it means “vegetables”. In Cameroon it seems to be the name for any number of random green leafy products cooked until they have either reached the consistency of mush, snot, or grass. If you try to ask someone exactly what you are eating when they serve you something like this, they will invariably say “legumes”. Further inquiry into what KIND of legumes just adds to their mounting evidence that you do not actually speak French or understand anything they say.

6) Palm nuts
Palm nuts, in various forms, are the basis of pretty much everything you eat in Cameroon. They can be made into palm oil which is used to fry eggs, plantains, and sometimes potatoes. They can be turned into palm wine, which is actually pretty mild (in flavor and alcohol content) and which is usually drunk out of a gourd. Palm nuts can also be mashed with a king size mortar and pestle into a nut pulp, which makes up the basis for many Cameroonian sauces. My sister also claims that you can break open the pit and there is ANOTHER nut inside which you can eat...although I don't actually think it is edible. It felt pretty much the same as trying to eat a rock.

7) Manioc
Also comes in many forms, but my favorite is the baton. You will have to google pictures of it, because it is just the weirdest color/texture/flavor/consistency...but somehow it is also just outrageously delicious...especially when eaten alongside grilled fish and a cold beer in the shack next to the bar on Saturday night.

I've been going on and on to some of you about how much excellent food I am going to cook you when I get back to the States, so maybe now is an appropriate time to describe some of the things I enjoy the most here, so you know what to expect...as much as I love fried plantains and mystery fish sauce, here are the things I REALLY look forward to eating:

1) The Avocado-Spaghetti Sandwich
It is exactly what it sounds like...spaghetti, lightly coated in tomato sauce, topped with a mix of avocados, tomatoes, and onions...on a baguette. Delicious. This is what I often eat for lunch, and sometimes also for breakfast, if I can sneak out of the house quickly enough in the morning before someone starts cooking for me.

2) The Bean Sandwich
Again, exactly what it sounds like...literally a bunch of beans on a baguette. Somehow, just outrageously delicious. Especially if you get them from the bean stand on the way to the center of town...although it often takes a lot of explaining to get them to make you one (“Hold on...you want me to cut the bread and then put the beans ON it? Really?”...it's a pretty ridiculous idea).

3) Peanut Sauce
Cameroonians make excellent excellent peanut sauce. I am not sure what goes into it, but it has a different texture and flavor from Asian peanut sauce...often it also has chunks of fish or meat and other mysterious vegetables thrown into it, and is eaten over rice or (if you're lucky) mashed plantains. Delicious.

4) The Spaghetti Omelette
My family doesn't make them, but many do, and they can also often be bought on the street. It is an omelette with spaghetti in it. You eat it on a baguette. It is delicious. I will make them for you in 2012. It will be great.

I also eat a lot of bananas and avocados...although they do not have these in the Extreme North, where I will be moving in two weeks. It is kind of a mystery to me what they DO have in the extreme north...so far all I have heard is millet and onions. Oh well. One time I also made macaroni and cheese for my host family...which despite having to use powdered milk and laughing cow cheese (the only kind of cheese you can get, besides in the regional capitals), I thought was delicious. It got mixed reviews from my family...my sister's reaction was “Oh, so this is why all Americans are so fat,” but my 18 year old host brother and his friends ate absurdly large amounts of it as quickly as possible. Overall I would call it a success.

In general I like the food here a lot more than I thought I would, although every once in while I get stuck eating something that tastes disgusting, has a weird texture, and also has no nutritional value. But in general I am pretty happy to eat nut pulp and legume paste with macabo...until someone calls me to talk about the enchiladas he had for lunch.

It was a very fun weekend, which involved spending half my paycheck on gas station print pagne, eating an entire fish with my hands, and then somehow ending up dancing to Britney Spears and Shakira at a nightclub until four in the morning (we really wussed out – the party doesn't start here until 2, and usually goes until at least 6 if not 8 in the morning). Sometimes I wonder if I am maybe having too much fun here (but ain't no such thing, right?).

Anyways, training is winding down here and we are all gearing up to leave for post on the 19th. I am nervous of course, but mostly just very, very excited to have my own house, cook my own food, and start my real job. Miss you all and hope you are well...please send more news from home!

Much love,
Rose