Dinner is Served



Pumpkin, bean, and banana trees in our yard

Buffalo wings, Deep Dish Pizza, Hungry Howie’s Large peperoni Pizza, Domino’s 5*5*5 Pizzas, Big Juicy Burgers, Waffles, Blueberries, Blackberry Cobbler, Milkshakes, Tacos, Black-bean Chili, Gyros, Pitchers of Miller Lite/High Life, Dunkin Donut and a Dunkaccino, Breakfast Burritos from Sonic, McDonald’s French Fries, Taco Bell(It’s a fault of mine)… oh my goshhhhhh foooooooooooood!!! If you haven’t noticed, I have lost a little bit of weight since moving here to Mozambique. I would say at my skinniest, I had lost close to 25lbs. Where I used to live, Imala, there was not a lot to choose from. During the hunger time (Tempo de Fome), there was really only rice, xima, caracata, dried beans, bugs, snails, and sometimes old onions. This was at the end of the dry season when all the machambas were dead, and no one had any fresh food in site. December and January were a rough 2 months, and even rougher for the people of the community who did not have money to buy anything. They lived off of the stashed, dried food that they hoped would not go bad through the months of dry season. Depression is at an all-time high during these months, and people sit around all afternoon, saving their energy and reducing their calorie intake. It is a very sad time of year. They only fresh food in season during tempo de fome is mango. Trees are filled with delicious mangos. Children and adults can be seen throughout the town hurling rocks at trees, and collecting the fallen mangos for their families. Once the rain starts, the food situation changes drastically. People’s plates are full with fresh vegetables, beans, and fruits. Food is on a strict seasonally basis. Pumpkin, bean, cassava, corn, cucumber, melon, okra, peanut, potato, sweet potato, peas, millet, wild basil, spinach, lettuce, cabbage, onion, carrot, tomato, papaya, orange, tangerine, banana… it is phenomenal the amount of food that can be produced from the land when a family puts effort into a machamba. Although 

Food from my yard.

these foods are plentiful, they only last a certain time frame, because once out of season they will be gone until the following year. A prime example is pumpkin. In our yard, we produced 21 pumpkins this year. For 2 months, we ate pumpkin twice a day, every day for the entirety of that time. Pumpkin curry, boiled pumpkin, pumpkin skins, pumpkin soup, cold pumpkin soup, pumpkin butter, pumpkin bread, and even delicious, leafy dishes made from the pumpkin leaves. The leaves of pumpkin, cassava, and bean plants are surprisingly healthy, rich, and delicious in mashed forms called matapa, and in soups. My favorite meal was a delicious pumpkin curry that I had perfected. It was boiled pumpkin mashed up with finely chopped pumpkin leaves. Add garlic, tomato, crushed peanut, curry powder, and piri piri peppers. Served with a freshly formed ball of xima, and perfeito!!! It is such a deliciously filling meal that can last 2 days. We frequented cucumber salads with onion and lemon. Bean soups using the leaves from the bean plants as well. Man do I loveeeeee some of the food here. The only problem is, I miss good ole American cuisine. On the rare occasions of eating chicken here, it is delicious! It still does not compare to a nice plate of buffalo chicken wings, however. It is definitely a very healthy lifestyle here. I have not felt this physically healthy in a long time. I go for runs, do daily pushups and situps, along with walking long distances every day or 2. I carry water on my head and in my arms. That being said, when I return to the United States of America, you will be able to find me a the nearest sports bar with a 3lbs plate of wings, a giant plate of fries, and a beautifully cold pitcher of Miller watching whatever sport is being featured on the many, large screen televisores. I must go, because this post is killllling me just thinking about the food that has slipped away from my fingers for a 27 month period. Ate a proxima.