Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Learning Local Cooking for the Holidays

A wonderful colleague of mine, Machua, kindly invited me to meet his family and learn how locals cook and celebrate the holidays. I had so much fun with his wife and daughter, who taught me how to cook in a traditional pot on an open fire. We fire-roasted fresh corn from their garden, squeezed fresh fruit juice and then they taught me how to make pilau (a rice and meat dish) and a special vegetarian dish with a coconut sauce. The kitchen was alive with smells of spices such as pepper, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, garlic and ginger. Before we ate, Machua gave me a tour of their home, including banana trees, corn stalks and a huge chicken coop- all of which flourish under the silhouette of Mt. Kilimanjaro. Although the family speaks fluent English, I tried my fate at several words in the local language of Kiswahili.

Holidays are a happy time in their home because all of the children are home from school. It was nice to spend a day feeling like a Tanzanian and being around such warm people.


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