One of the things that PCVs talk most about is food. I’m serious about this – my friend Josh and I
are the absolute worst. We once spent 2 hours talking about Chipotle, and food
ends up being pretty much all we talk about. We all miss American food. We have
had quite the food experience since coming here, which I’m sure you’re all
interested in hearing about. Since I like talking about food, this may be a
long post.
As far as foods you would know, we have quite a few in Mbabane
and Manzini. Manzini has Tandoori and curry places on pretty much every street
corner. Mbabane has an Indian restaurant, a “Cuban” restaurant (sandwiches and
omelets), a restaurant themed like a Native American ranch, a pizza place,
several really good Chinese places, and a Portuguese chicken place. Both have
KFCs. None of these foods are traditionally Swazi, but they do represent the
major ethnic minorities (Middle Eastern, Chinese, South African, and
Mozambican).
Swazi food is very different. The staple food here is maize,
and it features heavily into the local cuisine. Liphalishi is served with
pretty much every meal; it’s a dish that is made of mealie meal (ground up
maize) and water, with the consistency of instant mashed potatoes. It’s pretty
flavorless. Ummbila, or roasted maize, is sold by the roadsides pretty much
everywhere. Maize is also boiled. Oddly enough, popcorn isn’t huge here. If
liphalishi is not up for dinner, then it’s a safe bet that rice will be served
in its place.
Stews are what goes on top of the rice or liphalishi.
Chicken and beef stew are the most common, but I have also been treated to fish
stew (once, and once was most certainly enough). The stews have a thick,
gravy-like base; chunks of chicken or beef that we would eat; maybe chunks of
chicken or beef that we wouldn’t eat, life offal, intestines, feet, or heads;
and vegetables, such as carrots, potatoes, green pepper, and onion. I actually
really like chicken stew over rice.
It is worth noting that meat is a necessary Swazi meal item.
A meal without meat is no meal in this country. I have seen multiple types of
meat feature into one meal here. Protein substitutes, like beans or peanut or
eggs, are served with meat, as opposed to being an alternative (like they are
for PCVs). Protein overload plus the starch that is liphalishi lead to a lot of
over-weight and obesity challenges for Swazis.
As far as vegetables go, I have seen salad served commonly
(lettuce, tomato, and onion). Beetroot salad, which is cooked grated beetroot
mixed with mayo, is also very common, and may possibly be my least favorite
thing here (not including animal organs – that’s just gross). Potato salad and
steamed spinach are also very common. In terms of fruits, pumpkin and butternut
squash are the most common. I really love a traditional dish called sidvudvu,
which is mashed pumpkin cooked with butter and brown sugar. Butternuts are also
sweet and quite enjoyable. Raw fruits, such as mango, marula, granadilla,
apple, avocado, and pineapple, feature into the diet as snacks. Another use for
fruit is the brewing of traditional beer. I tried a sip once, and I can assure
you, you never ever want to try traditional beer.
They have chips here, as well as other snack and dessert
cookies and biscuits. My favorite dessert, far and away, however, are emafethi.
Emafethi are a ball of flour, sugar, eggs, and butter that is fried in cooking
oil. They’re sweet and delicious and the main reason going to Africa has not
made me thinner. I just really love them.
Portion sizes here are massive. My babe (father), for
example, eats 6 eggs and fried chicken for breakfast, 8 slices of bread with
tea for a snack, and two huge plates of stew and liphalishi (also called pap)
for lunch and dinner. I eat about a quarter of what a Swazi can eat.
My first traditional dinner in Swaziland was a disaster. I
had been in the country for a week and on my training homestead for a day. I
didn’t have a cell phone or the internet, and I was homesick and lonely and
stressed and scared and tired. Next thing I know, 2 bosisi (sisters) have
brought me a plate to my room. On it was a huge scoop of liphalishi, chicken
intestines, chicken feet, a chicken head, and steamed spinach. The parts of the
chicken they had given me were the parts that they consider to be the best, so
they were doing me an honor. I, on the other hand, almost quit Peace Corps. My
PST homestead was one that was extremely poor, and throwing the food out would
have been impossible and rude. I thought of sneaking it to the dogs, which
weren’t fed and regularly died, but that would have deprived a human of meat.
Eventually, I muttered that I was sick (not entirely false) and passed the
plate off, where its contents were most hungrily devoured. The family and I
eventually talked about what I wouldn’t eat after I faked sick for a long time
and started getting too thin. They, of course, thought I was just unhappy. Once
we fixed the diet issue and I started eating more, things got better. Then I
actually got sick (giardia), so I guess I was kept honest in the end.
