Yummy yummy in my tummy!

Food in the Gambia is not quite the center of life it is in the United States. Gambians eat a late breakfast of tapalapa bread (kind of like a cross between a bagel and french bread that is super, super delicious). They have a large lunch around 3 pm and then that's it.

Fortunately for me and my very western tummy, the eight of us American students living together haven't quite adopted that eating schedule. We have breakfast of tapalapa bread around 9 or 10 and then lunch around 2 or 3 pm. Lunch consists of whatever street food is around. Sometimes it's tapalapas with egg or beans or potatoes. Sometimes it's meat pies. Yesterday I was at classes during lunch time so I had an orange, some groundnuts (peanuts) and some frozen baobab juice.

Dinner for us is a real treat. Sunday through Thursday Mohamed cooks us the most delicious food that has even been eaten. EVER. Mohamed is our land lord, residence director, protector and local expert. Like I said, he is an excellent chef and everything he makes is the best thing I've ever eaten. Every night I wish he would make that same dish again for the rest of my life.

Friday and Saturday nights we try our luck at local restaurants, which requires flexibility and an open mind. Many local places don't have silverware, so you eat everything with your hands (chicken, salad, onions, whatever).

Yesterday we went to Kairaba Shopping Center to do some grocery shopping. This is what I bought:

• Groundnut (Peanut) butter
• Local Organic Honey
• Tea
  
• Raisin Bran
• Magic-aroni EZ-Cheese
• A packet of lemon biscuits (cookies)
  
• One chocolate bar

I had very distinct reasons for each of my purchases. The lemon biscuits and chocolate bars are for when Africa pushes me over the edge and I need a taste of sugary sanity. The easy mac is just in case food (since I have no cooking skills...and there's no microwave here). The tea was to replace coffee in the morning (unfortuneatly, the box was in Arabic and when we got home we discovered it was loose leaf. That was an adventure). The honey and peanut butter were for tapalapa (look for a future entry about the importance of and problems with buying local, especially in Africa).

However, the most important item on that list is probably the Raisin Bran. If you ever plan to spend time in Africa, pack your fiber supplements. Trust me on this one.