“RE: What do you eat in the village?”

Monday April 14th 2008
5:14 PM

<i>I am responding to a question asked to me by a student in a high school french class in Downey, California. </i>

Right now I am enjoying some tasty food. I cooked up some black eyed peas and millet in my hut. I added a bouillon cube, a pinch of pepper and some oil plus I cut up a whole red onion. It tastes so good. The onion and the bouillon cube give it a sort of sweat tangy taste.

I just started doing this about two weeks ago because my nutrition was lacking. I already take a big horse pill multivitamin in the morning. The little extra protein and who else knows what in this mini meal keeps me going through the day.

The truth is the meals in my village are not much to look forward too. My two favorite meals are millet couscous with either peace sauce or peanut bouillon water. Generally my only green leafy vegetables in the village are hibiscus or bissap leaves. The women picks these. They pound and cook them until they have the consistency of snot. It is literally the snot green of your nightmares.

I buy beans, veggies and other things to give to my village family. But I since there are roughly 20ish people eating at my compound at any one meal- 2 kilos of beans don't go too far.

Also I must admit powdered milk is a life saver. I drink at least one glass of it a day.

The vast majority of the time these are my typical meals. When I occasionally come into town, I hit the vegetable market up. Carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, bell peppers and avocados at a minimum for my salad. Plus I eat an assortment of oranges, bananas and pawpaws. I always feel like I'm trying to make up for my village nutritional deficiencies when I am in town for a day or two days.

So my question for you is what do you generally eat everyday? Any suggestions on what I could do to improve my diet? Any suggestions for cooking in my hut? I have a simple gas single burner.

I am looking forward to your suggestions!