What Food do you Eat in Africa?

 

https://youtu.be/z23RVqG0mTA?si=l25HB2Y-rPkQWH6-

What food do you eat in Africa?

They ask.

Are you African? How many times have you heard that question?

I was once seated in a coffee shop in my town, Pavia, south of Milan, working on my computer. Next to me was a group of teenagers deeply involved in their conversations. Suddenly, one Italian boy asks one girl,

“Cosa mangiate in Venezuela?”

What do you eat in Venezuela?

When I heard the question, curiosity got the best of me, and I found myself looking at the girl. I wanted to hear what she would say. She looked at the boy, a little perplexed, like to say, what does he mean by what food do we eat in Venezuela? After a little pause, she said,

“Mangiamo cibo normale.”

“We eat normal food.”

To which the boy asked,

“Cosa vuoi dire, cibo normale?”

“What do you mean, normal food?”

Her reply was simple. She said,

“Normal food, like pasta, rice, chicken,”

Food remains an interesting element in our lives.

It’s an essential part of our cultures and traditions, a way of expressing ourselves or even connecting.

Food can also be a representation of our heritage, our values, or our history.

Wherever you come from and in whichever land you find yourself, you’ll find many people curious to know what foods are eaten in that part of the world and their methods of preparation, especially if it’s thought of as strange, exotic, or different food that is not commonly seen everywhere.

But when asked the food question, how do you react, or what answer do you give? Also, what kind of answer do you think the person asking wants to hear?

But, first of all, what land do you come from, and how was the food question asked of you?

This briefly takes me back to these teenagers at the coffee shop. The boy asked what food they eat in Venezuela, and not what food they eat in South America.

Now, had this girl been from some country in Africa, the question would have been what food they eat in Africa, and not what food they eat in her country in particular, somewhere on a vast continent.

Why?

Why do people still forget that Africa, too, is a continent and not a country?

I was once processing bank documents when the Italian bank teller – I’m African – wanted to talk or say something about Africa. Back and forth, Africa this, Africa that, child soldiers, wars, malnutrition, poverty, immigration–those are usually the subjects, generalising every topic as Africa. So I told him, talk to me about my country. Because I come from a country in Africa and not from everywhere in Africa, I might know what happens in my country, but not necessarily what happens everywhere on the continent. He sat back in his chair, threw his arms in the air and said,

“Ah, well, you see, for us Italians, Africa is just a block.”

No, sir. We’re not a block, nor are we a village, and most certainly not a country.

Africa, on occasion, is made to look like a village, and all Africans come from that village, divided only by various homesteads, with one village chief who oversees everybody, ensuring that language, customs, and cultures are learnt and practiced by all.

We are the second-largest continent on the planet.

Africa is so vast that about seven European countries and Eastern Europe, the whole of China and India, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan can fit into it easily. Even if, as a continent, the population is still less than that of China and India.

Fifty-five independent countries with political boarders, more than 2000 languages.

So, when you generalize questions like the food we eat in Africa, the currency we use there, whether we understand the languages and/or dialects of other Africans, and whether we have bread in Africa, we wonder. Which Africa, which country, what society, what cultures and traditions, which religions, heritages, regions, and the list goes on.

You wouldn’t ask an Asian what they eat in Asia, a European, what they eat in Europe, or a Latino, what they eat in South America. So why do you ask Africans about Africa and not about their countries in particular?

But before we criticise anyone who generalises Africa, let’s look at Africans ourselves to understand how big we think our continent is.

I was once chatting with a Nigerian lady who was telling me about a dish – a Nigerian specialty made with a specific vegetable that she had been preparing, happy that even if she is in Europe, she gets to enjoy her home delicacy.

She mentioned the vegetable to me, but it didn’t ring a bell. So, I told her I did not recognise the vegetable she was talking about, to which she replied, a little strongly,

“It’s an African vegetable.”

“No. I don’t understand what vegetable it is,” I said to her.

“But you are African!” she said. “This is an African vegetable.” Insisting.

My reply didn’t change. I told her that, even if I’m African, it’s an “African vegetable” I did not recognise or probably did not even know.

“How can you not know of an African vegetable?” she questioned. “You are African!” She reminds me one more time, in an unforgivable tone, almost accusingly.

For this lady, for example, this was not a vegetable that grows somewhere on the continent but an “African vegetable.” And according to her, it’s unforgivable that an African does not know of an African vegetable. (The vegetable in question is okra. I had seen it before without ever giving it another thought, and did not even know the name. Nigerians use it to prepare a soup dish. Even if it grows, it’s not a very common vegetable in Uganda, for example.)

So, it’s things as small as believing that an African would know of a vegetable that grows somewhere on a vast continent that make you pause and ask. Do we know how big this continent truly is?

But talking about food, what’s even more amusing is that, many times, when we are asked what foods we eat in Africa, for example, the response being looked for is any exotic kind of food.

The mention of bread and butter, fried rice (like that Venezuelan girl said), or say, oven-baked, barbecued, or fried chicken, is met with a lot less interest.

Because what’s interesting about say, fried rice, one of the most commonly eaten foods around the world, but a simple surprise that in Africa, too, people eat foods that are commonly eaten elsewhere in the world?

Bottom line, we are so happy to talk to you about foods, especially any kind of tradition, staple or different food we have in our countries, how those foods are produced and their methods of preparation, but we don’t know what foods are eaten everywhere in Africa most of the time.

Also, many times, foods everywhere are similar, but the preparation methods and/or at times the names are what differ.

Take, for example, posho(kawunga in Uganda and Ugari in Kenya). This same dish is called polenta in Italy, and in South America, the same food is used to make Arepas.

Or if you consider chapati, a fried flat bread originally from India. The same bread is available in Italy, not fried, but the same concept, and a different name, piadina. Isn’t naan bread the same?

 

 

So, generally, foods are very similar, but what makes a big difference most of the time is the method of preparation.

 

EdithMNKyazze

 

 

Beyond the Threshold…into self-discovery, available on Amazon.