Food!

Let's get back to normal, shall we? You know what's good for that? Food!

Before we left I knew there would be things we'd miss food-wise while we were here. We brought a small stash of some comfort foods (like Annie's mac and cheese and peanut butter) and I talked to master chef TyTy about maybe making us a bundle of ingredients to take with us. We decided it made more sense for us to get here and figure out what we can/can't get and then have him help put together some things for Ahya to bring when she comes (this week!). With us just passing the one month mark here & Ahya's trip around the corner, Ty reached out to see if I knew enough yet about what we might need. I told him that aside from a short list of items I've already asked Ahya to bring (more Annie's, dijon mustard), what I'd really is like is a consult with him about how to make the most of all of the things I can get here. We're talking later today. Here are some notes I sent about what we can/can't find so far.

Here are some abundant items:

Rice

Potatoes

Onions

Beans (lots of kinds)

Tomatoes

There is maize (not sweet corn). Don't know what to do with that. Corn flour also available.

Green bananas/ possibly plantains?

Veggies in the local markets:

Eggplant - big purple ones & also some little green things that I think might be an eggplant variety? (Gisèle confirmed these are eggplant and very yummy fried with onions)

Cauliflower

Carrots

Green beans

Peppers (bell & hot)

Greens from our garden - still don't know what they're called but they're very yummy sauteed with garlic

I put an egg on them this morning. Delicious.

Available at fancier supermarket:

Broccoli

Mushrooms 

We have cooking oil (olive & sunflower) & a pretty good spice rack. Couple of spice mixes we made & brought with us (taco seasoning, breakfast potato mix). Seems like we can get most spices we'd want here. Fresh ginger is also abundant.

Meat - locally, can get whole chicken (or the butcher James will hack it into pieces if I want). 

Chopping Chicken

Boneless chicken available at fancier stores. Beef also available in different forms (Caleb has made burgers with ground beef from the fancy supermarket). 

Tilapia available very fresh (pulled out of a tank & chopped up on site).

Also in frozen fillets at the supermarket. Another fish called capitaine which is likely Nile perch. Tofu is rumored to be available at one Indian grocer but they haven't had it when we've gone twice. 

Peanuts & peanut flour also abundant.

Stove:

We have a gas range (4 burners) & electric oven. Unlike our last place there is a temp control on this one but I don't know how accurate it is. Could probably get a thermometer but that might be an easy thing for mom to bring - would help Mazie bake, which I'd like to encourage. We don't have a grill of any type.

We miss tortillas & have been successful making flour ones. I've also learned we can get fresh & very yummy chapati (tortilla-adjacent) on our main street. (Got some for me & Lexi on our way to school a few days ago. 100 RWF or about 10 cents each.) With abundant avocadoes (including from our own tree) we'd love tortilla chips which don't exist here... I think I'd need masa harina (not just corn flour) to make corn tortillas to turn into chips. (Ty found a recipe that uses cornmeal & flour... gonna try that.) (As I'm writing this, we are sitting poolside at Pili Pili, a recent find not far from home with the relaxed & vacation-y vibe we're needing right now. We ordered the guacamole & chips. The chips are not french fries, which is what chips normally are here, but some type of fried dough. An ok guac vessel but an inadequate tortilla chip substitute. The quest continues.)

One other funny food note. We've now heard from two Rwandans (Joseph & Gisèle) that people here have a different relationship with food - it's a necessity, not really something to fuss over or talk about. As Joseph put it, you don't talk about it when it comes out, why talk about it when it goes in? However, two other Rwandans (Lambert & Olive) disagreed, saying that food is important and discussed here like other places. It's almost like Rwandans aren't all the same and have different experiences from one another. Weird.