Mafuta: cooking fat. Probably solid lard from a goat. It’s a cooking staple in the coastal villages. When I and two other students bought beans to brings back to our host families, the shopkeeper was quick to ask us if we would need fat for cooking the chapati (tortilla-like things) to go with the beans. We assured them that, actually, the mafuta was not necessary. Our families always seem to have plenty on hand to add some nutrition to their meals.
Our first mission in Mombasa was to find some pure, unadulterated vegetables. Naturally crunchy rather than fried to crispiness.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m really not hating on chapati—it might be my favorite starch in the villages. My Shirazi Mama makes a mean chapati, even if it is soaked in goat fat. Frying is the most efficient way to cook over a fire. They make it work.
Typical breakfast: mandazi. These are made from fresh coconut milk, flour, yeast, sugar, and oil. My sister Mwanasha is a pro: roll it out, cut it into triangles, let it rise.....and fry it. Oh well. When in a village, eat like the villagers.
I was excited to be in Shirazi for the EID, the Muslim New Year. It was a day of celebration from morning to evening. Breakfast was extravagant and delicious: coconut covered beans (mbaazi) and mandazi. Not my typical eggs and toast, but I may start eating beans for brekkie regularly.
Here’s another breakfast: beans again (or rather, bowl where beans were. Yum). White bread, which mama thinks is a delicacy. And a fried fish. That day, I received a crispy little swimmer at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Life in a coastal village.
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| Got used to the fish after a while--at first the head/eye/skin really creeped me out. |
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