What to Eat? What to Eat?

There are so many wonderful things happening in Bujumbura that it seems kind of sad to talk about something as boring as food, but it is one of the things that we have to think about far more than we'd like to here in Burundi.

I promised myself that I wouldn't talk or write about food while on our mission. I remember reading when others, who were in third world counties, talked about food. I just didn't understand. When our call came to Africa I thought, "I wouldn't talk about food." Well..............

Now I'm eating my words. Actually, sometimes we feel like that's that best thing available to eat.

Food is a real challenge here in Burundi. We thought that we were limited in Lubumbashi, but we were not! We had Jambo market, Ma Maison and Psaro and they were were filled with good things. Not everything you would want was there-no shortening, no good chicken, no cottage cheese, etc., but they really had a great selection of food.

Now I appreciate what really nice stores they were.

Then there was the "apple lady" on the corner who had the best apples ever, and the Qovado bread store with delicious small loaves of French bread.

There was even a take out at Luana, who had pretty good chicken and fries meals.

Now, we are in Bujumbura and we know how good we had it in Lubumbashi. Finding food is sadly a pretty big preoccupation for us. We have found a few very small stores, about the size of a convenience store. Each has a few choices of items.

The only canned foods we've found are tomato paste, tomatoes, corn, and mushrooms. Those of you who know us well know how much help mushrooms are. Oh, and we can get tuna for $5 a can and sardines, which have not temped us at any price.

We're not allowed to go to the big local open-air market where the native Burundians go because of security concerns. It wouldn't do us much good anyway because the minute we show our white, stranger faces, the prices go way up. Many of the things in the markets are not things we even recognize or know how to use either.

If you're a tropical fruit fan you can always get pineapples, mango, papaya and bananas on the streets. I love the tiny bananas. They're just the right size and very sweet and tasty, but Brent calls bananas "slimy projectiles" and won't touch them.

Bread, eggs and fruits and veggies are reasonably priced, but are in very limited varieties. Can you imagine craving broccoli? We can get an egg or a banana for $.35. An apple or an orange will cost you $1, if you can find one. Things are there one time and gone the next. American products are priced sky high. We found an average size bottle of shampoo $18. Brent's shaving cream was in one store-$20. We found a small bag of Lay's that was $5. Corn starch was $6 for a small box, so we passed on that one.

The other missionary couple who are here, Frogleys, are much more adventuresome with new food than we are. So, they have bought some crazy things. They bought what they thought was fresh milk. After two days in the frige, during which the power was off for 23 hours, this is what they found.

There was a solid block of something in the top of the bottle, and clear liquid in the bottom. After looking at it for awhile they decided that it might be goat's milk and it could have turned to feta cheese. So they cut it open and sure enough, FETA.

They also bought some crazy fruits and veggies. We declined the invitation to try some of the fruits. We did try that okra and these little tart cherry imitations that come in little husks. We liked the little cherry-like fruits. The okra was not our favorite! We fried it, took a bite and gave it to the Frogley. We find that Janet will like almost anything.

Here are the fruits we found in the store today. I had no idea what they even are.

These are bobadine, aubegine and passion fruit. Or so we were told.

Here are some more. These might be melons of some kinds and the green things are oranges.

Go figure?

The slimy, eyeball looking fruit is bobadine. We didn't try it.

Brent has found a different fruit that he does like . It's a Japanese plumb. They're about the size of a large prune plumb. You cut them in half and scoop out middle with a spoon. They're very tart and yet sweet.

And here's something that he really doesn't like. Huge mushrooms. They're bigger than my hand extended to it's biggest size. These are fresh. Then when the season is over, they dry them and sell them in little, shriveled chunks. Not a good choice for Brent.

The other day we went to a new store. The directions to the store went like this. Go down the hill, past the mosque and turn right. Then drive down the muddy street.

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Behind the broken down blue coach bus you will find a cute little blue market. Chez Shewa is barely visible behind the bus and the turquoise dumpster.

We found it! Chez Sheva! It is a cute little store run to two sweet little East Indian ladies who working together could usually figure out what we were talking about using all our English, French and a lot of gestures. But they had some great finds, and she's a good, honest woman. One time we bought peanut butter and somehow got home without it. So, we went back to buy more. We told her what happened and she not only gave us a replacement jar, but the other one we were buying for free. We will be going back to her store.

We also found a bottle of Hershey's chocolate syrup. It was a bargain for $5 and we bought a $6 cake mix for the elders for Zone Conference.

After we bought the syrup, I remembered that the only ice cream we've seen was a quart for $36. So, Brent's just going to eat spoonfuls of chocolate syrup. We can't even make chocolate milk because all we can get is boxed milk, which Brent hates.

So, we're sticking with peanut butter, boxed juices and Brent's bottle of chocolate syrup. I have also figured out how to bake a few kinds of cookies that require available ingredients, although my oven doesn't have a temperature gauge. It's either off or on. Go figure???? I even made peanut clusters this week. Sometimes I actually enjoy the challenge of figuring out to how to make something without any of the normal ingredients.

No matter how bad the food situation, you have to have a few goodies. Right!?!