Yeah, I'd Eat That (Take 2)

Yeah, I’d Eat That (Updated post)

Post by Lara

28 November 2013

It’s been a while since the first time we wrote a “Yeah, I’d eat that” post, and we decided to revisit it, since our tastes have changed some in the interim.  When we first arrived here, we had trouble liking a lot of the foods that were offered to us, and we were more interested in finding ways to make American food in Sierra Leone than in cooking and eating more local dishes. As we’ve spent more time here, though, we’ve learned that rice really is a good base for most meals (cheap, filling, and appealing to humans, cats, dogs, chickens, and monkeys), and we really like the various sauces that are traditionally eaten with rice—cassava leaf, potato leaf, and “granat” [peanut] soup, to name the most common 3.  Beyond that, we’ve taken to liking a lot of the foods that we either didn’t enjoy at first or were too turned-off to try.  Partly, this transition was fueled by the fact that fish is the cheapest source of protein here (we’re like 20 miles from the ocean, and have a river running 200 yards from our house), and so we’ve really gotten used to it.  Before, we would get tired of everything smelling or tasting like fish (they like to sell “meat pies” in our town that are filled with about 5 hot peppers and a spoonful of fish, bones included), but now, we’re regular connoisseurs when it comes to local fish—we know the ones that we like—smoky, tender and flaky or somewhat beef-jerky-esque, and the ones that we don’t like—I still don’t eat fish heads or tails, and I tend to pick around the small ones that they throw into dishes whole.  Another piece of the puzzle is that what we were used to in the states as far as the amount of salt, MSG, pepper, or sugar is concerned has become little more than a memory, and we’ve started to get used salty, spicy, not-so-sugary food here.  Of course, we still love American food and have gotten pretty good at making it over charcoal fire—last night, we made oatmeal raisin cookies that were worthy of my grandma’s kitchen.  Mostly, what we’ve found is that what we’re willing to eat as well as what we crave has just broadened as we’ve spent more time in Salone.

               

Here’s our revised list of foods we love, those we tolerate, and those we’re still not into: 

Fish bones—unavoidable in most meals. Yeah, I’d eat that.

Chicken bones—as in, gnawing on the ends and getting as much marrow out as possible. They are so delicious. Yeah, I’d eat that.

Pizza topped with canned corn and/or canned mixed veggies—this is how our favorite restaurant in Bo (Sab’s) makes veggie pizza. Yeah, I’d eat that.

Not-even-close-to-ripe or so-overripe-they’re-about-to-burst fresh tomatoes: when it comes to tomatoes, Salone certainly isn’t up to the standards that we’re used to, having grown up in Ohio with vegetable gardens and farmer’s markets. We get so little in the way of fresh vegetables here, though, that we get excited even about the sub-sub-par tomatoes that occasionally come our way. Yeah, I’d eat that.

Oyster cakes: fried donuts with dried oysters mixed in, served with a generous dusting of cayenne pepper and raw onions: this is actually Lara’s most frequent school lunch. Also, here’s a fun fact for you—oysters provide more protein and iron per ounce than almost anything, AND they taste like fishy pencil erasers. In a good way.

Termites! Roasted in oil with a bit of salt.  We’ve tried these. They were burnt and therefore not that good, but we ate them.

Giant grasshoppers—our neighbor girls, Fatu (16) and Hawa (11) have brought a few of these to show us. Apparently they are delicious fried. No one’s been willing to share their grasshoppers with us—they’re that sought-after. But if anyone decides to fry one up and pass it to us…yeah, I’d try eating that.

Gbengbe (water frogs) – This is another edible oddity that we’ve been spared so far solely because Sierra Leoneans love them so much they don’t bother “wasting” any on us publa [white people] who won’t appreciate them.  We can’t say that feeling isn’t mutual—we frequently keep goodies to ourselves on the pretense that they won’t be appreciated if we share them. Well, if anyone finally decides we deserve a shot at gbengbe, yeah, I’d eat that.

Binch Salad: lettuce, hard-boiled egg, spaghetti, and cooked beans topped with ketchup, mayonnaise, and pepper. Binch salad is a staple food of ours in Freetown, where we buy it from P-Money at his little stand right outside the Peace Corps compound. 

Acheke: gari [pounded dried cassava root], spaghetti, lettuce, hard boiled egg, fish or chicken, and raw onion topped with ketchup, mayonnaise, and pepper.  Lara loves this, Kevin doesn’t…but he’ll eat it in a pinch. Yeah, I’d eat that.

Street meat: that’s our name for any red meat that’s grilled and sold on a skewer in public places. We’ve taken to getting street meat sandwiches when we visit Bo, and we frequently buy it from car windows at stops along the Bo-Freetown highway when we’re traveling.  Yeah, I’d eat that—with onions and cayenne pepper on bread, pretty please.

Powdered “cheese sauce” mix: Kevin’s mom Jane has so far given us 3 bags of this stuff from GFS, and we are obsessed.  Enough said.

Cassava root—raw, boiled, mashed, grilled, dried, fermented (see below)—you name it. This is the most common tuber here. Visit a farm, and the farmer may just dig one up, wash it off, and hand it to you to cham [chew].  Once a friend gave us a variety they call “candy” and it tasted like a sweet carrot—delicious! Other varieties can taste more like raw potatoes or even chalk.  Cassava root has a not-insignificant amount of arsenic in it and apparently can be poisonous if you go to town eating it (I think it’s somewhat similar to the amount of arsenic in apple seeds—a few won’t hurt you but a stomach full could be fatal).  Well, arsenic or no, we’re into cassava root. Yeah, I’d eat that.

Foo Foo: fermented cassava root shaped into balls and then boiled, served with fish or chicken “soup” poured on top.  The foo foo is kind of sour, very sticky, and fairly bland. This used to be something we ate to be polite. Now, we actively pursue it and even find ourselves craving it. Kevin’s current favorite school lunch is foo foo and fish ball soup.  Times have changed.

Fish balls:  No, not the reproductive bits of fish. These are made of fish meat spiced up with pepper and other herbs, mixed with something to hold them together, and formed into quarter-size balls. They’re cooked with “soup” and served on top of foo foo or with bread. Fish ball and bean sandwiches are sold at my school during lunch.  If you close your eyes and ignore the bones, they taste somewhat like meatballs.  Yeah, I’d eat that.

Chicken balls: Yes, the reproductive bits of chickens. Turns out, they're scrumptious...if a little awkward to talk about.

Monkey/cat/squirrel/bush rat/mystery meat: as far as we know, we still haven’t eaten monkey or cat. I say “as far as we know,” because sometimes it’s better to just not ask.  (Yeah, I’d probably eat that—as long as it’s not a monkey or cat that I was acquainted with.)

Chicken feet: These show up all over the place and we frequently see people chowing down on them—most commonly sold along with soup or sandwiches on the street. As for us? Lara tried one once—she hardly got her teeth into it before she decided it was not for her, and offered it to the nearest child who gladly accepted it. Kevin has yet to try chicken feet and is fairly sure that he will not be attempting anytime soon—everyone’s got their own standards, after all.