Last Saturday, Danielle and I took on the challenge of preparing American food for our family. We wanted to give the women of our family a day off, so we made both lunch and dinner. For lunchtime, we decided to to a brunch since the Senegalese don’t really eat breakfast food much, a typical breakfast is bread with butter and jam, or chocolate spread (healthy, right...). So, we made a fruit salad, omelets, and french toast. For dinner we made spaghetti with chicken strips, homemade sauce, and a salad.
In order to buy food, first we went to the Marché Tilene with our host sister Kanjo (nickname for Therese, fyi). It wasn’t exactly open air, but in a big warehouse like building. Everything from carrots, cucumbers, onions, garlic, and parsley to all types of fish, beef, and shrimp are sitting out on wooden stands. There were also many different types of grains, beans, and spices that you could measure out in any quantity. Also, we bought fruit for our fruit salad outside in a row of fruit vendors. We got grapes, oranges, apples, and bananas.
All of our purchases included some haggling over price (especially the fruit), but I got the impression that people don’t haggle over food as much as other stuff. Since food is something that is a regular purchase, the price seems to be more set, although my sister Kanjo told me that prices of certain vegetables and fruits do go up during the winter when they’re not in season.
After going to the Marché Tilene, the supermarket (which is called Casino), and this little corner boutique in our neighborhood, we finally had all the ingredients we needed. The cooking itself went pretty well. Although our family has a stove, only one burner works, so we used that one in addition to a separate gas tank and burner. For lunch Danielle was in charge of the omelettes, and I made the french toast (which we had to explain was not actually French). I think my french toast came out well, although the only bread I could find was thinner than ideal. Sliced sandwich bread like in the States is pretty rare here because everyone eats bagettes, so the only sliced loaf bread we found was sliced thinly.
The act of Danielle and I cooking was very interesting to the women in our family. We wanted to give them a day off, but everyone stayed home to watch us cook, which kind of defeated the point, but that was their choice. Kanjo, Virginie, Anne Marie, and even Mama to some extent gathered around the door to the kitchen to watch how we were making things, which turned out to be helpful when we needed a pot or couldn’t get the stove to light. At one point a neighbor came over to get something, and when she saw we were cooking she decided to come back when it was done to try the American food we were making. And, sure enough as we were cleaning up brunch she was back to try some of the leftovers. It was quite the spectacle, complete with pictures and everything (on Danielle’s camera, so I can’t put any up...).
By the time we got to dinner, our family had adjusted to the idea of us cooking some more, so they relaxed some and left us alone more. For dinner, I was in charge of the chicken, since Danielle didn’t want to tackle cutting the meat off the bird since it still had feet and a head. After I sawed off the feet and head it looked much more normal and wasn’t too hard from there. While I was cutting up the chicken, Danielle made sauce for the spaghetti and a vinaigrette salad dressing. Then we just washed veggies and lettuce for the salad and boiled some pasta, and voila, an American-Italian meal (which was fitting since both Danielle and I are part Italian).
In general, our family seemed really happy that we cooked for them, and they told us that we were the first foreign students they’ve had who tried to cook anything. I don’t understand this because MSID told us that we should try at least one meal, but I guess a lot of students don’t listen to these instructions. All in all, although we spent the whole day shopping, cooking or sleeping, I was satisfied with our work. Making food for 10 people every day is a lot of work, and I admire the time and energy the women in our house put into food preparation. Excepting one incident where we tried to cook over a plastic pot, which was silver and looked metal, I think Danielle and I proved ourselves fairly competent in the kitchen, which is good since next year I’ll actually be responsible for cooking for myself on a regular basis. And, in case you were wondering nothing really bad happened to the pot. It turned a little black on the bottom, but Cathy saved it before it melted, and aside from a little excitement and embarrassment all ended well.
Love,
Mel
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