Food, Drink, and Good Company

Just a little something about what we have available to consume, the local businesses, what is locally grown and produced, and what we cook up regularly. And some story telling.  

There are three types of shopping markets in Nanyuki town.  There is the new and very Western grocery store called the Nakumatt, there is a small type of convenience store that sells various but limited dried goods, fresh vegetables, beverages, milk products, and cooking utensils and appliances, and then there is a mainly produce and dried grain market that sells all sorts of dried grains in bulk and offers all of the locally produced fruits and vegetables.  And then there are rows of stands set up all over town offering seemingly random goods and services.  We are still figuring out where to go for the best prices (the African prices, not the Mgeni (foreign person) prices) and the best quality items.  Charles has been more than helpful.

Typical fruits and vegetables grown locally (which we have seen thus far):

Butternut squash

Lettuce

Cabbage

Roma tomatoes

Red onion

Red potatoes

Garlic

Green, yellow, red bell pepper

Kale

White button mushrooms

Asparagus

Green beans

Eggplant

Zucchini

Corn

Peas

Cayenne peppers

Limes

Lemons

Passion fruit

Bananas

Apples (not as common)

Oranges

Papaya/paw paw

Avocado (big and beautiful)

Strawberries

There is a large assortment of beans, lentils, and rice that we eat daily.  All usually accompanied by a vegetable and a tomato sauce.  Homemade tomato sauce goes on everything and it surprisingly complements EVERYTHING!

Yesterday in town we met a a U.S. ex-pat who have been living outside Nanyuki off and on since 1965.  We walked into the crowed Boulangerie Coffee Shop, and we joined her table.  She asked us if we were tourists.  We answered that no, we were here to live for a bit and would be doing some research.  She replied that we must be crazy, just like her :) She was very animated and very helpful concerning navigating the area.  She spoke enthusiastically, boisterously, binding her sermons in bitterness and sarcasm for about an hour straight.  I sat down and opened my laptop, only to hurriedly close it as she began her oration.    Bennett and I were excited to stumble upon such a character.  We have been invited to her farm to chat further and to most definitely hear more outlandish, and perhaps exaggerated, stories!

Our new acquaintance directed us to the best baker in town, a British guy, who bakes all kind of breads, carrot cake, and even “American” bagels. Come December his upper-story brick oven will be finished and he will be serving pizza!  Apparently the Nanyuki airport restaurant is also well known for their great food (although this coming from the woman who went on a fifteen minute rant, reminiscing, wishing she could only once again taste Red Lobster’s lobster and the delicacies that Sizzler offers) – and that is where we will find the current restaurant in possession of the title “Best pizza on the equator”.  Probably the only pizza on the equator!

The Boulangerie Coffee Shop is a popular, foreign-person-attracting, café that offers fresh pressed coffee (a much appreciated treat after our staple of instant coffee), cappuccinos and other fancy coffees, and for food: croquettes, pizzas, burgers (Bennett is happy), samosas, salads (!), and even milkshakes.  We really like it there. 

Our diet is pretty much the same as it was in San Diego – vegetarian and comprised of locally produced products, mostly of fresh vegetables and whole grains and legumes. At home we have a garden dotted with kale, lettuce, cayenne pepper, parsley, and passion fruit.  Bennett eats canned tuna once in a while and Mr. Noodle’s beef, chicken, or shrimp flavored soups.  We have yet to come across a good burrito. And luckily, due to the Indian influence, there are all the spices I could ever hope for.  Although I have yet to run into red pepper flakes.  I am rationing the contents of the McCormick’s Crushed Red Pepper that Bennett’s mom gave me on our way out the door :) The only thing, or really sensation, that we feel deprived of is COLD things.  In town we can find a fleetingly cold drink or cold salad, but at home everything is warm or hot. 

In town you can find an assortment of sugary soft drinks, juices, milk or yogurt drinks, bottled water etc.  The markets/grocery store have any of the more popular liquors, a variety of wines (the African versions mostly coming from South Africa), local beers and the more ubiquitous brands of Heineken and Guinness.  Chai tea is apparently the country’s most popular drink, but we have yet to have any.  Changa’a is the popular, home-brewed moonshine.  The government is currently debating its legalization.

 

Yesterday we were excited to find a brand of cracker at the Nakumatt that seemed to resemble the crackers that we are used to (most of the “crackers” here are biscuit like and sugary sweet).  Oh what I would do for some Saltines…  We even bought two blocks of different cheese, so that we could enjoy cheese and crackers with the boxed wine (only the best :) that we also bought.  But, by the time we returned four hours later, and not realizing that the cheese was sunbathing, our hopes were dashed.  Even Miguu and Black Cat (the other “house” cat) ran from it. 

Now more than ever we are particularly concerned and aware of our consumption of products, particularly those that are not biodegradable.  We have no recycling program in the bush, and all trash needs to be put somewhere (on our property) or burned.  I feel suffocated by the presence of so much packaging and flimsy containers, something that I am used to, but here it cannot be so easily discarded or forgotten about.  I am continually crunching my brain to think of uses for the empty containers and cringe when I have to throw a piece of crinkled plastic into the garbage pail.  Also, water, wow what an invaluable commodity.  Our accumulation of water here depends on the river, whose density depends on the rains (which are infrequent).  The plants, the crops, the animals, the livestock, the people die when there is no rain.  We are very careful to appropriately delegate its use. (To end on a lighter note :)

Maria