Thursday, February 2, 2012

Good Eats

Tonight, my family ate more than usual for dinner, but it was spread out in phases. In general, the Senegalese have a big meal at lunch, around 2, and a lighter dinner around 9/9:30. Some people snack, but definitely not like we do in America. So tonight was odd for me. I thought I had the routine down pretty well. Dinner is usually either pasta with meat, soup, salad with fish, peas with meat and other veggies, or some kind of lentil dish. My family usually has fruit either before or after diner, and we always have baguette.

Tonight, however, it went like this:

7:20pm: My mom and I ate laax which is a warm yogurt millet mixture. My family likes to add fruit. Tonight it was orange, pineapple, and banana. It's good for your digestive system.

8:15pm: We all shared some pizza with giant olives, mushroom, and a salty meat I would describe as a pig derivative but my family is devoutly Muslim. My sisters put ketchup on it, which I thought was bizarre, though not as bizarre as the fact that we were eating pizza. It was my first pizza in over a month!

8:40: We all share a giant papaya. I like papaya, though not as much as I like the thought of papaya.

9:20pm: I ate with two of my sisters. One said she was full, and my mom just ate more laax. We had a very spicy and incredibly delicious soup. It might be my favorite food item thus far. One of my sisters asked if it were too spicy for me. She was surprised when I responded, "deedeet, neex na lool" (Nope, it was really delicious!). She nodded approvingly and said that for most Americans she knows, it was too spicy.

Overall, it was a strange culinary evening in the Samb home. But I loved everything, so no complaints here.

Reer bi neex na lool; leggi suur naa. Dinner was delicious; now I am full.

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