CHICKEN & RICE & EVERYTHING NICE

JIKO - African stove

As you can imagine, the foods that are prepared in Tanzania are quite different than what we are used to.  The night we arrived in Mwanza, after a long, tiring ride on the bus driven by a crazy man wearing a cake top hat, Julia had prepared for us a meal.  Keep in mind that is 10:30 pm by the time we sit down at the table.  No doubt we were hungry, and by now would eat anything within reason.  She had prepared rice, greens, & a tomato based sauce, and chips (which is our French fries).  When we sat down at the table, one of the girls walked to each person and held a pan for us to wash our hands as they poured the water.  The meal was delicious, but lacking in flavor as we are used to.  

The next morning we told Goodluck that we would like to prepare a meal for them.  Moses & his family were coming over to visit, so we thought this would be a good time to introduce them to a true Southern meal.  We had decided that we would cook chicken & rice.  When we asked them had they ever had chicken & rice, they say "sure!"   And they had - chicken - and rice - of course.  They had no idea what we were talking about.  They do not have the privilege of going to a grocery store for packaged chicken as we do. When they want chicken for their dinner, they go to the market place and get a live chicken.  This is going to be very, very interesting....When we arrived at the market, which is open with hundreds of people selling produce, fish, household items, you name it,it's there.  You walk thru narrow winding walkways with people calling for your attention to buy from them.  Goodluck takes us straight to the chicken cage.  How in the world he knew where to go is a mystery to me.  On the side of the walkway is a long cage with hundreds of chickens, all sizes & colors, cackling as if to say "don't pick me, please!"  Goodluck would point to a chicken and the man behind the cage would pick the chicken up by the neck for Goodluck to hold.  He would bob him up and down, trying to calculate the weight.  He did this about 3 times before he finally chose the chicken that we were going to have for dinner that night!  It was a pretty, red feathered chicken, very thin I thought, but what do I know?  We paid this man 7000 schillings, which would be about $4.50 USD.  Then the man took the chicken, holding it by its neck, still alive and kicking, to a table outside behind the building.  He handed the chicken to another man that had a knife in his hand.  I'm standing there looking at this table with men plucking feathers from chickens without a head, so I know what is about to happen to our pretty little red feathered chicken.  I couldn't watch, so I turned my head.  So I'm a wimp and proud of it, okay?  When I turned around, they were putting our chicken in a boiling bucket of water.  What are they doing!  They boil them alive?  No, they slit their throat, put them in hot water so they can pluck the feathers easier.  Oh, that's nice.  Once they had the chicken all defeathered and headless, they handed it back to us in a plastic bag.  He asked for 500 schillings, which is 50 cents in USD.  Watching this process just really takes away from the desire to cook chicken & rice.  But we've already promised, so I have to suck it up, put on my big girl pants & go for it!  

The kitchen is very, very different than what we are used to.  They do not have an electric or gas stove.  They cook on a charcoal cooker, called a Jiko.  They have a couple of them sitting on the floor of the kitchen.  There is no sink, just pans that hold water to wash dishes.  There are two little benches that you sit on while you cook.  The girls prepared the water for us to boil the chicken.  They had never done this before, and they asked many questions as we were preparing the chicken to be boiled.  Once the chicken was boiled, we removed it, and put the rice in the chicken broth.  Wow!  What are we doing?  This was so intriguing to them.  Then we cut the boiled chicken up and once the rice was done, we put the chicken back in the rice.  

When we sat down to eat, Moses, his wife Martha, & their children were there.  Moses asked where is the chicken?  He thought we were making chicken & rice.  We explained to him the chicken was in the rice.  He couldn't believe it.  When they took the first bite, it was so amazing to hear the "wow!'s, the Yummm's".  They were so excited to eat something different and with flavor.   Spices are not very expensive, but when you have so little or no income, only the necessities are purchased.  Many times, they go without even the necessities.  They are still talking about this "chicken & rice" dinner and how excited they are that they will be able to cook something so delicious for their family.  As we were preparing this meal, I recited the poem "Sugar and spice & everything nice, that's what little girls are made of.  Snips & snails & puppy dog tails, that's what little boys are made of".  Oh, my Maombi & Esther laughed and laughed.  They had never heard that before.....go figure.

On Thursday night, Eddie and I cooked vegetable soup and fried chicken breasts for them.  I know that years ago, raising chickens was all you had, but today we go to the grocery store and buy processed chickens.  The difference between the two is like night and day.  The chickens that they buy at the market are fresh chickens so poorly fed, and to get a lot meat from the chicken is not very likely.  Not to mention that it is like chewing leather, it's so tough.  We found an actual grocery store in Mwanza, that sells canned goods and had a frozen meat section.  You probably have pictured in your mind Publix, WinnDixie & WalMart.  Forget that picture because it is far from what we are accustomed to.  We did buy a package of frozen chicken breasts however.  There were about 8 breasts in the package.  Goodluck & Julia had never seen anything like this before.  So much we take for granted, so much.  We made the vegetable soup with our usual ingredients of corn, peas, carrots, potatoes, onions and spices.  We had brought spices from home.  Then with the chicken that was left, we cut each breast in half, battered and fried it.   Once this meal was prepared and served, Goodluck, Julia, Maombi & Esther couldn't stop licking their fingers and lips!!  The frozen, processed chicken cost 8000 schillings, which was about 500 schilling more than the live, tough to chew chicken.  They were amazed at the meat that they were eating from this chicken.  

If I told you that we were having chicken & rice or vegetable soup for dinner, you would say "big deal', and think no more of it.  But these are meals that are completely new to these people.  They eat rice almost every meal with a tomato based gravy, along with greens.  They have no idea what it is to eat something with flavor.  The spices we brought they will cherish and use very sparingly so they will last a long time.

Eddie & Goodluck frying chicken & making "chips"

Stop for just a minute as you read this and thank God for your life.  We are so blessed.  We take so much for granted as we live each day with our conveniences.  We think nothing of it when we grab a Coke or eat a package of crackers.  When they have a Coke, or a cookie, it's a special treat and means that they are sacrificing something of need for it. 

Maombi & Esther