Would you like rice with that?

Sierra Leoneans would say if you haven’t had rice, you haven’t eaten. This rings true and nearly every dish is served with rice, with the welcomed exceptions of potatoes or cassava. Food has been a real adventure in both content and establishing when my next meal will be.

Potato leaf and cassava leaf sauces are very common in the southern region. Leaves are generally boiled in bright orange palm oil along with numerous spices, peppers and typically fish. Once I got past the look, I have generally enjoyed the flavor—thankfully, because I don’t have an option. Other dishes include gren gren, chicken and fish “soup” and occasionally pork, almost always served with rice. Pineapple is almost always available and I am seeing more bananas too. Fresh fruit is a reprieve from the constant heavy meals.

I have heard many Sierra Leoneans mention that it is difficult to live at Njala. In addition to no clean water source, food can be difficult to come by…especially after 2pm. There is a small market in nearby village, where cassava and potato leaves, spices, rice and fish are always available. Sometimes a woman or child will walk around with raw goat meat or pork for sale—balancing the platter of individually sacked meat on their head. A store next to the market sells dry milk in small packets, luncheon meat, rice and a few other goods. There is no consistent supply of eggs, though the university has a laying facility—this merits another blog post.

The few restaurants here do not always have food for sale. More than once have Lexi and I attempted the establishments to encounter a sign that said “no food or bread.”

Since the “kitchen” facilities are quite different, and I have never encountered many of the ingredients before coming to Sierra Leone, I don’t cook…though I am slowly learning. Kr. Koroma is has secured at least one meal a day for Lexi and I, though we never know when it will appear on the dinning room table, or who it will come from. We are quite resourceful though—I brought lots of snacks, and we also buy bread and spread Laughing Cow cheese, one of the few items we can purchase from the store. Lexi found some honey and we discovered groundnut paste…something close to peanut butter.

The hospitality here never allows us to go “hungry.” I hate to use that word now to describe that small sensation in my stomach because hunger is a serious issue in this country. Balance diets or 3 meals a day are not the norm…even for college students. Everyone here, however, makes sure we are well taken care of.

Thank the Lord, I haven’t been sick from food yet. Within the first few days I got over wondering whose hands prepared my food and if they were clean, and if the food that is room temperature safe to eat. I am just thankful to have food in a country that struggles so hard to feed itself.

Though it has been an adventure, I know I am becoming acclimated when dinnertime comes around and I find myself craving an African dish.

Joyful Journeys,

Julie

PS: I plan to consume coffee, ice cream, a hearty American breakfast food, fresh vegetables and a tall glass of cold milk each day for a month when I get back.

Coffee and cocoa are major exports in Sierra Leone, but with no processing plants available, they must import the final product. Lexi and I have come to enjoy hot cocoa in the tropics.

Beef and fried bananas. YUMMY!

Cassava leaves and rice. This is a local favorite, but there have only been a few time I can say I really enjoyed this dish.

Sippin on coconut milk. I didn't really care for it.

Jesse cooked up this amazing dish. Sweet potatoes and pork. These potatoes are a favorite.

Just kidding!

One of my favorite (and most spicy) meals! Rice with chicken sauce.

One of my breakfast favorites. A lady comes around to sell this rice soup by the spoonful. We add bread, sugar and powdered milk. This is more common (and better tasting) in the north, but I don't complain one bit the mornings she is selling.

Palm wine and the jug it was purchased in...for only 50 cents. It was a little bitter, but I enjoyed it!

Fufu, which is ground cassava paste, and gren gren sauce. This, I was informed, is better when eaten with your hands.

Grapefruit given to me by a farmer.

Cassava (boiled) is second to rice as a staple. This dish was served with beans.

It's the end of the mango season, but I was able to secure a few from the end of the harvest.

This lady is roasting groundnuts, or what we know as peanuts.

Spaghetti with fish.

A very typical meal. Rice with potato leaf sauce. Just pour this spicy stuff over the rice and you got a lunch!

Gotta love pineapple season in Sierra Leone. Lucky for me I'm in the "pineapple belt." Cheap, delicious pineapple.

Spaghetti with luncheon meat.

Rice with goat meat. Unfortunately Lexi found a piece with hair still attached.

Homemade ginger beer that the animal science secretary makes. Numerous students each day stop to purchase a liter for Le1,000 (25 cents).

Fried fish with a yummy onion sauce.

Fried eggs and bread for breakfast. More tasty than they look.

One of my first African meals: checked rice (rice with green stuff) and fish sauce.

Delicious sweet bread from The Arc.

Meat pies from The Arc.

This is an orange that was green on the outside...however it was sweet! Strangely, we were told told to eat the orange like this...squeezing it into our mouth.