Naam

Naka sed bi? Metti na!

That means how’s the cold? It hurts, huh! The funny part is I’m serious. It gets down to the mid 60’s, maaaybe the low 60’s at night as well as in the morning, and this is the type of conversation that circulates. Me, Mr. ‘I grew up in Chicago, I will never be cold in Africa’, I too was freezing my butt off last night! I was wearing the sweats and still shivering, dreaming about the searing hot weather of previous days…funny how quickly your body gets accustomed to the surrounding climate.

Senegalese Food (Naam)
Most Senegalese food has one consistent component: ceb (pronounced cheb)- more widely known as rice. There is ceb u xonq and ceb u weer (white rice and red rice). There is ceb u jin (rice and fish), ceb u yapp (rice and beef), ceb u ginaar (rice and chicken). Most other dishes have rice as the base of the meal even if the word ceb is not in the name. Yassa ginaar (my favorite dish), for example is rice with an onion sauce and chicken. Another money one is the mafet, which is rice with peanut sauce and usually beef. The peanut sauce has a bunch of pepper in it though; it’s different from a Thai peanut sauce. The other constant in Senegalese food is copious amounts of palm oil, which is heavy but I dig. I really like Senegalese food. It is repetitive, but I’m not that picky of an eater. The only thing I refuse to eat is this okra sauce they have occasionally in addition to ceb u jin which tastes and looks like salty green snot.

My mere recitation of the names of these dishes can send the Senegalese into fits of laughter. It’s even funnier than when they ask me who my mom and dad are, and I reply Cheikh Niang & Aminta Gueye (my host family parents; don’t worry mom and dad, I haven’t forgotten you). Yes, I am now a comedic genius.

Meals take place family style around a big bowl (maybe two feet in diameter). In my family, and in many places I have seen, the men eat from a different bowl than the women. So I saddle up on my foot-high stool around the bowl with my dad and my four brothers as eight or so women gather ‘round the other bowl. Most of the time we eat with spoons, but I have eaten the proper African way, with my hand. The deal is, you have to pack the rice into a ball and get the ball onto your fingers, not your palm, for consumption. The rest of the time we use baguette bread as a kind of scooper to eat.

I am blessed, as my family eats very well. They tell me that I eat too slowly and I think that I am spoiled with disproportionate amounts of meat & vegetables, but I never leave hungry. Hearing village dwelling volunteers talk about plain rice and skipped meals makes me grateful that I am where I am. Lekkal!