Day's Diary

May 19, 2007 ~ Eating Malawian

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Beth Merry, her daughter Heather and 10 of her students from Waynesburg College have been in Malawi since May 9th. They have been doing work projects in various places within Blantyre Synod. This Thursday they arrived at Domasi, just a short distance from Zomba. I had arranged ahead of time to have them come and have dinner with us – Silas, Margaret and part of the college family. I had planned to serve them American food, but when I was with them last week, I realized that because they were doing all their own cooking to save money (after all, they are college students), that they were not experiencing Malawian food. Alinafe volunteered to cook a truly Malawian meal for them and they eagerly accepted.

During the course of the planning of this, the event grew. Margaret Ncozana wanted to help, rather than just come, since she is an expert Malawian cook. Alinafe had mentioned this to Bessie and to the wife of one of the students, Mrs. Kananji, who is a good friend of hers, and they both offered to help. This was getting bigger and bigger. So was the menu. What started out as rice, nsima, relish and chicken had grown into a feast of chambo (fish), pumpkin leaf relish, fried cabbage salad, sweet potatoes in ground nut flour, and not just chicken, but village chicken cooked over an open fire, and Malawian banana bread for dessert.

Bessie and Mrs. Kananji chopping pumpkin leaves

Preparations began early Friday morning with a trip to the open air market in Zomba. I was the driver and Margaret and Alinafe had the shopping list. They very politely told me to stay in the truck and wait because if I went to the market with them they would not get the best price because the vendors would see the mzungu (white person) and charge more. So I dutifully sat and waited. About 40 minutes later they returned with bags of produce, so many that they couldn’t carry them alone and had paid a young woman from one of the shops to carry the heaviest bag. After some debate, Margaret instructed me to drive up to the upper side of the market so they could buy the village chicken. I knew that this meant live chicken. I said I would drive but I wouldn’t watch. I don’t like it when my dinner looks me in the eye. But that was true for the chambo, too. They had purchased two dozen whole fish that needed to be cleaned and cooked. We deposited Margaret and the chickens at her house and came to ours to begin the preparations. I had to leave at 11 a.m. to teach a class and left Alinafe to move forward. That was the best anyway, since I am not a Malawian cook.

I returned shortly after noon to a flurry of activity in my back yard. The electrical power had gone out short after 11 a.m. (this is a daily occurrence) but that was not an issue since most of the cooking was being done on charcoal burners, the Malawian way. Alinafe, Bessie, Mrs. Kananji and Ella (my house help) were all busy cleaning, chopping and cooking. They were sitting on the back steps or on the ground working while their children played within eye shot, in the back yard. They were chatting in Chichewa and having a wonderful time working together. I realized there was nothing I could do to help but I was delighted to watch and listen. At one point I was sent to Margaret’s to get more ground nut flour and take her some green peppers. When I arrived there, the scene was much the same. She was cooking the chicken over an open fire in her special pot and her house help was stirring a pot of steaming sweet potatoes.

Margaret cooking the chicken

Mid afternoon I set up the living room for 24 dinner guests, moving chairs, repositioning tables and adding chairs that Thomas and Charles had brought from the chapel to make enough seating for everyone. Then I headed off to Domasi to help transport the girls. This was a truly Malawian event, complete with riding in the back of the trucks.

The girls were fascinated with all the preparations when they arrived which was just in time to help make the nsima. Bessie was in charge of this part of the meal and she had decided to do it on the stove, since the power was back on. So she had an enormous kettle on the stove with water boiling. Nsima is made by gradually adding ufa (corn flour) to the boiling water until it is a thick consistency (but not too thick – that is the trick!) and stirring constantly. Then it is spooned out into a large bowl in large patty shaped portions, which are taken and used as spoon or fork for eating the meal. Bessie is very adept at stirring and spooning this, since she has been doing it since she was about eight years old. The girls were delighted to watch and were thrilled when they were given the opportunity to help.

Once everything was prepared and on the table, Margaret gave the introduction to all the food and instructions in how to eat with hands (Malawian fashion with the nsima). She carefully instructed the girls that once their hands were washed, they were not to dry them since the moist hand helped in shaping the nsima. Once they had their plates filled, they were seated and they were ready to eat. They were to pull off a small part of the nsima and roll it in their fingers until it was soft and pliable, then make a pocket in it and scoop up the relish or salad or meat with it. They were a bit puzzled, but willing to try. We prayed and then Bessie attended to the hand washing. This is done by the individual extending her hands over a basin while someone (in this case Bessie) pours water over the hands as they are rubbed together and the excess water shaken off. This is done at all Malawian meals. Hand washing is a ritual here.

The girls eagerly participated and not one of them took a fork — each was truly Malawian in her eating. They had fun laughing together as they got the hang of the nsima and fingers. But I think they were greatly relieved to learn that hand washing ends the meal as well. That solved the problem of sticky fingers. They delighted in the food and the cooks delighted in their eating of it. They loved sharing their food and traditions with these American girls, who for a short time were Malawian.