Oh Canada. A place where endless choice exists when it comes to food. We have global variety available at the grocery store for reasonable prices. We have too many good restaurants to choose from. We have fast food, frozen food, junk food and fresh food. We are usually able to eat what we want, when we want. As you might have guessed, that isn’t exactly the case in Rwanda. Jackie has said to me many times, “we don’t eat what we want, we eat what we have.” And at first, I didn’t fully comprehend the difference between the two.
Breakfast for my Rwandan family is maize porridge. I eat the maize porridge most days, but sometimes I get oatmeal. Yesterday I got oatmeal, and to be honest, it was a struggle to eat it. This morning, the thought of oatmeal or maize porridge made my stomach turn. Even though I didn’t want to, I had to refuse the porridge and ask for something different.
My brothers and sisters here seem to have no problem with the porridge every morning. Today Jackie asked Frank, “Do you like eating maize porridge every morning?” to which he responded, “I wish we had it every morning!” He was half joking, but I know there have been times when they couldn’t afford breakfast.
A short time later, with a delicious omelet in front of me, I broke down. I cried because I felt unworthy of the privilege of having a choice. I cried because I thought about people here who feel like I do, but don’t have a choice. I cried because every day I see my family here eat porridge and they don’t have a choice. I cried because I understood a bit more of what it means to “eat what you have, not what you want.”
My yummy omelet
Lunch consists of a carbohydrate (rice, plantain, maize) and sauce with a few veggies. They usually make me extra vegetables, sweet potato or something else special.
Plantain & Veggies
Dinner might be rice or plantain (sometimes both), bugali (a carb made from cassava flour), along with cabbage and a few veggies in a peanut or tomato sauce, or even rice and beans with a few veggies thrown in. I am certain I am the only one who gets more than one serving of vegetables per day. Their plates are usually just filled with rice or bugali and topped with a little sauce. They also give me the most fruit and will consistently ask me what else they can make for me.
Their typical plate
And, to be honest, I’m still struggling with the food. It isn’t that it tastes bad - the avocado and passion fruit are the best I’ve ever tasted! I just miss the variety I am used to and having meat on a daily basis (a luxury not afforded for this family). Since I have been here, they have eaten goat a couple times (I couldn’t stomach it) and we have had beef a couple times as well. Oh, and we had one of our turkeys butchered for Liam’s birthday over a month ago. I didn’t have any though; I knew it was such a special thing so I wanted them and their guests to eat it.
Passion fruit
Avocado fresh off the tree
Jackie told me she didn’t even realize that some people “eat what they want” until she spent some time in America. She was twenty-something before someone asked her what she wanted to eat. She had never been given that choice before - something we take completely for granted. Again I am humbled by the privilege of my life.
In Kigali there is one decent size grocery store that imports food from all over the world. There is decent variety and choice, but many people will never shop here. One pound of butter from Ireland is $8.00; a large bag of marshmallows from Spain is $23.00; one box of Rice Krispies cereal - $11.00; you get the idea. For many Rwandans, especially those living on less than $2.00 per day, these goods are completely out of reach. They eat what is available to them at an affordable price - typically the foods I described above and not much else. They don’t have a choice if they want to survive.
Beans and maize
I can ‘tough it out’ for two more weeks here. And I could just buy all my own food or eat out at restaurants more often. Things I want to eat are available to me. But I will do my best to eat what is served and let this teach me about the world I live in, you live in, we live in.
Please enjoy your next meal! We will enjoy ours – particularly because we know that some of our neighbors will go without.
Making Rice Krispie Squares over coals (Yes, I splurged and bought the $11 Rice Krispies and the $23 bag of marshmallows, worth every penny!)
A lucky day: omelet, cabbage & veggies, rice
Frank making cabbage
Jackie and I enjoying some maize roasted over the fire - a delicious treat!
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