Thoughts about Food

As a vegetarian traveling in countries where vegetarianism (by choice) is not the norm, one does not expect to find much in the way of culinary excitement. Especially when you get off the beaten track a little bit. At the further detriment to my diet is my habit of 12hour bus journeys which pretty much limits both breakfast and lunch to meals one can buy through the bus window. In Tanzania when these days were more common, most of my protein came from peanuts, and carbs from biscuits (they call cookies, biscuits here [pronounced: 'bis-quit'] which makes them much easier to eat for breakfast). Plus the occasional banana, and of course a multi-vitamin every morning to balance it off. Dinners I am at least not usually in motion.

In Tanzania it was a lot of rice and beans, but that was fine, because I like rice and beans. When there was a little local spinach or some fresh chapatis I was pretty content. What makes all the difference is the hot sauce. And hot sauce is ubiquitous, but I've found it varies quite considerably by country. Despite the dozens of tribal and ethic groups within these haphazard borders created by spurious European conquistadors, it seems that pili-pili is truly unified nationally. In Tanzania the hot sauce was pretty mediocre, heavily processed, in ketchup looking containers, light colored, but quite adequate; it got the job done. In Malawi on the other hand, the hot sauce was exceptional. There is a local brand called Nali, made from "birdseye" peppers, that had a great flavor, they even have a garlic variety (pictured). Unfortunately in Rwanda the hot sauce is uniformly terrible. Even house-made stuff still has this distinct terrible taste, that is shared by all Rwandan hot sauce. It is hot, but the flavor is revolting. Fortunately, Rwandan food has other things going for it.

Rwanda like everywhere else I've been is pretty big on meat. I'm sure most Rwandans would choose to eat meat at every meal if they could afford it. However, another thing that seems to be very popular is buffets. I'm not sure if this is a Franco/Belgian thing left over from colonialism (the word sounds French to me, but it's hard to imagine Parisians digging into the steam tables like there counterparts here at the equator) or a homegrown institution, but they are widespread. And not only are they cheap, to be successful they have to have a lot of dishes, and that means vegetables! They aren't all the best quality, but after a strict rice and beans diet (which even I get tired of if it's more than once a day), the variety (if not the hot sauce) is the spice of lunch (sorry).

I am still refining me buffet dish selection process (these buffets are not to be confused with their American "all you can eat" cousins, you pay by the plate, so visual decision making is key), but suffice it to say that I am eating a far greater variety of plant species. And though I am still religiously taking my vitamins, Rwandan is of course the place that I got my first cold since Ethiopia..