Swazi Food

Swaziland is both food and water insecure, meaning it does not grow enough food to support the population and there is a shortage of potable water. We are lucky to have a water tap at both our current homestead and the permanent  one we will move to at the end of August.  We still need to boil, filter, and bleach the water, but won't have to carry it a long distance.  

Maize is the food staple of the country.  Mealie meal, ground corn, is made into a variety of porridges, like incwancwa -sour porridge  which is delicious.  Our host family serves lipalishi with chicken and delicious local spinach.  This meal, however, is only eaten with fingers.  Also, when they do use utensils, they only eat with spoons.  We have gotten very used to eating this way. Lipalishi looks like congealed grits and has no flavor.  Meat is expensive though our families raises chickens to eat. They eat a small portion of chicken, and veggies and a very large portion of white rice or mealie meal.  I brought a fruit salad to dinner recently.  When I served large portions of cooked carrots, our family said it was "healthy" and I am not sure that was a compliment!

There are good supermarkets, but in our rural community we can only find limited staples.  I walked to a local farm this week and they pulled from their field  a cabbage, beets and spinach for me.  I know how to ask for those foods in SiSwati,  but their English is better than my SiSwati.  We have to soak fresh veggies and fruits in processed, clean water with drops of bleach for 15 minutes .  It is wonderful to have garden fresh food.  There are lots of oranges, bananas, apples available.  We have avocado trees on our homestead and have been given papayas. Our family grows sweet potatoes.  They bake them in the coals of their fire and bring them to us hot.  

We didn't realize we'd be giving up drinking wine.  There is wine available, but we are putting so much energy into out training that we don't really miss it.  Instead we treat ourselves to hot cocoa in the late afternoon and early mornings.  We have tried the local Swazi beer and one from SA which are both tasty.  

So we are eating well and so far have had only minor tummy rumbles.