Eating manners and cooking

 First time I dipped my hand in the food bowl I felt like back in the childhood – throwing it all over the table, myself and others. Barely anything gets into the mouth. That is exactly how it was…food was on the floor, on my lap and all over my face and my hand, and some in my mouth. Since then I have improved my eating capability using a hand.

The meals in The Gambia are served in the communal food bowl. The bowl is usually placed on the ground or a mat and people gather around it. One MUST eat only with one’s right hand, because left is used for cleaning oneself in the bathroom. The rice or other grain like millet or sorghum (which I have not tried yet) is the main part of the meal. In the middle of the bowl filled with rice the sauce with some vegetables is placed. Family who can afford meat or fish in the bowl, add that too. One eats only from the area closest to him/her going towards the middle. The eating goes like this: small pieces of vegetable, meat or fish (if available) are parted and mixed in with rice and sauce in the bowl. Small amount of the mixture then is picked with the hand, rolled in the ball so it sticks together and placed in the mouth. The process is repeated again and again until the belly is filled. If one needs to get a food item on the other side of the bowl, he should not reach and ask for the other person to move the item closer to the middle. I was told that one should not speak while eating, but I have had different experiences with that. Also when one gets satisfied he should move away from the bowl. When I eat with my family I constantly get encouraged to eat more: “Fatou, a domo!” (Fatou, eat!). Eh, there is only so much rice I can fit in my belly.

If the family is large then few bowls of food can be served: one for men, one for women and children (or children can have their own one too).

If you pass by the people who are enjoying their meal, they always, by tradition, invite you to eat with them. It does not matter if they do not have enough food – they always share it with you.

My family usually makes domada (peanut sauce with meat), durango (tomato based sauce with vegetables and fish usually), kucca (mashed sorrel leaves with bonny fish), benachin (fried rice), and rice porridge. The lunch is considered a meal of the day, which we eat at 2-3pm. Dinner is usually the same as lunch served close to 9pm. On rare occasions my host moms make rice porridge for dinner, which I really like. So rice, rice and more rice!

On several occasions I helped my host mom to cook benachin for lunch. It is a quite lengthy process and takes several hours to prepare (as every meal). First – trip to the market to purchase the ingredients. The beans are soaked and cooked separately before anything else. Then if the fish is served it is cleaned and washed. The black pepper is pounded (hmm… in pounder (?)) together with the hot peppers, onions, tomato and tomato paste. Then another pot is placed on the fire (they cook meals on open fire) with oil in which the fish is fried. After frying is completed the pounded ingredients are added to the oil and cooked for a bit. Then the water is added. The sauce again is simmered for a short while. Then vegetables such as bitter tomato, cassava and cabbage (never chopped) are added. In the meantime the rice is cleaned and washed. When vegetables are fully cooked, they are removed from the sauce and rice placed in the pot. It is also a time for bouillon (Jumbo) and salt. When the rice is cooked beans are mixed in together. Benachin is placed in a bowl, cooked vegetables and fish are placed on the top of it. Viola – meal is ready!