Table for Malawi

Ever since George W Bush goofed up the saying, “working hard to put food on the table”, we have been enjoying a joke in our household which might be spoken if Ryan's had a really long day at work, or if I have been spending the hard earned dollars, I will look at Ryan and quote the past president, “You're working hard to put food ON your family”, we share a laugh and a smile and move onto the next thing. But here in Malawi, food is survival, and April is D-Day for families as they harvest their crops and bag them into storage for a year of feeding hungry mouths.

(maize drying in the sun)

I can remember watching Channel 9 or ABC news with my Dad and they would be talking about the rains in a part of the world that I didn't know. The announcer would muster up pity in her eyes and voice and speak of the famine in a place called Ethiopia, or the excess rains in a place called Thailand. I had no concept of what this weather dialogue really meant. Yet, here in Malawi I have been listening to our workers as they chat about the rain, and I have witnessed the relief in their eyes as they finish their harvest and say “this year the rain has been good”. What they are saying is, “this year, we won't go hungry, this year we will have food enough to eat.”

(maize field ready for harvest)

Food is a really simple fare in Malawi. For most people it involves maize as the staple and accompanying relishes or fruits and veggies as they come into and out of season.

(women picking the dry maize from the stalk)

In October the people begin to ridge up the dirt to get ready for planting. Maxwell tells me they ridge the dirt so the water can collect between the ridges and feed the crops. Although this dirt ridging is a debated topic amongst western trained farmers who argue that if you grow on the plain you can triple your outcome.

(Mamma Gringer hard at work taking the kernels off the cobs)

One day in November Duncan (our veteran gardener) started chatting with Maxwell and pointing to the skies. I could tell they were discussing the rain. I remembered all the news programs I watched as a child and imagined that the reporters were talking about Duncan's field. I realized, these are the people who have no food when the rains aren't good, these are the people stretching out their hands for a bite to eat when their crops were ruined. I began to pay attention to their way of life, asking if each worker needed time to go home to plant their fields. The rain seemed to be falling on and off since our arrival in late September, but sometime in early November there is one rainfall that signals “planting season”. Malawians will be walking down the street with their hoes atop their heads, walking to market with their hoes under their arms, almost going to church with a hoe in tow!

For one acre of earth you will need a 5kg bag of seed which costs around $9 USD. This cost is incurred each and every year since the seed is genetically modified and only matches with a fertilizer made by the same company. Each acre takes 2 bags of fertilizer and costs $35 USD per bag. Monsantos and Seedco are making lots of money while Malawians who are unemployed scramble to find enough kwacha to pay in advance so they can eat for a year.

(Benson and Maxwell compare cobs)

Rains fall and this season is marked by how much or how little has fallen. As April looms, people are worried that there is too much rain too late and the maize will mold on the stalk. But by the end of April most people have completely harvested their fields. The cobs are then shucked and the kernels are plucked off by running ones thumbs underneath each kernel in a method known in Chichewa as “Kusola”. It seems to me that this whole process is done mostly by the Malawian women, and as I watch a grandma dig her thumbs into the cobs of maize, I notice the callus on her thumbs which have toughened up from years of harvesting.

(village kids watching the women while they harvest)

“Kupeta” is shaking the kernels to get rid of the husky parts before storing the kernels.

After “Kusola” the maize is laid out on mats to dry in the sun.

Before bagging the kernels for storage, Arctelyc is dusted inside the bag to prevent rats and other vermin from enjoying it before the family gets a chance. Most Malawians will have a store room in their home or a separate house for storage of their maize. A family of 3-4 will need around 20bags of maize (50kg per bag) for one year.

(the old cobs are stored and used as kindling for fires)

(Bready is hopeful at lunch time for some Nsima from our guys)

Milling the kernels is done at local mills and costs $1.15USD for 25kg of maize. The fresher the grind the better the maize flour tastes.

Lunch and Supper are the main meals of the day consisting of a large portion of Nsima (maize flour with water), and relish. For breakfast, either nothing is eaten, or a cream of wheat style porridge called “Phala” is made with watered down maize flour and sugar.

(Bonongwe)

The favorite relish is fried chicken, but it's also very expensive so it's not eaten often. Other preferred relishes include; eggs, bonongwe (like baby spinach), beans, string green beans, pumpkin leaves, or cabbage (although Samson tells me that cabbage is for the very poor man).

(Duncan preparing Bonongwe at lunchtime)

We enjoy the local fare a few times a week, but are fortunate like most of you reading this blog that we have much variety in our daily cuisine, and most fortunate that our yearly survival does not hinge on the rainfall or the crops we have planted.

(I asked Maxwell if the Nsima was ruined because of this bug, and he said "oh no, now it is better")

Here's how to make a real Malawian dish:

Nsima:

2 cups of water (bring to the boil)

stir in 3 cups of maize flour and stir constantly until a thick mixture forms.

Serve immediately.

Relish (one of my favorites)

Saute 1 onion with oil

Add 2 chopped tomatoes and continue to simmer down

Add 6 cups of spinach or baby spinach or pumpkin leaves and cook for 4 mins.

Season with salt and pepper, or beef style seasoning and serve with Nsima or rice.

Beans:

Pressure cook 2 cups of dried beans (soaked overnight)

add one packet of Lipton onion soup mix and serve with Nsima (or rice) and green relish.

“Nthongo” refers to 'balling' the Nsima with your fingers.

A newspaper article written about Malawi states, “If a Malawian has not eaten Nsima, he/she will feel like he/she has not eaten a meal”.

This year I am grateful to see that the harvest has indeed been good, that panic is not present, and that food should be plentiful for the year to come. There is something very enticing about living so simply where you grow your own food, where your survival is so basic. No frills living. But while that dream might catch my imagination for a moment, I have to admit, that it only makes me more thankful that I eat a variety of meals, that my level of luxury is not indicated by which type of relish I might have for supper but mostly that even though we sometimes feel so poor, this living reminds me that the excess for which my heart might wander is just that – an excess.