Wednesday, December 26, 2018

FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD

"Food is the most primitive form of comfort." 
-Sheilah Graham 

One of the first questions I am asked upon our return from Africa is, "How was the food?"  Of course, everyone expects me to describe all sorts of unusual meals, incorporating local ingredients and native delicacies, to which my reply is simply, "It was good." Allow me to elaborate.

All the food served at all the lodges and camps was flavorful, filling, and plentiful. Period. It was not a foodie paradise or a gourmet's delight. Rather, to my tastes and culinary skills, it was solid comfort food with added local flavors cooked to feed hungry and often weary  travelers. And as a self-proclaimed non-foodie, it satisfied me as well as my partner just fine.  

In re-reading the OAT Travel Handbook, I think it describes the food quite accurately. The fact is, the lodges and the tented camps we stayed in attract visitors from all over the world. As a result, the chefs have been well-trained to cook in what I would call a Western or European style using locally sourced fresh vegetables, fresh fruits whenever possible, and fresh or frozen meats. All foods are washed and prepared using bottled water so they are safe for Western digestive systems. I even ate the leafy green salads offered at two of the hotel/lodges with no ill-effects, which can't always be said right here in the U.S.

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Breakfasts were most always served buffet-style with the usual choices of American and European fare including eggs (cooked-to-order), breads (fresh or toasted), fruit (fresh and canned), sausage or bacon, assorted cheeses and cold cuts, plus cold and hot cereal, yogurt, and fruit juices.

The morning sunrise warms the breakfast table at Lake Burunge Tented Lodge

The breakfast buffet is ready at our OAT tented camp in the Serengeti.

A variety of sweet potatoes, fresh fruit and toast are among the choices at
House of West Kili on the pre-trip excursion.

This breakfast buffet at Moivaro Arusha Lodge has enough selections to satisfy even the
 pickiest eater--from continental style fruit, cheese and breads in the foreground
to a variety of hot breakfast selections in the back, including made-to-order eggs.
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Similarly dinners were also buffet-style and always started with hot soup (some variation of a vegetable-based soup) and bread. The main courses included a variety of meat and or vegetable stews, curries, or braised meat dishes with some sort of sauce. Starches included polenta, rice, potatoes (boiled, roasted or mashed), and pasta along with a plentiful array of cooked vegetable dishes and raw vegetable salads. 


Our first dinner of soup and bread was served upon our late-night arrival
in Tanzania at the House of West Kili Hotel on the pre-trip excursion. 
Karibu means 'welcome.'  In this case welcome to the soup station at the start of the dinner service
 and later to the custom stir-fry station to the left.

Despite all the soups being similarly green in color, they all tasted slightly
different depending upon the vegetables and other ingredients.

Dinners by candlelight was always the custom since we usually didn't eat before 7-7:30 after a full day of touring or late-in-the-afternoon game drives followed by showers and a social hour. Depending upon the individual lodge or tented camp, beer, wine and mixed drinks were either complimentary or available at a no-host bar. 

Candlelight and beaded Masai collars used as place mats set a welcoming table
at our first dinner at the House of west Kili.

Candlelight softens the overhead glare of the few electric lights in the
open-air dining lodge at Kambi Ya Tembo camp.

Our candlelit deck table at Lake Burunge Tented Camp beckons us to relax
and enjoy dinner and conversation after a busy day. 

Using only a solar powered generator, electricity was at a premium at our OAT camp
in the Serengeti where candlelight softens the glare of a single bare bulb.

With so many choices offered, it was very easy to fill one's plate.

Food was both attractive and plentiful, hence the full plates at dinner. 
And I must confess, I usually ate everything on my plate.




However, as the trip progressed I became more careful about filling my plate. For one reason, the food all began to taste the same to me. It's not a complaint but a reality I have experienced when traveling in a group where meals are served buffet style. Plus, some evenings I just wasn't so hungry. That's when a salad of green leafy lettuce, onions, tomatoes and avocados sounded good. And because we had been assured that all the vegetables had been washed with bottled water, I had no qualms about eating the fresh green salads. 

This lettuce salad along with the house-made honey mustard dressing satiated me
when I grew tired of the soups, stews and marinated vegetable salads.
Sometimes less is definitely more.
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Lunches varied the most depending upon if it was a picnic lunch, which we hand-packed ourselves in the morning from a buffet of lunch foods and ate at a rest stop along the way, or if we ate in a restaurant at a hotel/lodge along our day's route. But the variety and amount was always more than adequate. Again, no one went hungry. 


In Arusha, we ate lunch at the Asili Resort where beer and wine was included.

In the photos below, the chef at the Asili Resort describes each of the foods he has prepared for our lunch. Along with the grilled meats, Chapatti (flat bread) and several potato varieties, there is an assortment of cooked vegetables and stews including Wali wa Nazi (rice in coconut milk), Ugali (cornmeal grits), cooked plantains, and spinach. 





A little of this, some of that makes for a filled plate.

This sit-down lunch at Lake Burunge Tented Lodge offers a variety of cooked
vegetable salads along with a chicken or beef entree. 
 

In addition, there were the impromptu, food-on-the-hood snacks, organized by Lenny,
our Trip Leader, when it had been a long day and he knew we needed a little sustenance.

Then there was brunch, especially on the early morning game drives during the pre-trip excursion. Typically we'd awaken at sunrise and have coffee and a cookie or bread before heading out to see the animals. Then about 10:30 we'd return to the tented camp for brunch. Brunch looked very similar to the dinners except that in addition, you could order eggs cooked any way you wanted. Did I already mention no one ever went hungry? 





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Desserts were also plentiful and included cakes, tortes and custards, but as a sweet lover myself, I found the baked goods often disappointingly dry and lacking in sweetness as my American taste is accustomed. But that was the only disappointment in the otherwise excellent fare. 


Rice pudding before anyone touched it with a spoon.

And as far as I know, no one became ill as a result of eating the food. Yes, there were a few cases of traveler's you-know-what, but they seemed to be short-lived and relieved within 24 hours with Immodium or Pepto-Bismal. 

*  *  *  *  *
But what was most incredible and memorable were the kitchens in which our meals were prepared, specifically at the two tented camps which were miles from Arusha or any big city. How the chefs, who always wore white chef coats and tall white chef hats, created their magic meal after meal was phenomenal and worth mentioning.

This screened in room (below) is the kitchen at Kambi Ya Tembo Camp on the pre-trip excursion. It is located 500 feet downhill from the main lodge where we ate. This is where all the food was prepared and then transported in a cart up to the dining room to a small serving kitchen which set up the mealtime service. 

Everything in the kitchen was spic and span when we visited. The roof is corrugated metal with a deep thatched overhang.
 The sides are half metal and half screen. Notice the two, two-burner propane cook-tops
 which amazingly produced all of the cooked food we ate. 

This is one of several vegetable storage bins which store the fresh vegetables that are delivered from Arusha
by truck once a week. Having traveled from Arusha to the camp ourselves, it is not an easy 2-hour trip (one-way)
because there is much road construction as well as bumpy, dirt roads. 
Notice the egg crates on top. 

As evidenced by the empty bins, our OAT trip had all but depleted the vegetable stores.

One of the three camp chefs stands next to a wood or charcoal fired grill.
Look closely to see that it is re-purposed from an automobile wheel. 

This is the pot washing station.

This is the pot drying station.

The camp director and the camp chef.

This is the tented kitchen at the OAT movable tent camp in the Serengeti where we stayed for four nights. 

The heavy metal screen is designed to keep out the large animals that may roam the camp at night.

The camp chef utilizes basic cooking methods that don't require electricity or fancy gadgets. 


Unlike the kitchen at the previous tented camp, this kitchen has a five-burner,
one-oven propane stove.

Obviously, the oven is used to produce beautifully browned rolls such as these.

The produce bins while not as depleted as in the previous camp, they will be used up soon as this camp will be moved
in the weeks following our trip. All OAT tented camps are required to be moved seasonally to protect the fragile environment.

The wash station is located behind the kitchen under the shade of its own tent and a nearby tree.
NOTE: For more information about any of the tented camps and lodges mentioned, please follow the links embedded within the text.









Wednesday, December 19, 2018

GOODBYE TO THE HILLS OF KILIMANJARO--ONTO ARUSHA

First Visit to a Maasai Village

We had seen many cattle, sheep and goat herds out in the bush during our games drives along with several isolated settlements of mud huts surrounded by thick, thorny brush; but it had only been from afar. However today, as we left the hills region to return to Arusha, we stopped at one of those Maasai villages. This was not the customary OAT,  "Day in the Life" visit, but instead an "impromptu" drop-in by a group of curious Westerners.

Although not in view, animal herds are always monitored 
by one or more young boys or warriors-in-training.

This is a typical Maasai house (below). A boma consists of several of these mud and cow dung houses, the number of which depends upon the number of wives the elder chief has. In this patriarchal, polygamous society, a chief may have multiple wives each one living in her own house with her own children. 

The houses themselves are built by women, and their construction takes several months. Only pregnant and elderly women are excused from building duties. The elder women do, however, instruct and teach the younger generation on how to build good and stable houses. 

The basic round or oblong framework is made of closely woven sticks and saplings. Any gaps are stuffed with leaves and grasses, and the whole structure is then plastered with a mixture of mud clay, fresh cow-dung, and human urine. When the mixture dries it becomes as strong as cement and is resistant to termites. The roof is also plastered with cow dung and then covered with grass that is collected in the bush. The cow dung is what makes the roof waterproof.


The houses are generally quite small and short. Maasai men are typically very tall and, therefore, cannot stand upright nor sleep fully extended. Nevertheless, families cook, sleep, eat, socialize and store food reserves, fuel and even small livestock in there. Each woman is responsible for her own hut, and she is also in charge of renovations.

In the entrance to this house hangs an aluminum kettle and enamel pitcher.

The fire--using dried dung as fuel--is the center of the house and is used to cook, deter insects, and to keep the family warm during the rainy season. The only openings are that of the doorway and a small round opening in the roof or wall which allows smoke from a continually smoldering fire inside to escape and some light to enter during the day. 

It took several moments for my eyes to adjust to the darkness,
while my nose stung from the smoke-permeated air.

There are usually 2 beds--one for the parents and the other for the children--
located close to the door.
Typically they are made of woven branches cushioned with dry grass and animal skins. 
 

What little clothing they have is hung inside on clotheslines or branch hooks.

This interior view of the roof shows the weaving and lashing of sticks and saplings.

The thorny brush stockade is built by the men and serves both to keep livestock in at night and raiders and other predators out. 

Additional thorny stockades are used withing the interior of the boma to create smaller corrals to separate and maintain the animals.

A herd of donkeys is tied to a tree and are used to carry plastic water jugs to and from the closest water hole. 

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These donkeys led to yet another opportunity for learning and discovery. After waiting what I considered a polite amount of time for others to volunteer (which they did not), I eagerly stepped forward to load a donkey with a pack of empty water jugs. Giving a quick look at the other donkey who was already loaded, I could see there was a front and a back to the pack. So as if I had done this before, I turned the pack around and placed it on the donkey's back. 

Apparently, the chief (in red) and one of his sons must have thought I needed help. 

Tah-dah! Look Ma! I did it myself (almost).

*    *    *    *    *
The Maasai are traditionally nomadic cattle breeders moving with their animals to ensure good pasture, water and salt supplies. In recent times, however, due to pressure from the Tanzanian and Kenyan governments to adopt a more sedentary lifestyle, they have become semi-nomadic while demanding grazing rights to many of the national parks. In addition, a combination of recurrent drought, loss of grazing lands to wildlife reserves and large-scale agricultural investment has forced increasing numbers of Maasai to migrate to cities. 

Traditional Maasai culture still revolves closely around the tribe's cattle herds. In fact, the measure of a man's worth is measured in the number of cattle he owns and the number of children he fathers. Cattle products are a central part of the Maasai diet as they only eat the meat and milk that they produce themselves and few, if any, fruits or vegetables. Other animals such as sheep and goats are slaughtered more for special occasions than for day to day use.That said, more recently with their cattle dwindling, the Maasai have grown dependent on food such as sorghum, rice, potatoes and cabbage (known to the Maasai as goat leaves).

The central unit of Maasai society is the age-set. Young boys are sent out with the calves and lambs as soon as they can toddle, but childhood for boys is mostly playtime. Girls are responsible for chores such as cooking and milking, skills which they learn from their mothers at an early age. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maasai_people)

From an early age, boys are sent out to mind the herds while their sisters
work with their mothers to learn skills such as cooking and milking.



 Older boys and young men who have undergone the ritual circumcision tend the cattle.

These three young men may very well be junior elders which is the transition
age-set between young warrior and senior elder.

*    *    *    *    *
From all appearances, childhood for both young boys and girls is all about playtime. And these children were oh-so-eager to play ball with us. In this case the "ball" was a Social Weaver nest from one of the nearby thorny Acacia trees. 


 






Women and girls have a variety of chores along with building the family house and taking care of the home and of their children. They are expected to milk the cows, collect firewood, wash the clothes, and also fetch water, however far that may be (around 30km seems average). 

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In addition, the bead-work for sale in this village, and that which we would see nearly everywhere in Tanzania, is also made by women. Bead-work was traditionally used to decorate animal hides, gourds, and to make jewelry including arm and leg bracelets and amulets. Women spend much of their spare time doing bead work, and both men and women often adorn their bodies with their beaded jewelry. 
(http://www.bluegecko.org/kenya/tribes/maasai/family.htm)


It was nearing the end of our visit that the women displayed their creations on cloths spread on the ground. It was daunting to have so many necklaces, beaded collars, bracelets, cuffs and other crafts from which to choose. And since this was our first shopping experience, Lenny forewarned us that there would be more opportunities during the trip, so don't spend all our money here.

Another responsibility of women is to pick and clean gourds
from vines to make containers like the one held by Lenny.
Milk, blood, water, honey and cornmeal are stored inside them. 

They are often decorated with leather and beads. 


I don't know about the others in our group, but I had a difficult time choosing something to buy. However, it was not because I felt pressured or because nothing caught my eye. Rather, I didn't want to offend the women by looking at everything first, and then going back to something that interested me. But that anxiety was relieved when Lenny told us that even though you buy from a particular woman, the money goes into a communal pot.

It was also difficult to bargain, which is expected, being unable to converse in Swahili or in Tanzanian shillings. Thank goodness Lenny and Salum were at our sides not only to translate but also to help us understand the money.

 

With the help of our local guide, a transaction appears to be in progress.

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This is the chief of this village. He greeted us when we first arrived and was present throughout our visit. After purchasing my necklace (which I can be seen wearing), I thanked the chief for our visit and posed for a photo with him. I noticed, however, that he had amended his ear adornment since we arrived. 

In fact, if you look closely, his left ear lobe is quite stretched with a gaping hole. But if you look even more closely at what he is holding in his right hand, you'll see a miniature liquor bottle like the kind you get on an airplane. When we first arrived, I had noticed that bottle inserted in his earlobe, silently commenting to myself. Why he removed it, I have no idea, but I later learned doing research for this blog, that it has been customary to use "thorns for piercing, twigs, bundles of twigs, stones, the cross section of elephant tusks and empty film canisters." That explains it. 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maasai_people)