Zambian food

Dear Aunt Alice,

I tasted Zambian food for the first time!! Though I was slightly unsure what to expect, I honestly enjoyed it. The family hosting us (Emma and myself) is very familiar with Western culture, so they went out of their way to make it comfortable and helped me feel free to try things without pressure.

The main dish in Zambian meals is nshima (usually pronounced she-ma). I’m not 100% sure how to describe it, but it’s usually made of mealie meal (like corn meal, only finer and white) and is cooked until it’s rather firm in texture. You pick the nshima up in one hand and mold it into a ball (in the same hand), dip it into what ever else is on the table and then swallow it whole. I wasn’t the most adept at it, but with some encouragement I finally started to get the hang of it (kind of anyway!!). You eat with your hands, so you end up getting pretty messy, but it was a wonderful experience! Interestingly, one of the Zambians mentioned that, to the Zambians, nshima is food. He said that, if they eat, but don’t have nshima, they’ll say that they had nothing to eat at all.

While eating, one of the Zambians asked me what I usually eat, both here and at home. I found it difficult to answer the question since the foods that I eat are inspired by so many different cultures. I guess that’s typical for an American though!!