Indigenous Endeavors
I love trying new things - new countries, new activities, new people, new foods, it's just fun. (Also, if you look at the word 'new' too many times it starts to look verrrrry strange.) I enjoy a little bit of exoticism in my every day life, and as I'm stuck unable to travel for a while, why not travel by taste instead?
In a moment of adventurousness, I got to try African food for the first time. My friend Tiffany and I went over to Zanzibar African Restaurant tonight, in hopes of discovering a new ethnic food to love. Well...that didn't pan out so well.
As we were at one of only two occupied tables in the restaurant, our host had ample time to wait on us. He explained various things on the menu, and how one is supposed to eat them. We ordered, and before our food came out, he brought us a bowl of water to wash our hands with first.
The appetizer was a meat pie (they were out of the yummier-looking sausage rolls), and it was an experience in itself. It looks just like a little pastry pocket, and smelled like cinnamon and nutmeg, which seemed a different kind of thing. The meat inside wasn't terribly flavorful, so it was on the whole good but rather bland.
Tiffany ordered fufu and egusi soup with beef. Roughly translated, that's pounded yam with a mixed vegetable stew, though it was more of a mash than a stew. The pounded yam looks like a round blob of mashed potatoes, with the consistency of bread dough, and it has about as much flavor as ... well ... nothing. It tastes like nothing. So, you break off a bite-sized piece of fufu and dip it in the egusi, which wasn't terrible. Not a flavor I particularly cared for, but fortunately I had my own food.
I ordered the jolloff rice with goat, as it was touted as a traditional West African dish, and I wanted to go for something fairly authentic. The jolloff was actually quite good. It tasted a lot like spanish rice, coming in a tomato-based sauce and lots of spices. The goat...heaven help me, it was inedible. For one thing, it was way more bone than meat ("that is the traditional way!" he says). When I could actually find meat, it was fairly gristly. I feel like they gave me the goat's knuckles. It came with plantain, and that was just scrumptious - and reminds me that I really need to go get some plantains and cook them for myself. If you'd like to try some, let me know!
Neither of us would finish our food (though I stuffed myself with rice!), and we guiltily felt as though we were disappointing the man, after he'd put so much time into helping us pick something. But that's the risk of trying something you've never even heard of, right? We bravely ventured forth, ordering foods we could hardly pronounce, tasting all that was set before us, opening ourselves to a new world of taste. It's not really our fault that we are not particularly suited for that world!
We're hoping to try Ethiopian next, maybe The Blue Nile. Or perhaps something middle eastern, which I know I like.
In the end, we came away with a box of half-edible leftovers (labelled "Jolloff rice and bony goat"), the smell of exotic spices, possible baby names (Jolloff and Eba), and a lot of laughing at the impossibly inedible meat. And then went to Sonic for some ice cream. :)
In a moment of adventurousness, I got to try African food for the first time. My friend Tiffany and I went over to Zanzibar African Restaurant tonight, in hopes of discovering a new ethnic food to love. Well...that didn't pan out so well.
As we were at one of only two occupied tables in the restaurant, our host had ample time to wait on us. He explained various things on the menu, and how one is supposed to eat them. We ordered, and before our food came out, he brought us a bowl of water to wash our hands with first.
The appetizer was a meat pie (they were out of the yummier-looking sausage rolls), and it was an experience in itself. It looks just like a little pastry pocket, and smelled like cinnamon and nutmeg, which seemed a different kind of thing. The meat inside wasn't terribly flavorful, so it was on the whole good but rather bland.
Tiffany ordered fufu and egusi soup with beef. Roughly translated, that's pounded yam with a mixed vegetable stew, though it was more of a mash than a stew. The pounded yam looks like a round blob of mashed potatoes, with the consistency of bread dough, and it has about as much flavor as ... well ... nothing. It tastes like nothing. So, you break off a bite-sized piece of fufu and dip it in the egusi, which wasn't terrible. Not a flavor I particularly cared for, but fortunately I had my own food.
I ordered the jolloff rice with goat, as it was touted as a traditional West African dish, and I wanted to go for something fairly authentic. The jolloff was actually quite good. It tasted a lot like spanish rice, coming in a tomato-based sauce and lots of spices. The goat...heaven help me, it was inedible. For one thing, it was way more bone than meat ("that is the traditional way!" he says). When I could actually find meat, it was fairly gristly. I feel like they gave me the goat's knuckles. It came with plantain, and that was just scrumptious - and reminds me that I really need to go get some plantains and cook them for myself. If you'd like to try some, let me know!
Neither of us would finish our food (though I stuffed myself with rice!), and we guiltily felt as though we were disappointing the man, after he'd put so much time into helping us pick something. But that's the risk of trying something you've never even heard of, right? We bravely ventured forth, ordering foods we could hardly pronounce, tasting all that was set before us, opening ourselves to a new world of taste. It's not really our fault that we are not particularly suited for that world!
We're hoping to try Ethiopian next, maybe The Blue Nile. Or perhaps something middle eastern, which I know I like.
In the end, we came away with a box of half-edible leftovers (labelled "Jolloff rice and bony goat"), the smell of exotic spices, possible baby names (Jolloff and Eba), and a lot of laughing at the impossibly inedible meat. And then went to Sonic for some ice cream. :)
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