Food in Zambia is basically synonymous with nshima, maize porridge, which is the
staple meals. Nshima is the staple meals for 10 million Zambians. It is eaten
mostly for lunch and dinner. It is eaten with a side dish, known as ndiwo,
umunani, dende or relish, this must always accompany nshima. The relish is
always a deliciously cooked vegetable, meat, fish, or poultry dish. By
comparison to some other cultures, Zambian quality recipes tend to be bland and
hardly use any warm spices at
Nshima with chicken
all.We eat rice
as well and occasionally also pasta. Rice is also cultivated in Zambia, in the
Western province especially.
The protein sources vary with respect to the
right season and your location, the most typical are fish, sausages, beef,
chicken, beans and eggs. The vegetables impwas tend to be, okra or some leafy
greens such as for example pumpkin results in, rape, and lovely potato leaves .
Compared to most western diet plans the proportion of meats is fairly small.
Nevertheless the meat frequently is eaten. However, there exists a protein
source that a lot of people says they choose over beef: caterpillars. They will
have an extremely high protein content, therefore for the reason that real way
they're an important area of the traditional Zambian diet. They're an quired
taste many people are not as well thinking about them initially. They're not a
big section of our diet plan though since they are generally
seasonal.
Fish is common generally in most households, either prepared
dried or fresh. Although fresh fish comes in most urban locations, once you get
nearer to water, the fish is great often. A specific kind of seafood is kapenta,
which is a very small fish. It used to be one of the cheapest protein sources
but apparently isn't any longer. Vegetables are nearly always cooked. It is very
rare to possess a salad as part of a Zambian traditional food. Spices are not
commonly used in Zambia although salt is used a lot.
There are several
customs related to eating. Before feeding on, we wash our hands. It is tradition
to possess a dish filled with water, and the man (the head of the house) washes
his hands there first and then the rest in some sort of rank order. As you can
imagine this was not the most hygienic way to wash your hands, in
recent
Hand washing before a meal
years there has been a move away
from this custom, in it's place we have a separate jug for fresh water, from
which we can pour water on the hands.
Traditionally everything throughout
the meal follows the rank order: men take food first, then women and the
children last. Man is the one who brings the money to the house, so he gets also
a lion's share of the food. There are also some other details that display the
rank: For instance, guests will get a porcelain plate whereas the children eat
from plastic plates. Traditionally also, the man would eat seated on a chair
while everybody else sits on the floor.
Nshima eaten with our fingers but
rice or pasta we eat with forks or spoons. If you are in the urban areas you
will have the option of visiting a local Subway or an Indian restaurant. Subway
is relatively cheap here, and it's great place to eat some fresh vegetables. On
the other hand Indian food isn't that cheap but because of the large Indian
community here the Indian food is usually excellent. Then again, pizzas and
hamburgers are relatively over-priced.
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