Food

We’ve all seen a food pyramid right? Broken down into how many servings of each main food group we should eat on a  daily basis? Well in Rwanda that pyramid would be a straight line, or maybe a potato, because all we eat here are carbs. Carbs with a side of carbs and a dessert carb for emphasis all accompanied by the starchiest of vegetables (a potato) topped with some sauce. You think I’m kidding? This is my normal meal days consumption:

Breakfast: 1 slice white bread and butter, Tea, orange

Lunch: large bowl rice, steak cut french-fries, beans, mashed green bananas (sometimes) avocado. Occassionally there will be beans or banana chips. All covered in a light red sauce.

Dinner: large bowl rice, beans, sauce sometimes containing carrots, steak cuts fries, mashed green bananas avocado.

Also the “tea” is usually not tea but instead boiled sorghum wheat which means it is essentially oatmeal and could be eaten as a meal in and of itself.  Moral of the story is my intestines might explode and this “Africa diet” I thought I was going on, despite being far less processed than my American one may in fact still cause me to gain weight. Also, anyone who sends me hot sauce of any kind will immediately be deemed my favorite human in existence. 

Interesting sidenote: there is no snacking in Rwanda, hence why it isn’t mentioned in my daily consumption. It is considered very rude to eat in public and thus people don’t eat unless it is for a sit down meal or you are inside our Peace Corps training center where the other Americans couldn’t care less if you dig into a power bar. Since I won’t be able to snack at my permanent site, I have been trying not to let myself slip during training sessions, but no one is perfect. (Don’t let this discourage you from sending snacks of any kind thought J)