Food for thought before Christmas…
I’ve recently returned from a week visiting smallholder farmers in East Africa.
It may well have been the most interesting, inspiring and educational trip of my entire life. It certainly rearranges one’s priorities.
The program was organised by the Ripple Effect NGO, formerly Send A Cow. We spent nine days between Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda visiting farming families.
I had never even heard of Ripple Effect until a couple of months ago when Guy Watson from Riverford Farm in Devon who has been working with this NGO for over 20 years asked me to join a small group to see first-hand the impact of their training schemes and projects in changing lives of individuals and communities in rural Africa. People in these areas have multiple challenges, they are fighting hunger and poor or no harvests due to the soil quality and the climate crisis. They fluctuate between drought and floods. In some countries, particularly Kenya and Uganda, it is the culture for men to make all the decisions while women do the lion’s share of the manual work and child rearing. In Kenya and Uganda, polygamy is legal and, in both countries, the government encourages people to have large families. The population overall is deeply religious. However, things are slowly changing and one of the farms that we visited, the farmer introduced himself and his family saying, ‘and I’ve just got one wife’. Rwanda however bans polygamy both in the constitution and in the Civil Code and actively encourages smaller families with two or three children as opposed to six or seven in Kenya and Uganda, particularly in rural areas.
The average size farm is ¼ hectare – 1 acre.
We visited a variety of farms that had been working with Ripple Effect in some cases for only six months, others for up to three years. Every square inch of the land was cultivated. Virtually all had one or two treasured cows, all were making compost – organic compost which not only improves yield but helps restore tired land. When the cow has a calf, they gift it to a neighbour, hence the name Ripple Effect. They were convinced of the value of working with nature to implement tangible change through Ripple Effect training schemes. There were a variety of growing systems to max yields on small holdings with dramatic results. Over and over again, we saw how families whose major preoccupation had been just to manage to feed the family, are now producing some surplus to sell and are at last able to send children to school.
Fruit trees provide food, shade and income, rainwater harvesting techniques help farmers to weather climate induced droughts. Ripple Effect enables people to have access to microfinance through savings and loan associations.
Every project begins with workshops for families that help to empower women to take part in family decision making and reduce their unpaid workload. This policy has had transformative outcomes. When men and women work together, they can achieve so much more.
The big agri-chemical companies are targeting these African countries and in some cases, governments are supporting farmers to buy chemicals to boost their yields – a short term fix which will ultimately damage rather than increase soil fertility with predictable results.
Rwanda, the fastest growing economy in Africa was perhaps the most remarkable of all, the countries we visited are an example of what can be achieved with strong visionary leadership.
This country, torn apart by what now appears to have been a carefully orchestrated genocide is now in the midst of a reconciliation programme that is enabling its citizens to heal and forgive, utterly extraordinary.
On several of the farms we visited in this area, we met numerous genocide orphans and a genocide widow with three children starting a new life with help from Ripple Effect. Her husband and other four children were taken and then murdered during a raid on their village.
Despite all this, everywhere we went, people of all ages were super cheerful. They sang and danced and chanted in their tribal gear to welcome us, insisted on sharing their food and in several cases sent us home with hand crafted presents.
I could write a book about what I learned and observed in those eight or nine days in East Africa but how about the food….
Well, needless to say, the food overall was tasty and nutritious, not quite what one might term a gastronomic experience although I did have Nsenene, a Luganda word for long horned grasshoppers – a wet season speciality which I would definitely describe as a Ugandan delicacy. They were sold by street vendors, sometimes at gas stations or outside supermarkets.
I also loved the BBQ chicken on a stick sold along the roadside on the road to Kigali. These vendors are particularly famous for this specialty.
My friends needed a bit of persuasion to taste the smoked tilapia that I spotted and bought from a young vendor along the Kampala Masaka roadside in Nkozi-Mugge district. One bite and they were hooked, as ever many of the best foods were street foods, cooked or smoked on the spot.
Meals in our hotel were for the most part substantial and tasty. In Uganda, the staple is Ugali, a thick white maize porridge and of course rice and beans usually eaten in conjunction with a goat or beef stew and greens. The greens, sometimes kale or spinach but often a type of highly nutritious annual nightshade (Solanum scabrum) which I grew to love. There was often roast or more correctly charred chicken, a cabbage slaw and chunks of arrowroot.
In Rwanda we ate the staple matoke (plantain) cooked in banana leaves and cassava. Chapati was the all-purpose flat bread and sometimes a peanut sauce.
The meat was always tasty but because hanging is not possible in that climate, it was ‘pretty chewy’ by our standards but no criticism from me, it was all part of the experience.
I also loved the smoky honey from the tiny wild African bees collected from handmade hives, made from folds of tree bark, hidden high up in the trees – quite the challenge to harvest!
Dessert was mostly fresh fruit, pineapple, watermelon, mangoes, passion fruit, tamarillos and lots and lots of bananas, I particularly loved the small, slightly tart bananas, wish we could get them over here.
Milky African tea is the drink beloved by all but not necessarily a favourite among non-Africans, sometimes it has a few added spices, and can be reminiscent of chai which I love.
In the midst of all the festivities if you feel like looking up Ripple Effect, here is their website www.rippleeffect.org
You can’t imagine how little can change people’s lives and to change even one person’s life is a huge contribution to mankind.
A merry and blessed Christmas to all.
Ugali
Ugali is a beloved staple in many African countries including Kenya and Uganda. It’s like a thick, solid porridge, hearty, satisfying and deeply nutritious and an accompaniment to virtually every meal, often served with a meat or vegetable stew.
Some recipes contain no salt, and others add some milk to the water and a blob of butter to the ugali – experiment and enjoy.
Serves 6-8
225g coarse white maize
950ml (4 cups) water
1-2 tsp salt (optional)
Put the water into a deep heavy bottomed saucepan and bring to the boil, add salt (optional), then sprinkle the polenta flour in very slowly letting it slip gradually through your fingers, whisking or stirring all the time, (this should take 3-4 minutes). Bring to the boil and continue to cook for about 5 minutes stirring constantly* (I use a whisk at the beginning but as soon as the ugali comes to the boil I change to a flat bottomed wooden spoon.) The ugali is cooked when it is very thick and comes away from the sides of the pot as you stir and furrs the bottom of the saucepan. It should be thick and smooth.
Flatten into a flat cake (about 7.5 – 9cm in height), then cut into wedges or alternatively, fill into individual moulds.
Goat Curry
Ballymaloe Cookery School alumni, Nompumelo Mqwebu from South Africa kindly shared these recipes with me.
Recipe from ‘Through the Eyes of an African Chef’.
Serves 4
goat curry marinade
1kg goat meat
500ml water with juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp onion, very finely chopped
1 tbsp crushed garlic
1 ½ tsp salt
for the curry
15g curry powder (mix of turmeric, coriander, cumin, fenugreek and masala)
water
salt and pepper to taste
20ml coconut oil
1 large onion, diced
10g fresh ginger
8 pimentos, seeded
3 spring onions
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 large potato, peeled and cubed
1 scotch bonnet chilli, deseeded
garnish
slivers of fresh coconut
To make the goat curry.
Overnight: first rinse the meat in lemon water. Season the goat with finely chopped onion, garlic and salt, then place in a container. Cover and set aside overnight.
The next day.
Toss the meat into a large saucepan over medium heat and let it brown in its own fat for about 10-15 minutes; then pour in enough water to cover the meat and let it cook until tender (add more water, if necessary). Season with salt and pepper. Goat can take 2 ½ – 3 hours to cook until tender.
In a separate large saucepan, warm the spices (curry powder) on a low heat. Remove the spices, pour the coconut oil in the saucepan, then add the onion and ginger. Stir, then add the curry powder. Add pimento, spring onion, thyme, potato and the scotch bonnet chilli, stirring for 3 minutes. Add the cooked goat to the onion mixture and simmer on a low heat for another 30-60 minutes until the sauce thickens and the goat has absorbed the curry flavours. Adjust the seasoning according to preferred taste.
For the garnish.
Place a few fresh coconut slivers on a baking tray and pop into the oven for 5-10 minutes at 180°C/Gas Mark 4. Keep a close eye on them to prevent them from burning.
To Serve
Sprinkle the roasted coconut slivers
on top of the goat curry and serve with boiled rice.
Venison Mushroom Burger
Recipe from ‘Through the Eyes of an African Chef’.
Serves 4-5
for the venison patties
600g venison, minced
salt and pepper to taste
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
3g parsley, finely chopped
2 shallots, finely diced
3g chives, finely chopped
1 egg
for the burger
8-10 large black mushrooms
sliced tomatoes (2 slices per serving)
sliced mature Cheddar cheese (1-2 slices per person)
1 small red onion, sliced
1 washed lettuce
In a bowl, season the minced venison, then combine with the garlic, parsley, shallots and chives. Add the egg, ensuring it is mixed thoroughly.
Separate the mixture into portions and mould into patties using your hands. Indent the centre with your thumb or a teaspoon and place in the fridge to firm up.
Place the burgers on a hot grill and seal each side, turning them over to cook to desired preference. Grill the mushrooms for 1 minute on each side next to the burgers.
To Serve
Place
a slice of tomato on a mushroom, then top with a cooked venison patty, 1-2
slices of cheese and a few onion rings; close off with a second slice of
tomato, some lettuce and a cooked mushroom.
Mango Ice
Recipe from ‘Through the Eyes of an African Chef’.
If the mangoes are not super sweet, add caster sugar and freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste.
Serves 4-6
3-4 sweet, ripe mangoes, peeled and cubed
ice cubes
Garnish
fresh mint leaves
Blend the mango and a handful of ice cubes in a food processor until smooth. Scoop into a container and freeze for 4-5 hours or until solid. Serve in bowls garnished with mint leaves with softly whipped cream if you like.