Porridge and a red pepper sauce as a tasty, main meal in central africa.

Congo River at Muluku. Wikipedia

Although red pepper became known in Africa only after having been introduced by, presumably, the Portuguese in perhaps the 16th Century, they soon spread throughout the continent and became the most important condiment in many areas.

I agree with Burton (quoted below) that red pepper became ‘… the salt of … the inland region.’   That is probably because salt was such a scarce and therefore expensive commodity in most areas – including here in Burundi, where one still sees a good deal of goiter.

Small red peppers can be easily grown in most areas of Africa and therefore provide a quick and tasty addition to otherwise bland meals.

It is interesting that, moving east across Africa, the use of red peppers diminishes.  Very heavily used in much of West Africa, moderately used here in Burundi (east-central Africa) and, by comparison, very little used in Kenya and Tanzania.

From: The Albert N’Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile And Explorations of the Nile Sources.  by Sir Samuel W. Baker, 1865

In what is now northern Uganda:

There were plenty of wild red peppers, and the men seemed  to enjoy a mixture of porridge and legumes _a la sauce  piquante_. They were astonished at my falling away on this.

From: The Nile Tributaries of Abyssinia by Sir Samuel W. Baker, 1861-62

In the eastern Sudan, at the large market of Gadarif, Sir Baker mentions that:

“…the most numerous stalls are those devoted to red pepper, beads, and perfumery.”

Red pepper is still heavily used in Eastern Sudan; when I worked in S.E. Egypt/N.E. Sudan with the Beja ethnic groups, coffee often was flavored with a bit of pepper (as well as with cardamom and sometimes ginger, and other spices).

Red peppers and garlic being boiled at the Hotel club lac Tanganyika, to make pepper sauce

From: First Footsteps in East Africa, by Sir Richard Burton, 1855

Burton mentions the importance of red pepper on local dishes in the Caravan town of Harar, now southern Ethiopia:

…we were at once provided from the chief’s kitchen with a dish of _Shabta_(1), holcus(2) cakes soaked in sour milk, and thickly powered with red pepper, the salt of this inland region.

(1)- Perhaps the word shabta is a corruption of the Arabic shatta – pepper.

(2)- Holcus was the common grain used at that time.

Holcus lanatus, one of eight species of Holcus (which is considered invasive in California). Source: von Schlechtendal, 1881. (c) PlantSystematics.com

From: Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo, Vol.2, by Sir Richard Burton 1876

In West Africa, near the mouth of the Congo River, Burton describes a travelling dish that boggles the mind:

…The national dish, ‘chindungwa’, would test the mouth of any curry eater in the world: it is composed of boiled ground-nuts and red peppers in equal portions, pounded separately in wooden mortars, mixed and squeezed to drain off the oil; the hard mass, flavored with salt or honey, will keep for weeks…

Related articles

• How To Roast Red Peppers (mademan.com)

More about Vegetable Butter in West and East Africa

Shea butter, a vegetable butter made from the nuts of an African tree, is known throughout the West.  A while back I talked about it in this blog.

There are other works by colonial explorers that mention vegetable butters, some of which may also be shea – others, may be vegetable butter made from other types of trees.  Here are several:

Sheanut trees and millet – a good agroforestry combination in semiarid regions. Source: agroforestry parkland

From:  Caillie, Travels through Central Africa to Timbuctoo.  1830:

In Mandingo country, West Africa:  The first product is unidentified, but the second sounds as if it could be shea butter:

… For a few glass beads, I readily procured vegetable butter, called in the country c^,which, though collected in abundance, is not much eaten by the inhabitants as they prefer selling it. This butter is tolerably good; but it is necessary to cook it with the food with which it is eaten otherwise its flavour is not very agreeable. The natives use it for pains and sores.

… I have seen in the country a tree which like the c^ produces a butyraceous substance; it is called by the natives taman. The butter of this tree is of a yellow colour, like ours. It is firm, notwithstanding the heat of the climate, and does not contract any bad flavour. 1 liked it better than the butter of the c^, which is less firm, and of an ash colour. However, the natives assured me that the produce of the c^ is more wholesome than that of the taman, and I saw many who would not eat the latter, alleging that it made them ill. For my part, I frequently ate it and never experienced any bad effect from it.

Another possible site where shea butter trees grow is described by Baker, about 30 years later, in North central Africa during his searches for the Nile Sources (current-day northern Uganda / southern Sudan):

From: Baker, The Albert N’Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile And Explorations of the Nile Sources. 1861-65), by Sir Samuel W. Baker, M.A., F.R.G.S.

Location – Obbo, about 40 miles S.W. of Latooka in northern Uganda:

… There are many good wild fruits, including one very similar to a walnut in its green shell; the flesh of this has a remarkably fine flavour, and the nut within exactly resembles a horse-chestnut in size and fine mahogany colour.

This nut is roasted, and, when ground and boiled, a species of fat or butter is skimmed from the surface of the water: this is much prized by the natives, and is used for rubbing their bodies, being considered as the best of all fats for the skin; it is also eaten.

From: Livingstone, The Last Journals of, Vol.i 1868

The country around the Lake [south of Lake Tanganyika, in central Africa] is all flat, and very much denuded of trees, except the Motsikiri or Mosikisi, which has fine dark, dense foliage, and is spared [from being cut] for its shade and the fatty oil yielded by its seeds: we saw the people boiling large pots full of the dark brown fate, which they use to lubricate their hair…

From: Burton, First Footsteps in East Africa, 1854

On the way to the City of Harar (in current day southern Ethiopia):

About half an hour afterwards we arrived at a deserted sheepfold distant six miles from our last station. After unloading we repaired to a neighbouring well, and found the water so hard that it raised lumps like nettle stings in the bather’s skin. The only remedy for the evil is an unguent of oil or butter, a precaution which should never be neglected by the African traveller.

At first the sensation of grease annoys, after a few days it is forgotten, and at last the “pat of butter” is expected as pleasantly as the pipe or the cup of coffee. It prevents the skin from chaps and sores, obviates the evil effects of heat, cold, and wet, and neutralises the Proteus-like malaria poison.

The Somal never fail to anoint themselves when they can afford ghee, and the Bedouin is at the summit of his bliss, when sitting in the blazing sun, or,—heat acts upon these people as upon serpents,—with his back opposite a roaring fire, he is being smeared, rubbed, and kneaded by a companion.

In the city of Harar (southern Ethiopia):

… Chewing tobacco enables them to pass much of their time, and the rich diligently anoint themselves with ghee, whilst the poorer classes use remnants of fat from the lamps.

How to render Animal Fat among the Obbo, Northern Uganda

Fat was such an important part of the diet in much of sub-Saharan Africa that the rendering of meat to obtain the best fat was critical.  Whether animal or vegetable, fat was a multipurpose ingredient, used not only in cooking, but also in dressing the hair and on the body.

A former blog describes rendering animal fat in Eastern Sudan to make soap among the Bedouin, and here Sir Baker describes a similar method used in northern Uganda /southern Sudan by the Obbo, for use in cooking:

Food preparation among the Obbo. Source: Heroes of Africa (Speke)

Baker, Sir Samuel – The Albert N’Yanza, Great Basin of the Nile And Explorations of the Nile Sources.  1865.

Having killed a fat ox, the men are busily engaged in boiling down the fat. Care should be taken to sprinkle a few drops of water in the pot when the fat is supposed to be sufficiently boiled; should it hiss, as though poured upon melted lead, it is ready; but if it be silent, the fat is not sufficiently boiled, and it will not keep.

Obesity: A Sign of Wealth in 19th Century Africa & Now

Ideal beauty among some of the cattle-raising kingdoms of central Africa was, as discussed here, based on young girls and women consuming enormous quantities of milk.  Below are several other examples from the same area. Both of the following examples come from small kingdoms in northern Uganda, where today obesity is no longer considered a badge of beauty and wealth.

In some parts of west Africa, however, obesity of young girls is still considered a necessity, and mothers will force-feed their daughters to obtain plumpness.

The following From: Speke, John Henning – The Discovery of the Source of the Nile, 1863

The court of Rumanika (Northern Uganda)

Speke presenting heads of three white rhinos to Rumanika. Source: Princeton.edu

[I]had heard … that the wives of the king [Rumanika] and princes were fattened to such an extent that they could not stand upright, I paid my respects to Wazezeru, the king’s eldest brother … with the hope of being able to see for myself the truth of the story.

There was no mistake about it.  On entering the hut I found the old man and his chief wife sitting side by side on a bench of earth strewed over with grass, and partitioned like stalls for sleeping apartments, whilst in front of them were placed numerous wooden pots of milk, and hanging from the poles that supported the beehive-shaped hut …

I was struck with no small surprise … with the extraordinary dimensions, yet pleasing beauty, of the immoderately fat fair one his wife.  She could not rise; and so large were her arms that, between the joints, the flesh hung down like large, loose-stuffed puddings. …

The subject was turned by my inquiring what they did with so many milk-pots.  This was easily explained by Wazezeru himself, who, pointing to his wife, said, “This is all the product of those pots: from early youth upwards we keep those pots to their mouths, as it is the fashion at court to have very fat wives.”

… After a long and amusing conversation with Rumanika in the morning, I called on one of his sisters-in-law, married to an elder brother who was born before Dagara [the former king] ascended the throne.

She was another of those wonders of obesity, unable to stand excepting on all fours.  I was desirous to obtain a good view of her, and actually to measure her, and induced her to give me facilities for doing so, by offering in return to show her a bit of my naked legs and arms.  The bait took as I wished it, and after getting her to sidle and wriggle into the middle of the hut, I did as I promised, and then took her dimensions as noted here]: Round arm, 1 ft. 11 in.; chest, 4 ft. 4 in.; thigh, 2 ft. 7 in.; calf, 1 ft. 8 in.; height, 5 ft. 8 in.

All of these are exact except the height, and I believe I could have obtained this more accurately if I could have her laid on the floor. Not knowing what difficulties I should have to contend with in such a piece of engineering, I tried to get her height by raising her up. This, after infinite exertions on the part of us both, was accomplished, when she sank down again, fainting, for her blood had rushed to her head.

Meanwhile, the daughter, a lass of sixteen, sat stark-naked before us, sucking at a milk-pot, on which the father kept her at work by holding a rod in his hand, for as fattening is the first duty of fashionable female life, it must be duly enforced by the rod if necessary.  I got up a bit of flirtation with missy, and induced her to rise and shake hands with me. Her features were lovely, but her body was as round as a ball.

The Following From: Baker, Samuel W. – The Albert N’yanza, Great Basin of the Nile, and Explorations of the Nile Sources, 1865

The court of Kamrasi (Northern Uganda)

… The young girls of thirteen and fourteen that are the wives of the king are not appreciated unless extremely fat–they are subjected to a regular system of fattening in order to increase their charms; thus at an early age they are compelled to drink daily about a gallon of curded milk, the swallowing of which is frequently enforced by the whip; the result is extreme obesity.

… We asked for some butter, but could get none, as all the milk in the palace was consumed by the wives and children, drinking all day long, to make themselves immovably fat.

… Kidgwiga told us to-day that king Kamrasi’s sisters are not allowed to wed; they live and die virgins in his palace.  Their only occupation in life consisted of drinking milk, of which each

one consumes the produce daily of from ten to twenty cows, and hence they become so inordinately fat that they cannot walk.

Should they wish to see a relative, or go outside the hut for any purpose, it requires eight men to lift any of them on a litter.

So how are we to interpret the following picture – I mean, the folks in Uganda in the 19th Century had their own reasons for fattening up the women.  What social or cultural reasons do ‘we’ have for the following – or even reasons that are ‘deep-structural’?

By total contrast (with both Uganda and the States), throughout over 3000 years of history women (and men) in ancient Egypt were to be thin.  How ‘real’ this was is not clear.

Senedjem and Wife preparing fields in the afterlife – New Kingdom.

Obesity: A Sign of Wealth in 19th Century Africa

At home in Kisoona:

During their attempt to reach Lake Albert to the N.W. of what is today Uganda, Sir Baker and his wife Lady Florence were forced to spend a number of weeks at the large village of Kisoona until the chief of Unyoro, Kamrase, deemed it appropriate for them to proceed.

As usual, Sir Baker spent a good deal of this time learning about local ways – and especially about local foods, food preparation and eating.  In this entry, he comments on the practice of force-feeding wives of the chief until they are so fat they sometimes cannot walk.  This practice is also found further south, in rearing girls amongst cattle people, as well as in some areas of West Africa.   The obese results would only be possible in conditions where the family owned many cattle, for these local breeds did not (as today) give large quantities of milk.

Having wives so obese that they cannot possibly work is indeed a demonstration both of cattle wealth (for milk) and of wealth in general (being able to hire workers to carry out daily tasks).

The young girls of thirteen and fourteen that are the wives of the king are not appreciated unless extremely fat–they are subjected to a regular system of fattening in order to increase their charms; thus at an early age they are compelled to drink daily about a gallon of curdled milk, the swallowing of which is frequently enforced by the whip; the result is extreme obesity.

by Sir Samuel W. Baker, M.A., F.R.G.S.

Shillook Women Pounding Maize. Although the Shillook were north of Unyoro, the act of grain pounding was almost universal across Africa and if a woman was unable to do so, help had to be obtained. Source: Baker, in Heros of the Dark Continent

Today, here in Burundi and elsewhere in Africa and the Middle East, obesity can be found as a sign of wealth – a topic I take up in another post.

“True African way of showing love: plenty of fat and beer”

Dr. Livingstone travelled throughout sub-Saharan Africa further and for a longer period (about 30 years) than any other explorer in the 19th Century – and with that, came an acute eye and understanding for both the unique and the universal in the different societies in which he travelled.  That, framed within the perspective of the 19th Century English World View, provides for interesting and informative reading.

In the following snippet from his journals he encapsulates a basic feature of African cuisine and hospitality: the importance of fat and local beer (pombe).

Cuisine throughout Africa relied (and among the poorer strata still does) on meals that were made into stiff porridges and dressed with a bit of (usually) vegetarian relish, to which would be added some type of fat.  This usually was vegetable fat, but could also be rendered fat taken from elephants or other wildlife.

The beer, made of grains or bananas, was a way both to prolong life of the product as well as to vary what were often fairly unchanging diets – depending on the season of the year and state of the harvest.  And, of course, to add enjoyment to both socializing and eating!

By consequence, the habit of gifting visitors with some combination of these products was universal within the continent.  Added to that, some measure of salt could be given, depending on the level of salt-deprivation within a particular area.

Even now, upcountry in Burundi among the very poor, if asked what are their most important items to obtain, the response is often ‘some palm oil and some salt’ – these families being generally self-sufficient in basic carbohydrates, whether maize, grain, roots, or bananas – and in making beer.

The chief of the village below described by Livingstone really goes out of his way to show respect to his visitor by gifting both beer and a huge, fat-tailed sheep – as well as other eatables:

From: Livingstone, The Last Journals of David Livingstone, Vol.i. This entry written by Livingstone in 1866

In southern-central Africa, Livingstone arrived at a village that he had visited some years before, and whose chief, Kimusa, he therefore knew:

Kimusa…came this morning, and seemed very glad again to see his old friend [Livingstone].  He sent off at once to bring an enormous ram [*], which had either killed or seriously injured a man.  The animal came tied to a pole to keep him off the man who held it, while a lot more carried him.

He was prodigiously fat; this is a true African way of showing love – plenty of fat and beer.  Accordingly, the chief brought a huge basket of pombe [local beer], another of nsima, or porridge, and a pot of cooked meat; to these were added a large basket of maize…

[*]  The sheep are of the black-haired variety, their tails grow to an enormous size.  A ram which came from Nunkajow, a Waiyau chief, on a former occasion, was found to have a tail weighing 11 lbs.; but for the journey, and two or three days short commons [not much food], an extra 2 or 3 lbs. of fat would have been on it.  – ED

 

Fat-tailed sheep. Source: Cassell's Natural History, 1881 London

 

Clay-Eating (Geophagy) in the 19th Century

Scientific American has recently published the podcast Let Them Eat Dirt  .  This reminded me of a past blog I’d done on the topic and which I repost here:

“Dirt is matter out-of-place.”  This quote, by the anthropologist Mary Douglas, points to the cultural relativity of the term ‘dirt’; of dirt being culturally defined.   It is in reference to diseases that ‘dirt’ takes on a non-culturally and more universally defined aura.  Hence, the eating of dirt – or geophagy – covers a wide range of both culturally and medically defined practices.

I don’t want to get into a discussion on the benefits or negative aspects of geophagy, but to bring to attention several examples that come from 19th Century Africa.  This is in response to a series of hits onto my blog from the Wikipedia entry on ‘Geophagy’ – an entry that is being contested (geophagy seems to be an emotional topic!).

I cannot find where my blog is referenced in the Wiki entry, but in the spirit of contributing further information on the topic I offer the following, which points to the wide-spread practice of geophagy throughout Africa in the 19th Century and earlier – and the fact that causes for it may be multiple, from simple eating of ‘dirt’ through physiological or medicinal purposes.

Ant hill in Somalia. Here and elsewhere in Africa, ant hills are used as look-out towers and their soils may be eaten during times of famine - when it may be mixed with other food. Source: Royal Geographic Society

The following is from David Livingstone:

29th November, 1870.-Safura is the [local] name of the disease of clay or earth eating, at Zanzibar (coast of East Africa); it often affects slaves, and the clay is said to have a pleasant odour to the eaters, but it is not confined to slaves, nor do slaves eat in order to kill themselves; it is a diseased appetite, and rich men who have plenty to eat are often subject to it.

The feet swell, flesh is lost, and the face looks haggard; the patient can scarcely walk for shortness of breath and weakness, and he continues eating till he dies.

Here many slaves are now diseased with safura; the clay built in walls is preferred, and Manyuema women when pregnant often eat it.

The cure is effected by drastic purges composed as follows: old vinegar of cocoa-trees is put into a large basin, and old slag red-hot cast into it, then “Moneyé,” asafoetida, half a rupee in weight, copperas, sulph. ditto: a small glass of this, fasting morning and evening, produces vomiting and purging of black dejections, this is continued for seven days; no meat is to be eaten, but only old rice or dura and water; a fowl in course of time: no fish, butter, eggs, or beef for two years on pain of death.

Mohamad’s father had skill in the cure, and the above is his prescription. Safura is thus a disease per se; it is common in Manyuema, and makes me in a measure content to wait for my medicines; from the description, inspissated bile seems to be the agent of blocking up the gall-duct and duodenum and the clay or earth may be nature trying to clear it away: the clay appears unchanged in the stools, and in large quantity.

A Banyamwezi carrier, who bore an enormous load of copper, is now by safura scarcely able to walk; he took it at Lualaba [a river, S.W. of Lake Tanganyika] where food is abundant, and he is contented with his lot.

Squeeze a finger-nail, and if no blood appears beneath it, safura is the cause of the bloodlessness.

FOOTNOTE:[by Horace Waller]

A precisely similar epidemic broke out at the settlement at Magomero, in which fifty-four of the slaves liberated by Dr. Livingstone and Bishop Mackenzie died.

This disease is by far the most fatal scourge the natives suffer from, not even excepting small-pox. It is common throughout Tropical Africa.

We believe that some important facts have recently been brought to light regarding it, and we can only trust sincerely that the true nature of the disorder will be known in time, so that it may be successfully treated: at present change of air and high feeding on a meat diet are the best remedies we know.-ED.

Above from: The Last Journals of David Livingstone, in Central Africa, from 1865 to His Death, Volume II (of  2), 1869-1873  Continued By A Narrative Of His Last Moments And Sufferings, Obtained From His Faithful Servants Chuma And Susi

– Editor: Horace Waller

The following examples are from a book on the topic of Geophagy by Berthold Laufer:

T. F. Ehrmann (Geschichte der merkwiirdigsten Reisen, VII, 1793, p. 70; after J. Matthew’s Journey to Sierra Leone 1785-87) speaks of a white, soap-like earth found here and there in Sierra Leone and so fat that the Negroes frequently eat it with rice, because it melts like butter; it is also used for white-washing their houses. Ehrmann adds, “A curiosity which merits a closer investigation.”

The same clay was also reported by Golberry (1785-87) from Sene-gambia and described by him as a white, soap-like earth as soft as butter and so fat that the Negroes add it to their rice and other foods which thus become very savory. This clay is said not to injure the stomach (Lasch, p. 216).

Gaud (Les Mandja, p. 151, Brussels, 1911) writes, “At the present time it is only during famines that the Mandja (in the French Congo) gather the earth of termites’-nests and consume it mixed with water and powdered tree-bark. This compound is said to assuage the tortures of hunger in a singular manner. We think that this effect must be attributed not only to the physical action resulting from the filling of the stomach, but also to the absorption of organic products existing in the clay.

It is in fact known that the walls of the termites’-nests are built by the female workers with tiny clay balls kneaded by them by means of their saliva. It would not be surprising that this saliva contains formic acid.”

R. F. Burton (Lake Regions of Central Africa, II, p. 28) writes that clay of ant-hills, called “sweet earth,” is commonly eaten on both coasts of Africa.

(Diana notes: I cannot find the reference to ‘sweet earth’ in Burton’s publication.)

Above from: GEOPHAGY – BY Berthold Laufer CURATOR, DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY CHICAGO, U. S. A. 1930