Here’s What’s Cookin’

The food in Liberia is quite a bit different than what is considered normal in America. One thing that I have noticed is the biggest meal of the day is at lunch and always includes rice; whereas in America the biggest meal is usually dinner. Also, Liberians will tell you they have not eaten at all that day if they did not eat rice, which is different than America as there is not one particular food we must eat each day. And, as I will explain the breakfast and dinner meals are opposite of what an American would consider normal.

Breakfast is a variety of things. One of the most common breakfast items is a sandwich, most often a sardine sandwich and sometimes an egg sandwich. Other times there will be spaghetti–again with sardines–or corn flakes.

Usually two days a week in the mornings I help in the kitchen to prepare lunch for the day. Everyday for lunch is rice and soup. Soup here in Liberia is what more Americans would consider a sauce or stew. There are many Liberian soups: from pumpkin, onion, bitter ball (a vegetable that grows, is the size of a cherry tomato, and taste sweeter than a green tomato), and cassava (which includes the roots, the bulbs that grow on the branches, and the leave which we cut up and boil). The soups are comprised of seasonings, water, onions, the main ingredient (pumpkin, cassava leaf, bitter ball, etc.), peppers, and oil. One noticeable characteristic of the soups is they are spicy–at least to me– the Liberians don’t think they are spicy. In fact, the students here think something is missing is there is not a lot of spice. I’ve gotten used to constantly wiping my nose and having water nearby during lunch.

Dinners also vary. Much of the time there will be some kind of bread. Usual dinner items are donuts (like I said, the opposite of the US), cream of wheat, homemade bread (like corn bread or short bread), or macaroni (not macaroni and cheese, but macaroni noodles with sardines or eggs).

I do have access to the “international kitchen” which is the kitchen for Western missionaries and volunteers; if I don’t love what the regular kitchen is serving I can make something else. I try my best to eat what everyone else is eating for the most part–I’ve found that it has given me a more complete idea of what living in Liberia is like.