26 Days in Abyssinia: Food and water

One of the other team members, Joan, mentioned something the other day about how thankful she is for unlimited clean water. Here, we are only drinking bottled or boiled water - including for brushing our teeth. There aren't always a lot of options during meals that are 'diet', so I find myself drinking a lot more water than I usually do. It's also very dry and often dusty, so water is the thirst-quencher I'm looking for. I find I get into a bit of a hoarding mode when it comes to having enough bottled water available. What is 'enough'? What if I get thirsty at night? What if I run out and don't have any for brushing my teeth? What if we can't find any on a long drive? What if, like this morning, my mouth is so dry during training I feel like I can barely speak?

It's kind of eye opening. I mean, I know that not everyone has enough water - let alone clean and safe water. I think of it at home sometimes when I'm doing dishes or the sprinklers are on. But here, it's kind of an in-your-face reality. I don't think the locals are affected by any lurking bugs in the water we've been exposed to so far - they know these bugs! But our stomachs do not and it means that we have to be careful when we think about choosing what we eat or drink - were those yummy-looking fruits and vegetables washed in water that wasn't boiled or from a bottle? What about the ice in my drink? At the Hilton, we were pretty confident everything was OK. Today I decided to eat the cabbage salad during lunch at the training and so far, so good.

Now, on to the fun stuff - the food! The food here, on the whole, has been pretty good. Yes, it's injera at breakfast, lunch and dinner, but there have been other options thankfully. After my bout with whatever that was on Sunday, I'm having a hard time getting back to the injera. What's injera, you ask? It's made from a grain - usually something called tef - but sometimes from barley or other grains. It's fermented so has a sour flavor, and then is made into a very thin and spongy circle. They cut it into sections, roll it up to serve, and then lay some down on their plate before adding the rest of the food. More is taken to eat with - it's kind of like a utensil. Ethiopian meals are eaten with your hands - your right hand, specifically - and the injera serves as a vehicle to get the food from the plate to your mouth. You tear off a piece, kind of wrap it around the bite you want, and shove it in your mouth. For those of us without a lot of practice, it can be kind of messy.

The tibs (strips of meat in sauce) has been one of my favorites - I've only tried the beef, and it's definitely well done, but generally it's a pretty decent dish. I haven't tried any of the 'wot' dishes yet and there are lots of mystery things I see in the lunch buffets. Plus the super spicy berber sauce. Since there are 'fasting' days (Wed and Fri?) they have a lot of vegetables, rice and pasta which is nice. There's this one lentil-based dish that is my favorite - I hope I find out what it's called before we leave. It's all very colorful - beets, green beans, carrots, the red berber sauce, spinach, potatoes, and more! Plus they have wonderful breads here - probably because of the Italian influence. I think that influences the lovely little cookies and cakes they have out at tea time, as well.

I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting something - like all the Western food we've had available, the great Italian lunch we had in Addis before coming to Adama, and the cheeseburger I had for dinner tonight - but maybe I'll sneak things in to other posts along the way. Initially I also wanted to mention smells in the post, but it's probably worthy of a completely separate post of it's own!