Food, Glorious Food!

This post is about… food! That wasn’t obvious, was it? I’ve had a lot of questions about what I eat, what food is available, and how the Togolese food is. I’ll begin by saying that–apart from people–food is what I miss most.

When I was living with a host family, the meals were decent, but there were about 5 or 6 different dishes that rotated. For breakfast, I always got a loaf of bread. On good days, there would be vache qui ri (VQR), or laughing cow cheese, i.e. the only type of cheese readily available in Togo because it doesn’t require refrigeration. Sometimes I would get oatmeal, which was good but different because the oats had been pounded into a powder before being added to the water. Tapioca (a favorite dessert of mine back home) also made frequent appearances at breakfast, but it was unsweetened and more watery than what I’m used to. Other days I would get peas, carrots, green beans, cabbage and onions cooked in oil and drenched in mustard (and I’m not a fan of mustard…). My favorite thing to see was spaghetti with any sauce. It may just be because it’s so familiar, but I’ve come to realize just how much I love pasta. Plantains were a common dish, mixed with tomatoes, onions and carrots. Sometimes soja, or tofu, would be added to the meals as well. Soja is very prevalent here, a good source of protein, and much better here than the times that I’ve tried it in the States. One dish I really didn’t care for was beans soaked in palm oil, which you then add this floury grain called gari to it to soak up the oil. It was just very dry. Couscous and rice with varying sauces are some other examples. Overall, I found the food during my homestay to be good but not very satiating.

Togolese Food: The two most common Togolese dishes are pâte (pronounced ‘pot’) and foufou. Pâte is usually made out of farine de mais, or corn flour, but sometimes rice is used. There are a few different types of sauce that can be added to it, the most common one that I’ve seen is called adémè, made out of a leafy green (the smell is familiar but I’m still trying to figure out what it’s called in English) with either chicken or dried fish added to eat. I had pâte with a colleague of mine the other day with fish and she encouraged me to eat a lot of the fish, which is very kind of her because fish, or protein in general, tends to be more expensive and is saved for the head of the family. So I ate the fish. Head, bones, tail, eyes–everything. It really wasn’t bad; it was more of a mental block that I had to get through. Togolese live off of pâte. They eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and never tire of it. I had a running joke with my host mom where she’d have me guess what my host dad had requested for dinner and I would hesitate and then say “umm…pâte?” She got a kick out of it. Pâte rouge was the Togolese dish I requested whenever friends came over for dinner with my host family. My host mom even taught me how to make it. It’s farine de mais with the red sauce and chicken cooked into it. The texture reminded me of polenta, although the taste is completely different. Foufou is another dish that I really enjoy, especially with sauce arachide, peanut sauce. It’s made with yams or cassavas that have been boiled and then pounded into a doughy ball. Unfortunately, foufou is more of a southern Togolese food than northern, so I’ve had a difficult time finding it in the north, but I hear it is possible to get it in Dapaong.

Before coming to Togo, I thought I would be craving sweets the most. I’m not sure if it’s because we sweat so much, but I really crave salty foods. As a snack (alright, occasionally it’s a meal when I’m lazy), I make popcorn, add a ton of salt and wish that I had the liquid movie theater butter to drizzle over it. The only types of chips I would eat back home were Pringles, Ruffles, Fritos and tortilla chips, and lucky for me, Pringles exist in Togo! They’re a little hard to find, but I’ve been told it’s possible to get them in 3 of the 5 regional capitals (sadly, Dapaong is not one of them). I’m going to send friends in those capitals to find them and send them to me J

VQR is an amazing invention (granted, I’m saying this as I dream of eating a fresh ball of mozzarella cheese). Why is it amazing? No refrigeration required, long shelf life, can be melted and made into a mac and cheese sauce or nacho-like dip (had this once with a Mexican inspired meal and it was delicious!), and it supposedly makes a pretty convincing cheesecake. I have yet to try the last one, but am excited for the possibility of it.

Another amazing invention is powdered milk. Those of you who know my family know that I was brought up drinking a glass or two of milk with every meal. In college, my milk drinking decreased significantly because, with six people sharing one fridge, there wasn’t enough room to stock the amount of milk I was used to drinking and I therefore had to ration my milk. Sans refrigerator here in Togo, milk is almost as uncommon as cheese is, the exception being powdered milk. I’ve found myself adding it to everything–my oatmeal, mac and cheese, the dough to make flour tortillas, and my corn flakes. Yes, corn flakes. I got them in Lomé and have been eating them the past week for breakfast. I feel a little weird pouring my filtered/bleached water over my cereal, but it tastes good, it just isn’t as cold as I would prefer it to be.

When I first found out my post, every Togolese I talked to would mention the abundance and cheapness of meat and eggs. While the north heavily lacks a good variety of vegetables (I can only find onions, garlic, okra and adémè in my village marché right now), I assumed I would not have a hard time getting an appropriate amount of protein in my diet. Well, I can find pork, goat and dog meat in the marché. (I try to avoid walking past the dog butcher. It’s depressing.) If the meat is already cooked (and being sold on the side of the road, for example), I have no problem eating it (with the exception of dog). However, I have yet to buy meat and cook it myself. I know I will eventually but I’m just hesitant to do it. I’ve also seen whole, live chickens and guinea fowl for sale but I’m not yet to the point where I could kill and cook it by myself, so my protein diet is still pretty limited. Eggs (both chicken eggs and guinea fowl) are abundant, but most people au village keep them for themselves rather than selling them in the marché. I plan on asking around though and finding a reliable and constant personal supplier of eggs.

The other night, some colleagues of mine at Code Utile invited me to have a drink with them. They had gotten a chicken, cooked it and were bringing it to a bar. It was the first time in village that I’ve left my house after dark, and the chicken was amazing! They were speaking too quickly for me to understand everything, so I mainly just listened and enjoyed the company, but it was really nice to be included. Once I get my kitchen organized and better stocked, I plan on making them an American dish.

The medical unit is very concerned about our diet while in Togo. They want us to remain healthy and have adequate and balanced meals. Many Americans don’t follow a balanced diet, and this becomes a lot harder to do in Togo. To help us, they provide all PVCs with a cookbook called “Where There is no Whopper”. It’s a compilation of recipes one can make with the resources available here. Some call for ingredients that are rare or only available in the regional capitals (like ground beef), but it’s great to have. I try not to look through it when I’m hungry because it only makes me salivate. There’s also a section on baking, which requires and oven, so I’m thinking about investing in the supplies to make a dutch oven…

So that’s my overview of food in Togo. The food here is a lot fresher than it is in the States. No preservatives make everything last only a couple of days. (Bread gets moldy in two days.) I look forward to discovering my cuisine capabilities here in Togo. Older PVCs, I’ve found, are great resources and they have made some of the most satiating food I’ve had in country. I’ll be sure to update on any new culinary discoveries.