The best African experience I can have is cooking Zambian food with my friends who are Jamaican, Rwandan, South African, and Danish (the Dane grew up in Ethiopia). I was organized this time and printed each recipe on a separate page, with times indicated, and with the ingredients gathered and ready. As each person arrived, they looked over the options and picked their spot.
I had already roasted the peanuts and started the donuts rising three hours before we planned to eat. Raquel took those roasted peanuts and started chopping vegetables an hour and a half before the ifisahi was needed. This was one of the favorites of the night. The freshly roasted peanuts, having been cooked in the stew of pumpkin, spinach, cabbage, tomatoes, and onion, almost had the texture of beans: https://www.196flavors.com/zambia-ifisashi-and-nshima/
Anne Berit took on the challenging task of stirring the dried okra with powdered groundnuts for a good forty minutes. We all admired anyone who would make this on a regular basis. I chose this recipe instead of regular okra because I wanted to see if it would be less slimy. Raquel still thought it was slimy, but I didn’t think so. This was my favorite: https://zambiankitchen.com/dry-okra-recipe/
When I reviewed the recipes with Juba, she immediately chose the Soya Mince (also known as TVP). I was worried about this one. After all, I’m not used to eating things that come out of the bins at Loma Linda Market. My vegemeats come frozen or from cans (I am fully aware that non-vegetarians would hesitate at those options as well). Juba was worried about this one for a different reason. She made me double check that the recipe was truly from a Zambian webpage. Our worries were in vain – the Soya Mince was good: https://zambiankitchen.com/how-to-cook-soya-mince-vegan-recipe/
I picked up the amaranth leaves from the freezer at We Yone Market in Rialto. Raquel was happy to recognize them by a different name from Jamaica: https://zambiankitchen.com/amaranth-leaves-recipe-bondwe/
Aimable insisted that he must make the nshima, the corn flour mush that is used to pick up food. He also insisted that it should be made without salt. We gave him a hard time, but it was good and I finally know how to pick up food with this! https://www.196flavors.com/zambia-ifisashi-and-nshima/
Amable also fried the donuts. They were only mildly sweet and I would have liked to roll them in cinnamon and sugar, but Aimable and Juba said they were just right: https://zambiankitchen.com/doughnuts-recipe/
This was such a delicious meal and I’m so grateful for this group that is willing to explore the world by trying new foods.
To read something from Zambia, I tried Scribbling the Cat by Alexandra Fuller, but I recommend to save that one for Zimbabwe. I’ll say why in that blog. So I went back to something I read years ago, Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone by Martin Dugard. When I read it, I didn’t categorize it into a country because it ranges all over the southern and eastern parts of Africa. Also when I read it, I found myself horrified by the behavior of Stanley. But now that I am here, I realize that it is in Zambia that David Livingstone named Victoria Falls, also in Zambia that another falls and a city are named after him, Zambia is where he died, and where his heart is buried. If one is going to read any of the more than one hundred books about David Livingstone, this is a good one.
There are several options for films about Zambia online. Kanopy has the beautiful film The Leopard Legacy from PBS. Netflix has the animated series on superhero teen girls called Supa Team 4. The first episode of Wild Congo on DisneyPlus covers the source of the river in Zambia. This clip shows part of it: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/river-monsters-clip-1/
A beautiful example of Zambian music is this video by Triple M, Jay Trek, and Chile Breezy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHnyZlb2-U8
For more Zambian music, start the series of videos here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pavAQFl8GAM&list=PLZ6afNou8CGuyIrdMlm0uCrITdhB2j3Ml
To experience the Zambian resolve to take care of themselves, see this Faces of Africa video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdySDnD_qqA
There are great places to visit in Zambia! Some of them are here: https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-zambia/#more-24026. I would love to go! I hope for a time when broad travel gives us new perspectives. In the meantime, I’m hoping we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace, health, and safety to flourish in Zambia and throughout the world.
Photo Credit: Henning Borgersen https://unsplash.com/photos/4Uxu8wnjYOY
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