Greetings, Scholars!
I hope all is well. I am so excited to begin sharing my journey in Zambia with you! I am sharing a field note where I will talk about eating some foods prepared by locals. This is one of the first Zambian meals I had during my first week.
The foods I tried include fried whole fish, goat, a variety of vegetables, and nshima. Nshima is a “staple” food as it has been described to me by Zambians. They eat nshima every day. It is white and made from corn flour. Nshima is meant to be eaten with your hands which we quickly discovered when we were handed our food without utensils.
I was caught off guard when I was expected to eat with my hands. I do understand that eating with your hands is culturally significant as this is how people ate before colonization. Eating with your hands is also beneficial to your body because it boosts digestion, helps you eat mindfully, and connects you with your food through sensory engagement. I did feel that I was eating slower when I was eating with my hands. The texture of the nshima felt familiar as it kind of felt like a porridge or corn meal that I am used to eating back home as a Haitian American.
