I visited the Congolese family today bringing over my daughter and the 8 month old whom I am watching this week. We chatted and then the mother invited me to eat with them. I said “yes!”
So we sat around the table and she had multiple platters. First, we each had our own dish and it was the salmon steaks we had given them in a tomato type broth. Then she had a platter of cooked cabbage with onions with what looked like tomato color on it? Then she had a big pile of dough in the middle of the table. No forks, or spoons. I was all game.
First she did the blessing and she started out with the prayer that every Catholic around the world understands without knowing each others’ language. She did the Sign of the Cross. (I love that there are commonalities with our Faith!) And they prayed over the food. Then the youngest boy grabbed my attention and began to show me how to eat. He first grabbed a piece of dough and rolled it in his hands. He then used the dough to grab the food on the plate and then place the food in his mouth. I copied him and found it was a bit tricky to get all the food in my mouth without making a mess. I watched some more and realized that my technique was off, so I did exactly what they did and had more success. I should mention that my daughter was all-over-it. What? We get to eat with our HANDS? Yay! She told me she wants to eat like ******’s family from now on! I looked at that dough and thought, “this is familiar! This is like the Mexican tortilla!” In Mexico, you don’t use utensils. You use the tortilla to eat with.
Do you know that when you eat without utensils, there is very little clean up? Talk about environmentally friendly AND mom friendly! Less work. Seriously, these Africans are on to something.
I should mention that the food was DE-LI-CIOUS! It is amazing how we can use the same ingredients and make them taste so different! I love cabbage. Tomato. Salmon. Broth. Salt. Onions. I have never had them taste like that, though.
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