Breaking Bread and Foufou Together (or Stuff Missionaries Like... to eat)

Our friend Bagali* is teaching a class to Congolese grad students on "Non-African Cultures". Bagali lived in England, with his family, for several years, and has worked with Western missionaries for over 20 years, so he has a good understanding of cultural differences and potential areas of misunderstanding. The purpose of the course is to help future translators understand the Westerners they will likely be working with (...like us). Great idea, right? Western missionaries usually get orientation to African culture, but Africans don't get any orientation to us and our strange behavior.

Last week, Bagali asked us to come speak to the class about Westerners and food... what we like to eat, what we consider a "meal", what we eat for special occasions, what we find difficult to eat, what makes us sick, etc. Many of these translators will be hosting Western consultants in the future, and we want these visits to be a blessing for everyone.

It's always hard to see your own culture clearly, so I sought input from Rebecca*, who worked as a cook for

Rebecca makes amazing whole-grain bread for us

German missionaries before the 1996 war and now cooks for the American family we are house-sitting for. Her first thought was that Westerners eat a lot of  salad (raw vegetables), and a lot of cake.  Then she expanded "cake" to say that we eat a lot of flour... bread, cookies, etc.  We also eat a lot of fruit.

So what do Congolese eat? She listed sweet potatoes, greens (several varieties), rice, meat, foufou.  Wheat is not a staple here, as it is in the West. Also, there is a big difference in how people prepare food. Westerners have indoor kitchens, and we use refrigerators, ovens and stoves. Congolese mostly cook on outdoor "jikos", charcoal stoves. Congolese like fruit (papaya, pineapple, passion fruit are locally grown) and would like to eat more, like we do, but most don't have the money for it. Buying habits are also different. Most Congolese do not have salaried jobs, so they buy food on a day-to-day basis. Today's income (if there is any) buys tonight's meal. They don't generally "stock up" or buy large quantities as do Westerners, or Congolese with salaried jobs. And most have their own gardens.

Charcoal jikos, and social time

Heading to the field, hoe in hand

Back to the class. Bagali had students from different areas write on the board some basic meals: rice and beans, foufou and meat... basically a starch and an accompaniment. Then I explained how our meals might start with a salad, then the main course would be meat, veg and a starch, and then dessert. We talked a little about obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and other conditions that mean eating less sugar, fat and salt. These are known in Congo, but not as prevalent.

What are the main problems Westerners have had with food they have been served in Africa? Water - it should be boiled or filtered, or we can get very sick and not be able to do what we came to do. Also, a lot of Congolese food is cooked in large quantities of oil, especially palm oil. Some Westerners are allergic to palm oil; others don't digest it well and can have stomach problems. Another concern is over-spending. In many Congolese cultures, a visitor is honored with a special meal. The host gives sacrificially to provide something fine, slaughtering an animal or paying for expensive meat, milk powder, and other luxuries. But if the guest is staying for weeks at a time (as is the case with a visiting translation consultant, for example), the cost of sustaining these kinds of meals can be very high. We asked them, please, do not feel you need to do this, we just want to eat as you do and be with you. And not get sick.

What we learned from them was that, often, when Congolese are invited to eat at the home of Westerners, they leave feeling hungry.  We tend to eat smaller meals more often (3 times a day, versus once or twice a day for many Congolese), and of course we are generally not as active.

Bagali told us about a missionary in his home area when he was growing up. People knew that, if you were invited to his house for a meal, you should eat  before you go, because he wasn't going to serve much food (by  their standards).

He recalled his first stay in England 15 years ago. For the first two weeks, he still felt hungry whenever he left the meal table. Then his system began to be trained to expect regular meals of more modest size. I think his personal story was very helpful to the class.

Meal to celebrate finishing Matthew's Gospel: rice, greens and beef stew

A related point: what counts as "celebration" food is different. At a wedding in the U.S., the most important food (at least in our home areas) is the cake. Even if you offer nothing else, you have to have a cake, that's what makes it a wedding. In Africa, you are expected to have a full feast - rice, meat, etc.  Inviting someone to a celebration and just giving them cake... that would be bizarre (and inhospitable, I'm guessing). As Bagali said, at a Congolese celebration, the foufou in the pot at the center of the table should be so high that you couldn't see the guest on the other side!

Bagali also remembers another missionary - people noted that he fed meat to his dogs, and porridge to his employees. You can imagine what they thought of him and his love for the people.

One student lamented that we should have been having this discussion many years ago, it could have avoided many misunderstandings. We were very grateful to be informants, and to be better informed.

* names changed for privacy