Chebu Jen and Tentalu

So what, you ask, do we eat over here in Senegal?  That depends, firstly, on location, and secondly on family income.

    Cheebu Jen is the national dish of Senegal.  It consists of primarily rice with fish, but if the family has the money (or a garden) also includes vegetables.  They can add spices or a seasoning packet to the rice for an extra kick, but it can also be plain white rice.  They'll obviously gut the fish and de-scale it (that's the technical term).  The more vegetables in the bowl the more "patron" the family is, and in the culture the higher up you are on the social hierarchy the less of those good foods you get to eat.  It's a pretty ageist society, with elders getting the most of everything.    Eggplant, carrots, potatoes, hot peppers, bitter peppers, okra and and sometimes even cooked mangoes end up in this wonderful dish.  Cheb is a great dish, but with all the fish and veggies a good bowl of cheb can be pretty patron.  People in the cities tend to eat more cheb than people in the villages, and it's the typical party food for weddings and baptisms.

Meat Cheb at a Baptism

    This time of year there is a lot of mafe gerte, at least down south where I live.  This might be connected to the fact that my fathers are peanut farmers.  I love plain mafe gerte.  They grind of the peanuts and make it into a peanut sauce similar to peanut butter and then water it down.  If they're feeling adventurous they might add dried fish, tomato, or tentulu.  There are other types of mafe as well, the next most popular being leaf sauce.  It's ok and can be eaten with rice or cous cous.  We usually eat this for dinner.  Something I did not really grasp in my first couple months at site was that there are all different kinds of leaf sauce!  The best is moringa, which in the developing world is something of a miracle plant- it's got crazy, amazing amounts of vitamins and micronutrients, so obviously I push everyone to eat this.  Sometimes, though, it's not available, and we can also eat leaves from peanut plants, cassava plants, baobab trees, and bissap plants. Crushed hot pepper on the side makes it even better.

     What is this tentalu I speak of?  It translates into palm oil.  Here comes my first conundrum as a health volunteer.  I hate tentalu.  I've tried it several times and think it is absolutely disgusting.  Unfortunately, it's actually pretty good for you.  Generally, Senegalese people LOVE tentalu. My host mother was crushed when I told her I did not like it, but has since not made it when I have been home.

     Nancatangis a new favorite.  It's rice mixed with spices, peanuts and sometimes bits of dried fish.  It's good on it's own but again improved by crushed hot pepper.

My host mom cooking

     If there's some extra money or a special occasion cow, goat, sheep or chicken can be added to the dish.  I've eaten goat stomach, and once you get past the texture, it ain't too shabby.

    Those are pretty much lunch and dinner dishes, but we sometimes eat leftovers for breakfast (without meat).  There are also two types of porridges.  Gosi is a rice porridge often had with crushed peanuts, while mogni is cous cous porridge and one of my favorite things in Senegal.  You can add powdered milk or yogurt to add taste or texture.

     There are also bread stands all over the place, and here you can get a sandwich of sorts.  They will have beans, peas, mayonnaise, and sometimes eggs, which can be hard boiled or made into an omelette.  Eggs are semi-expensive though.  This can be complemented by a nice cup of cafe Touba or Nescafe, loaded with condensed milk and sugar.  It's delicious.

Beneits Before and After

Snacks are great too! We can get beneits (essentially fried dough), untu (fish balls), fruits, and glace (frozen juice- this is more impressive when you remember not many people have electricity).

   While eating out, which I tend to do in Kolda since I'm so lazy, there are several wonderful items you can eat.  There are chicken plates, and plates of beef, and spring roll-esque food called nems that I devour, but the unquestionably best and most delicious is the Senegalese variation of the hamburger.  American hamburgers generally have a bun, meat patty, lettuce, tomato, onions, ketchup with French Fries on the side.  In Senegal it's a little different.  Here there's also mayo (surprise!), an egg, and French fries inside the burger.  Take my work for it, it's delicious.

Jam tan.