Dumela (and other words in Sesotho): Food.

before i left, i got plenty of questions of what i would eat here and if i would drop my vegetarian habits. i told them that if i was offered meat i would definitely eat it for fear of seeming rude otherwise. the first few weeks, i was in charge of buying and cooking my own food, so staying vegetarian and usually vegan was no big deal. buuut then i was slowly introduced to the local delicacies and, staying true to what i said before, i became more adventurous with what i ate. it's definitely been interesting.

adventure #1: chicken feet.

they actually just taste like chicken, only chewier

adventure #2: sheep's head.
the psychologist at the clinic brought some on friday as a special gift for us. she said the brain was her personal favorite. i ended up trying, what i think was, basic cheek meat.

she cut it before she brought us to save us from seeing the entire head, eyeballs and all.

moment of suspense!

it actually wasn't that bad. tasted pretty good if you didn't think about what you were eating.

kadi's turn, examining the meat

sheep's head, papa, and morojo

adventure #3: tripe.
on saturday we went to a camp for SOS orphanage's high schoolers. i ended up helping in the kitchen and recieved the job of cutting the tripe into small pieces. the woman in charge smiled at me and asked me if i knew what tripe was. "of course!" i replied, "it's a type of fish!"

nope. definitely not fish.
turns out it's cow innards. so i spent a good hour slicing up bits of intestine, lung, and other unidentifiable organs. it was surprisingly difficult to cut (i'd consider it the equivalent of slicing thick, slippery rubber). i tried to be as polite as possible and told them that it looked delicious. even though i left before they served dinner, they were kind enough to pack me some to take home.

don't worry, i'm now relatively skilled at this. feel free to call me up any time you need to prepare some cow intestines.

boiling stew.

and my specially prepared take away container (served with samp, boiled maiz). they waited for me to take a bit. it actually wasn't that bad. if you didn't think about what you were eating, it tasted pretty good. the only thing i found difficult to tolerate was the smell, as soon as i opened it, my nose was overwhelmed with the tripe-y smell.
but i have to say that, even though i found it a little unappetising at first, i really respect that they eat the entire animal. they spend so much time and effort raising their animals that when they finally slaughter them, they eat their heads, legs, body meat, and innards. they don't waste a single thing.

there are two types of food that people seem to really love here: chips and marshmallows.
i received a wonderful assortment of you're-such-a-foreigner/white-people-are-crazy looks while taking these pictures in the grocery store, but knew i had to share them!