Karibu!

January 27th, 2008 by mas | Filed under Africa & Overseas, Society & Issues.

Karibu means ‘welcome’ in Swahili. I don’t know its exact meaning in Chichewa (Malawian language), but when one of the staff at the school in Zomba said Karibu I was pretty sure he was inviting me over to share their meal (lets hope so because thats what I did!).

We’d just come out of the pool and it was dark (in Malawi it turns pitch black so quickly its almost like the lights have been turned off) - so just out of the pool in the darkness, and I can see two men and one calls over “karibu”. So over I go, and I see they have a plate of nsima and a bowl of beans.

Nsima is a bit like a thick porridge or loose mashed potatoe, its a mix made from maize which is the staple food of Malawi. I’d had nsima before - its not very exciting - you roll a small piece of it into ball and then dip it into whatever sauce you have. It doesn’t have much taste and has a slightly rubbery texture.

Having made my way over in the dark I kneel down and wash my hands in the bowl of water. Then tear off some nsima, roll it into a ball and then gather up some of the bean sauce. As I go to gather the beans, and as my eyes adjust to the dark I can just about make out that these beans have legs!! Well too late to go back now so I take a very small amount, mix it up with my nsima ball and in it goes!

“Ah no, not like that” my dinner companion tells me…..”like this….” and he takes a nice fat handful, throws them into his mouth and then follows it up with his nsima ball - then he turns to give me a big grin. Well I’ve already started, so….. wash my hand, make my nsima ball, stick my hand in the bug bowl, throw a load of ‘beans with legs’ into my mouth, give them a good old chew and then finish off my nsima! ………..Then a very swift “Zikomo kwambiri” (thankyou very much) and I quickly disappear!

For the record they tasted a bit like very crumbly dry roasted peanuts and are apparently called ‘ngumbi’. The reason for the taste is probably because of the way they’re cooked. they were actually termites (or some say flying ants). They only have wings for a short time, and while we were out there, each morning we would find thousands of wings outside of our rooms. To cook them up they’re fried along with some salt (hence the dry roasted flavour - to me at least!).