Grow your own

My (farmer) uncle asked me a question about where our Sudanese neighbours get their food from and I thought I'd share my reply for those who are interested... (or you can just look at the pics!)

Local fields
Sorghum growing

It’s a busy time of year right now - the rainy season is well established and everything is growing vigorously. Every family in the village has their own 'garden' (small field) to tend. Sorghum and maize are the staple crops in the area we are in, with both drying well and storing (up in the trees-see photo below) for food throughout the year. The few months before the harvest is ‘hungry season’ as food stores from the previous year run low, prices rise in the markets and little can be found in the wild.

Most Mabaan meals are sorghum-based – the grain is ground into flour, which in turn is made into ‘asiida’ (solid porridge with consistency of play-doh), ‘badiida’ (drinkable version of asiida) or ‘kisera’. Kisera is by far the most palatable for us Westerners as it is a thin savoury pancake that is then used to scoop up any accompanying dish. It is the most work to make though, so it is not made every day. Grinding

Enjoying kisera

Meat is a rare luxury (goat is the most common) and every part of the animal is eaten – we just try not to look too closely to what is swimming in the soup! Cows, goats, sheep, pigs and chickens are kept by most households – all having the free reign of the village but having distinctive ear slits to show ownership. The Sudanese do an excellent line in fried liver (kibda)and it is one of the treats we look forward to when we visit the local market – Caleb and Bethanie love it too!

Preparing the stew

Anyone hungry?

The most common vegetable accompaniments are okra (cooked to slime) or kudra – a leafy, spinach-like plant that also makes a good, slimy goo. Kudra grows wild and the children are sent to pick bunches of it. Not many vegetables are planted by the local people – pumpkins and okra are the main ones. Sesame is also grown. Tomatoes and cucumber (though not looking like the English variety) are also available in the market and we’ve had success in growing our own. Courgette, melon, beans and carrots are also doing well in our garden this year.

All help out in preparing kudra

The Water Project is branching out into ‘trial gardens’ in partnership with local churches in several villages. The aim is to encourage a wider variety of crops to be grown and to show how the growing season can be extended by simple irrigation techniques. We’ll see how they go – we’ve found in previous years that people are happy to try growing new things (eg courgette), but then don’t know what to do with them and so simply give them back to us – maybe we’ll need to run some ‘Ready, Steady, Cook’ sessions too!

Caleb and his cucumbers

Once harvesting begins, everyone is very free in sharing what produce they have and several times last year Caleb and Bethanie came home after visiting neighbours with their arms full of something. Their favourite treat is roasted maize cobs, otherwise known as ‘pookin’ (most of the maize is eaten this way, occasionally it gets made into a porridge but sorghum is definitely the favoured carbohydrate). Rice and potatoes (sweet and ‘Irish’) are available in the market but most village households cannot regularly afford these.

Still beginners on the farming front, we appreciate the increasing variety available in the local market (even apples have been spotted on occasion). We also bring in dry goods/tins from Nairobi and enjoy the challenge of re-creating our favourite dishes under new conditions.