Laura and Petronela worked for a year as missionary volunteers for the SAVIO organization in the town of Mafinga in African Tanzania. Thanks to their work in the Iringa region, they got to know local customs, culture, and cuisine. They shared their experiences and observations with us:
What food is typical for the Iringa region? What did you most often eat in the town of Mafinga?
The most typical food is beans with rice or ugali - ugali is a thick cornmeal porridge made from corn flour, water, and salt. They eat a lot of fruit (mango, bananas, avocado) and vegetables (mainly legumes like beans and peas, also carrots, potatoes, or sukuma wiki - green leaves similar to spinach), and on the other hand, little meat and dairy products.
Are milk and dairy products commonly available when they consume little of them?
Almost every household keeps a cow, so they have their own fresh milk. But since few of them own a refrigerator and it is quite warm all year round, they do not usually store milk or process it further. They are used to drinking fresh milk or making tea from it - chai maziwa, which they drink all day warm in hot weather. In the store, we saw milk packed in bags and yogurts, which were thin and tasted very artificial, almost chemical. We saw cheeses only in larger towns where there were stores with imported goods. Of course, they were expensive and locals did not know how to use them, mostly immigrants and foreigners bought them. We did not dare to try them because their shelf life and expiration date were questionable.
Although they do not process milk further, do they cook any dishes from it?
They do not use milk for cooking (maybe a few exceptions), they rather cook with coconut milk and cream from coconuts they grow. They make only the mentioned chai maziwa, i.e., milk tea. They prepare it by boiling milk with loose tea.
What did you miss the most in Africa? Which dishes or flavors?
Laura: Chocolate. Basically, everything the locals grew was exported. Besides cocoa, also coffee and tea.
Petronela: Cheeses. At first, we tried to get rennet by mail from home, but we gave up because we did not have suitable conditions.
I know you also brought the "taste" of Slovakia to Africa - how did you manage that?
We managed to make homemade curd cheese, from which we prepared halušky with curd cheese, grated curd cheese cake, and curd cheese dumplings.
How did you get to know SABI products?
Laura: Since I grew up in Prešov, I have known SABI products since childhood. When my dad went shopping in the morning, he brought me the best breakfast: chocolate SABI yogurt with a roll.
Petronela: I also know SABI products since childhood because I come from the Sabinov district, so I grew up on SABI yogurts.
