What do they eat over there?

A question that I have been asked several time is what they eat here. Let me say, what they eat and what I have been eating are two different questions. I can't speak much on what they eat. The fields that I've seen have planted with corn and peanuts. They use corn meal a lot. When I was at base camp, there was this food that looked like dumplings...you know, kind of like balls of something white. I asked what it was called and they told me. Something like Toto or Fofo. Anyway, a think that was made of corn flour. I saw a lot of peanut farms on the concession. Here are a couple of photos of the peanut farms in the valleys and on the hills. I was in a grocery store yesterday for the first time and I noticed eggplant for sale. They do eat vegatables, like squash and peas and corn. They also have a lot of fish here. I'm not exactly sure where the fish com from. I suspect it is imported since the DRC is basically landlocked. At the store I noticed that a one-litre box of milk was about $1.00. I decided to find some cookies to take home to my family and it ended up that the cookies were made in Brazil. I'm sure that means that they are really fresh. The poeple do not upear to be underfed or malnourished. There isn't any obesity though.

Now, what I eat is a different story. There are a few restaraunts in town that I'm told have safe food. I've only been to two...Bush Camp (see my prior blog) and the Belgian Club. At the Belgian club I had a T-bone steak, well done. It was ok. Most of my meals are taken in the diner of the hotels I'm staying at. The Vagabond Hotel is actually reserved entirely for the mining company. They pay the cook and hotel manager. Anyway, we eat really well. For breakfast there is alway a selection of cold cereal. There are also several hot items in the buffet line. Hash browns, some type of scrambled egg dish, ham and cheese, etc. You can order an omlet also. There's toast with butter and jelly also. The milk is whole. There is always a juice...usually apple.
For lunch, there are several salads. There is always a tomato based salad and a lettuce salad. I think all the food at the hotel is probably safe, but I have chosen not to eat the lettuce and tomatoes or any fruit that you don't peel that aren't cooked. The water supply is not safe here and I figure that those foods might make me sick. There is also always a selection of hot plates. Alot of cooked potatoes in various dishes. There is usually a beef dish and always a fish dish. The fish is a white fish. I'm not sure what it is except that it tastes good...but I don't eat fish every day. There is also almost always rice...just plain rice. Dinner is about the same food as we had for lunch with another dish added. We've had speghetti and pizza and different types of pasta. There are a lot of cooked vegtables like brocolli, corn, onions, mushrooms (vegtable?), carrots, etc. So, I've been eating quite well.
Desert is offered at lunch and dinner. They have all kinds of pastries that are really good. Also, if you want, you can have a bowl of ice cream with either caramel or chocolate syrup. I have to admit that I usually indulge at one meal a day.
They have several soft drinks. Most go for the Coke or Diet Coke (no Pepsi). I have found some Sprite, but I usually go for the Fanta Orange or water. The bottle does not actually say Fanta... the brand here is D'Jino. I think there is D'Jino Orange, D'jino Cola, and D'Jino grapefruit. When I drink water it is always bottled water with no ice. They stock my fridge with several bootles of water and a Fanta and a Coke. The favorite beer here is Simba - which means lion in Swahili - you know like the Lion King. Anyway it comes in large bottles and some of the folks here are know to down a few, especially on a weekend. On some evenings wine is available.