Mwizenge S. Tembo, Ph. D

Date: Tue, 8 May 2001 04:01:38 -0700 (PDT) From: Timothy Lane timcfl@yahoo.com, Dr. Mwizenge Tembo, Bridgewater College, mtembo@bridgewater.edu [COMMENT]Mulibwanji. My name is Tim. I am writing from California. This weekend, while perusing the Internet, I stumbled across your wonderfully crafted page on nshima. I lived in Lusaka (in Woodlands and Roma) for part of 1998 while doing some volunteer work in Zambia. After spending my first few weeks in the country subsisting on peanut butter and bread, I was elated to discover the subtle deliciousness of nshima and relish. With the kindness of several nshima experts and lots of practice (including several ruined pots and possibly half a 5 kg bag of mealie meal lost to high heat or improper stirring), I was eventually able to make my first plate of lumpy nshima and relish. The combination quickly became my favorite dish of any origin (especially when cooked properly) and I have dearly missed the meal since.
Since returning to North America a couple of years ago, I have been completely unable to find a restaurant serving anything quite like Zambian nshima and relish. In Washington D.C., for instance, there are a number of restaurants in the Adams Morgan district (some of which you may be familiar with) which serve a West African, yam based approximation of nshima. Although very appetizing, the use of spices and the texture of the yam porridge in the West African staple create a taste somewhat different than the brilliantly simple deliciousness of Zambian nshima. Flavored with little more than onions, cabbage or greens, tomatoes, and a bit of salt, there is truly nothing quite like nshima and relish. And the discovery of your webpage has subsequently encouraged me to once again attempt the preparation of my old favourite. In the absence of a Zambian tutor, I didn’t think I would have much success attempting to cook nshima from memory - particularly with the kitchen smoke detector standing by to remind when I've burned another pot. With the use of your recipe as a guide, however, I'm a bit more confident that I will (eventually) be able to get a nice pot of nshima prepared. In lieu of mealie meal, I will probably try to use finely ground yellow maize (corn meal) and will likely prepare the relish in advance as it might take a few tries to finally get a good pot of hot nshima. Whatever the result of my cooking endeavors, it is great to see Zambian culture represented in North America. Beyond the cuisine and scenery, many of the underlying values of Zambian society are indeed wonderful models for North America and the world. For instance, in the midst of certain community conflicts elsewhere in Africa, many North Americans I chat with are surprised when I tell them about the remarkably amiable (almost cousin-like) relationship between Bemba and Nyanja speaking Zambians - and, in the midst of our Western commercial traditions, it is similarly often difficult to effectively explain the remarkable sense of community among Zambians. Your students are undoubtedly very fortunate to have such interesting perspectives for use in their study of comparative sociology. Best of success in your continued dissemination of Zambian cultural elements throughout North America - and please do let me know in the event you discover any Zambian restaurants in this hemisphere!

Best regards and thanks Tim

[REPLY] Tim, I was thrilled to hear from you about nshima. People from other cultures don't understand the uniqueness of nshima and relish and especially the subtleness of the taste. When a cuisine depends on too much salt, fat, sharp cheddar cheese, hot spices, sugar, articial flavor enhancers etc., I find that your taste senses can become overwhelmed or be so masked that you can't sharpen your detection and appreciation for subtle flavors when eating. One time I cooked nshima for a sociology class here. I also cooked rape with peanut powder, chicken with tomatoes and onion. After the first bite of the nshima without the relish, one student exclaimed: "Man, this is so bland and tasteless! Why don't you add salt, butter or something to it?" Many years ago, I would have been offended by such a comment. But not now. Indeed, when I was at Chizongwe secondary school in Chipata, many European expatriates criticised nshima for being so bland and they proceeded to add butter or margarine to it when they were cooking it in their homes. I am now convinced that truely appreciating nshima is an art like wine tasting. You have to eat it enough times to develop a true appreciation for it. It is not the kind of food you eat once for the first time and scream that it is "the spicest" or "sweetest" or "strongest tasting" food you have ever eaten.

Last year when I went to Zambia to my home village, thats when I got to relive some of my village childhood culinary pleasures. Have you ever eaten nshima with plain clay-pot cooked kidney beans the type grown among the Tumbuka people? The beans has a special thick dark red gravy. Apart from a little salt nothing else is added to it. When you take a bite with a lump of nshima, heaven could not be better than this. The rape or "collard" greens also have a very distinctive taste in Zambia. My son loved the rape. He couldn't eat enough of it every meal. Each meal was just such a pleasure as my two teenage sons, my 2 brothers, shared every meal together. After dinner as we chatted we drank some hot tea - made the Zambia way; milk with sugar. Just thinking of all of this makes me home sick. I am glad you have found the web site useful.

P/S: For those of you who are not familiar with the web site, click on my address/name below to get access to the web site.

Mwizenge

From: kmwenda@worldbank.org, Date: Tue, 8 May 2001 16:53:20 –0400 [REPLY] Greetings to all: But before I proceed, kind apologies to the disinterested reader(s). I beseech your indulgence of heart and your kind pardon, too. If you will, please try out this Nshima phenomenon. It's simply great! Dr. Tembo, I am not sure, though, who owns the 'patent' rights of Nshima, or perhaps it's not patentable...Is it? Lawyers in Africa must ensure that the patent rights of Nshima are protected, otherwise someone will make some money out here by selling the patent rights of Nshima.

[COMMENT]Dr. Tembo, indeed, much obliged for the well-articulated views on Nshima. I miss it really, especially the way it is cooked back home. The only problem though is that it is addictive (smile). Whenever I have the chance to feast on Nshima, I help myself generously. I actually eat it with bare hands, in a primitive way if you like (smile) - just like an African man killing a lion! The folk and knife thing have just never been friends with Nshima. Those guys (folk and knife) cannot do much justice to Nshima.

[COMMENT]In fact, Nshima is eaten almost all over Africa, including at Presidential Palaces. In Zimbabwe, Nshima is called "Dza-dza". In South Africa, it's called "Paap". In Kenya, it's called "Ugali", or "Uuuuggg" as the University of Nairobi students would call it. In Ghana, it's called "Bhanku". When I was a graduate student in Oxford, many years back now, a British Jamaican friend of mine kept cracking jokes about Nshima, saying, that "the damn thing was [intellectually retarding]". He jokingly said that after eating one felt quite exhausted and would easily go to sleep. I only learned from his wife, a Zambian lady, that the guy actually used to eat the damn thing (Nshima) like hell, even during the hot and humid weather of the summer. And he would even take-off his shirt when eating. It shows the energy involved. The damn thing is good. It's called Nshima. It's [food], and not snacks. It's real food. If people serve you with snacks when you go to visit them, then you have not eaten at all. The only real food - in the eyes of our fore-fathers - was and continues to be Nshima. And I explained this to the Jamaican friend of mine that Nshima is no snack at all. It is FOOD. I mean, food, especially in it's very extremely solid state – which often is associated with security gaurds or manual labourers, or a man who wants to get rid of a hang-over after a previous night's heavy drink!!! It's Nshima all the same, whether for breakfast or lunch or dinner (smile)! And it tastes good. Ku lya fe...kaili Lesa eupela fyonse...(smile)