Good eats!

The best thing about my guesthouse is definitely the kitchen. It’s not particularly nice, but after over a week without one (plus a few weeks prior of not using my old kitchen because I was out of food and not restocking), it’s a godsend to have one back. I haven’t had good fruits or vegetables in a while, and it’s also nice not to be paying 95,000 kwacha (about $29) for a cheeseburger at my hotel.

The grocery stores here are pretty decent. I’ve been to about 3 different ones so far, and between them they have sufficient produce, good bread, good dairy, and a decent selection of non-perishable food. A lot of what’s sold is either made here in Lusaka (even from the big companies like Parmalat, the big dairy brand) or from South Africa. There are a few recognizable brands (Kellogg’s, Doritos, Coke/Pepsi, etc.), and after I spent about an hour in the store today studying prices and selection without being rushed (took a cab, no driver), I found a bunch of great stuff. The prices are really high, due in part to the shitty dollar, so I’ve had to be careful not to break the bank. I’ve had some great local cheese, good African tea, good frozen vegetables, and some other good stuff. The beef here (compared to the rest of Africa) is supposedly very high quality also, and the Zambeef plant is pretty close by. I haven’t bought any fresh meat yet, but I’ll be brave soon.

Over the weekend, I had excellent Indian food at a restaurant in town, and bought some great Chinese dumplings and spring rolls to take home from the Dutch Reform fair. There are a lot of Asian immigrants from all over here in Zambia, and many south and east Asian restaurants. I saw signs today for a Korean place, and there’s another Indian restaurant literally across the street from my place that’s close enough so I can walk over safely at night.

The one thing I haven’t really had is any food native to Zambia. Everywhere I've been brought or sent is very westernized/Britishized, and I need to make more of an effort to get out of the box. I definitely want to try some local fare, but wasn’t feeling daring last week when I felt like crap. Soon, for sure. Because it’s never been a very affluent place, the local foods are all very starchy and don’t involve much meat. The staple is nshima, which is sort of a thick corn-meal porridge that’s usually accompanied by vegetables of some kind. I'll try that first, and then see what I can discover.

I did have local beer at a bar over the weekend. It’s called Mosi, and while the company is owned by South Africans and partially by Miller (I think), the beer is brewed here in Lusaka. It’s the only one I’ve seen so far. It’s a pretty good, light-ish lager that I’d probably liken to Molson.

The big bummer for me so far is coffee. The brewed coffee I’ve had everywhere is terrible, usually too strong or just plain awful. African coffee is excellent, but it’s not available many places and I haven’t found anywhere that makes it well. I’ve had great espresso drinks out on the weekends, but tea is much bigger here (damn Brits again), and the cheapest coffeemaker in the department store is about $40. The kicker is that while I found one crappy drip coffeemaker, filters were nowhere to be found. I think I might bite the bullet and buy the thing for my office, or check into having one shipped, though not sure I want to wait that long. I know the locally available coffee is really high-quality, so I want to be able to go buy a few kinds and try it out the way I like it. If my mission is successful, expect to get requests from me for care packages containing large numbers of Splenda packets.