Every month, I got to try different cuisines- some were pretty weird and different, and some were rather comforting and homey. Heres a taste of my favorite dishes from each place, and the memories they will always hold.
DR: rice and beans, & fried eggs.
After a long, hard 4 hours of working under the Dominican sun: digging steps in a hill, pouring cement for a house foundation, or deep cleaning a blackened kitchen, we would enjoy the one big meal of the day. Margo, the cook, would make huge trays of food: sometimes the rice and beans were mixed, sometimes separate with tomatoes or meat in the beans, and sometimes we would get amazing fried eggs on the side! The best part was having a siesta afterwards when we could rest from the heaviness of the morning work and of the meal, before returning back to our jobs.
Haiti: picklies.
We ate A LOT of carbs this month. Pasta, bread, rice, more pasta, fried starches, more bread…. One usual dinner meal was fried potatoes and yuca, with a side of picklies. Picklies are a delicious mix of spicy pickled onions and cabbage, and help wash the bready taste down very well! Usually shared with our translators and the pastor’s small son, this was a meal quite unlike anything I’ve ever had.
South Africa: rusks.
It took us 96 hours to get from our hosts in Haiti to our hosts (Love Story) in S.A. We arrived around 8am tired, confused, and badly in need of showers. The first thing they did was offer us coffee, fruit, and these crispy biscuits called rusks! Sarah showed us how to dip it in our coffee to soften them up and then take a bite. THEY ARE SO GOOD. There are many different types, and actually remind me of Italian biscotti, but our favorite was the condensed milk flavor! The whole rest of the month, and throughout Africa, whenever we ate them we would remember how immediately Love Story welcomed us into their family and how their love story became our own.
Botswana: my Aunt Meg’s biscuit recipe.
Yeah, I know, this isn’t a local food, but since we were in Botswana during Thanksgiving, we tried our best to celebrate! Each member of our team contributed a family favorite which made for a lovely feast. We invited an American missionary who hadn’t been home for Thanksgiving in years and some of the Youth for Christ Botswana staff who obviously had never celebrated before. Per usual, I ate wayyyy to much and after multiple courses of food and sweets, we collapsed in sweaty messes on our couches to play cards or sleep off the “tryptophan” from our roast chickens.
Zambia: ifisashi.
This is a traditional meal that takes many forms across Africa: a meat, veg, and cornmeal nchima (also called paap or ugali). Every evening, our host mom would spend hours preparing this meal, carefully killing, defeathering, deboning, and cooking the chicken, then move on to cutting and cooking the spinachy like greens, then make the sauce with reduced tomatoes and onions, all while the nchima is boiling and cooking. Finally, when all the smells were too delicious to bear, we would eat sitting in the yard under the stars. The work and passion I watched Mercy put into this meal after the whole day of sweating under the hot African sun, and helping her make it, makes this a special meal that may be closer to my heart than my stomach.
India: chai.
Wow. Best tea ever. And so cheap! All over the streets were stands selling chai and in the middle of prayer walks, coming home from helping at the orphanages, or at the end of a morning run, we enjoyed this amazingly spiced milky tea. We especially bonded over the tradition of serving chai to guests in the homes of believers we visited or with friends that we made.
Nepal: chicken biryani.
We helped multiple beautiful families who ran a ministry to feed and care for at-risk street children. There were so many children around us- some were biologically born of the hosts, and some were adopted or fostered to get them into a safe place. One night, we got to celebrate the 8th birthday of one of the little boys. His mom, Roshni, made kilos of of her special chicken biryani for us all to feast on as we celebrated. Besides the delicious biryani (anyone want seconds? thirds? here’s another full plate!), there was coconut cake, and dancing from the kids. The girls prepared special traditiona dances for the birthday boy, and the boys showed off their cool skills to us! We felt truly welcomed as a part of their giant family the whole month, but especially on this night.
Romania: sausage baguette sandwiches with mustard, cream cheese, and pickles.
Truth time: I never ate these sandwiches. But every week, Levi, Elle, and I would prepare forty or more for homeless people who would come to our church for showers, bible study, and a meal. We had so much fun reliving our food service days and bonding together in the kitchen with a testy fire alarm. But serving them to grateful, kind men and women, whom our host, Christi, had spent years treating with kindness and graciousness was the best reward. They ate with zeal and vigor, but were never rude or forceful. I believe the best way to show Kingdom provision is by providing people with functional needs, and by feeding them, we got to bring them a taste of God’s glorious Kingdom.
Bulgaria: almond cappuccinos + nut stands.
This month catered surprisingly well to vegan eating (which I have begun to try!). At almost every store, you could buy nuts, dates, and dried fruit in bulk and every cafe had multiple non dairy milk options. I became a regular at one cafe with good wifi, where I would file reciepts and log expenses for my team as part of my treasurer duties. When I walked in, the barista would start pulling out the almond milk to make me a cappuccino. This cafe also was a perfect place for meetups with some local youth friends, calls with people back home, and a lovely respite from rainy afternoons. Fun fact: coffee is served in Bulgaria with a little tiny scroll on which is written an ecnouraging phrase or word of wisdom- like a fortune cookie!
Serbia: gomboc.
How do I explain these? They are the shape of donut holes, made out of potato like a gnocchi, and can be sweet (filled with nutella or fruits) or savory (with cheese or spices). My friend Angie found them one morning on a prayer walk, and we became friends with the owner- Angie visited her every day! She was kind and generous to us, and we got to show the love of Jesus to her as we spent time with her. Sometimes all that you need to do is make a routine and slowly build relationships to bring people to Christ.
Albania: byrëk.
Okay. Take baklava, with all its thin flaky layers, and crepes, with its doughy quality and the stuffings, and combine it. That’s pretty much what byrëk is! You can have it plain (aka butter), or with cheese, spinach, meat, or tomato. It is filling and yummy, and made best by our friends, Fatos and Vjillosa, some of the few Christians we encountered. Lauren and Victoria became close to them, as close as daughters, by visiting their bakery every morning and trying all the delicacies. They welcomed the rest of us to join them, and as the couple showed us gracious hospitality, we got to bolster their faith and present them with a Bible, since it is difficult for them to attend church and they did not have a Bible of their own. Byrëk tastes to me like family, love, and the tears of Fatos, as he told us (especially “Laura”, “Katharina” & “Viktoria”) how dear we are to him.
As delicious as all these foods (and so many more that I got to taste!) were, and how much I’ll yearn them for the rest of my life, my heart will never forget the joy and love that was shared at the tables we dined at.
The yearning to have that joy again will never diminish, until we are reunited at the banquet hall in Heaven with our Savior. I can’t wait to see these beautiful people again on that Day!
