We have been cooking over an open flamed fire here in Mozambique. A big fire, an ankle height grill and one big pan being shared by about 24 people. And believe me; my team is truly grateful to have heat to cook on after eating cold beans out of a can for weeks in Guatemala! J If you’ve ever been camping, you know that sometimes you get more in your food than the ingredients. We’ve been cooking rice, oatmeal, spaghetti, pasta, etc. While setting down for a team dinner (under the amazingly beautiful Africa clear night sky) we only had one headlamp to light up our area that I happened to be wearing. We were having a meal of pasta and veggies. I began to eat and put some salt into my cup of pasta. As the light shinned down into my food I noticed a small black bug. Unlike any action I would have practiced at home, I scooped it out and proceeded to take a bite. The only thing noticeable in my mouth would be the sand that crunched between my teeth; Sand that snuck its way into our dish through either the wind or being formally in the cooking pan. The bugs I’m sure blended in with the food. As we talked I continued to eat. Throughout the night I pulled out around 9 bugs from my plate of food. I have no idea how many I actually ate. And I’m fully assured that my team ate plenty more than I did, since they had no light. Over the next few days, the same occurred: Bugs in my food…Salt crunching between my teeth. A little extra protein for my body and a little cleaning for my teeth.
