Food, glorious food

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Food is a very big deal here in South Sudan!

And it can be a cause of great joy, or great disappointment. 

Think about it - what are the values YOU hold which relate to food? 

  • Maybe you value having vegetables on your plate, or meat, or no meat. 
  • A meal just ain't a meal if it doesn't finish with a dessert...
  • Maybe you want to use a knife, fork and spoon and without these things you would be uncomfortable. 
  • You may have thoughts around the 'right' way of cooking a healthy meal, e.g. levels of salt, sugar, oil, fats...
  • Or maybe you believe that if you haven't eaten maize in your meal, then you haven't really eaten at all...

When you are living in a melting pot of 15+ nationalities as we are, and you don't know everybody's food values, then it is an easy point of disagreement! 

As a Brit, I thought I don't have many food values... I'm not that fussy... but I'm totally wrong! I have lots of ideas over what makes a good, healthy meal. And these values are not always evident through the food we eat as a houseful of people from a range of countries and backgrounds, cooked for us by lovely South Sudanese cooks. 

Compromise.

To be honest, it is not easy. When you feel uncomfortable with the food you are eating day-in, day-out, then you can lose a sense of feeling 'at home'. And so we try to accommodate everybody's tastes, at least some of the time! But it is a compromise for most of us most of the time. 

We try to accept compromise as a part of the sacrifice of working in the humanitarian sector. There is this constant balance between serving vulnerable people, many of whom are facing famine and are starving... and ensuring we are okay and eating some things which give us pleasure. Gulp! God give us grace!

#gettingitwrong

#idon'tlikegoat

#culture

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