Sacrilege you say? Oh come on, Italian restaurants are the most popular variety in the world. We never have to look far to eat good Italian food at home, so why waste the opportunity to explore a little diversity, eh? I'm all for celebrating differences.
Actually, it's not of misplaced as it sounds, as Eritrea was an old Italian colony until the British kicked them out under our dear friend Signore Mussolini. Nowadays they thrive independently, albeit with questionable human rights conduct and a less than amicable relationship with their Ethiopian neighbours and the USA (long story, most of which I admittedly don't know the details).
Geography lesson complete. Now, their staple diet consists of various spicy stews/curries (tsebhi) with pureés of vegetables/pulses all served together on a special flatbread called injera. They use a unique spice called berbere and something which resembles seasoned ghee to clog the arteries. The flatbread stuck me as being very unique in that it has a spongy texture and a sour taste, visually like a very thin Moroccan beghrir pancake with lots of holes.
Naturally as a first-timer, I didn't opt for the spicy sauces or raw meat dishes. After all, I have a flight home tomorrow and I suspect certain airlines are charging for sick-bags these days. They add on surcharges for just about everything else.
I selected something called a Zighini (White Spriss version), which I enjoyed with some cinnamon tea (not sure how traditional this is, but it was delightfully saccharine with a shovel or two of sugar).
I don’t recall the last time I enjoyed a meal as much as
this one. The beef was cooked very slowly
and plainly with little to no seasoning.
There were red, stewed lentils (a little hint of spice), potato
curry and something resembling chard or kale. So the idea is to tear off the surrounding
bread and scoop up the contents with it. Boy, did I enjoy it.
So it got me thinking… which other foods can we eat with our
hands? Whilst Westerners frown upon it,
it’s a common practice in South India, Africa and some Arabic countries, as
well as the Philippines. Indians argue that eating should be a sensual
experience, and in order to fully immerse in the eating experience, one should
use one’s hand (right, never the left which is unclean) to make use of all the senses. Seems fine to me, as long as you clean your
hands thoroughly first. Not sure about
the left-hand-being-unclean theory though.
I shall conduct a survey to see what percentage of the population wipe
their behinds with their left hand, not to mention other ‘unsavoury`
activities. Apparently there’s an art to
it though. Imagine trying to consume a
curried soup and rice without smearing it all over your face and clothing like
warpaint or messy toddler.
I’m going to suggest that some food may taste better eaten
by hand, and it certainly slows down the pace.
Pace is a major issue for me, as I tend to annihilate food and virtually
inhale it. The nature of this eating
style is more relaxed and thus is better for digestion.
So what else can we eat by hand? Anyone who utters the words
‘KFC`, ‘pizza` or ‘burger` will be shot at dawn. Dry curries seem to work well, and rice
cooked so as it clumps together nicely.
Any dishes with bread (pitta, roti, naan, baguette, wheaten, etc.) and
of course anything that comes in parcels (empanadas, dumplings, sushi, mezze,
falafel, pakora, bhajis, etc.). Thus we can still maintain our grace and almost
appear cultured (don’t ram your fist into someone’s soup please). It may also encourage social eating (good for
the soul apparently) by evading the Western style of discretising portions and
just nabbing away at something placed in the middle. I rather enjoy the thought of imitating a committee
of vultures gathered around, tearing and sharing chunks from the carrion. Besides, who decides what size a portion
should be anyhow? There’s no place for
communism in dining; equality is miscalculated!
So, freshly inspired, I must now think about some meal plans
to coincide with the tactile eating method in addition to a way to create a
healthy Eritrean dish. Food for thought indeed...
Meanwhile, please enjoy some peculiar music of the region!
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