We have hosted the missionaries in Lusaka for dinner fairly often.
The Sisters in the Woodlands area felt they would like to have us over for dinner in their home to show their appreciation. Sister Skidmore was especially thrilled to not be cooking dinner.
Next to Kristi is Sister Jones, Sister Chasinda, Sister Griffus and Sister Jaker.
The weather is usually quite pleasant so we ate outside on their patio. They cooked a pretty traditional Zambian meal. We had nshima, relish made up of rape, onion and seasonings (rape is similar to kale and reminds me of spinach), beef stew full of tomato and onion (also used as a relish), beans and rice. Kristi made a lemon cheese cake for dessert.
You will notice that we had spoons and forks on the table because rice is pretty difficult to eat with your fingers if it is the fluffy kind.
When we started eating I asked Sister Jaker if I could take a photo of her technique of eating.
You must first have clean hands and then get a small ball of nshima and with your thumb, get some relish to give it some flavor and a little more nutrition. Then you sort of delicately pop it into your mouth without touching your mouth. You NEVER lick your fingers, that is like "double dipping". It is important to only use the same hand (usually the right) the whole meal for sanitary reasons. You still don't really need a fork if the rice is sticky enough or you can gather it with the nshima.
Nshima is made up of ground cornmeal and water. Depending on what area of Zambia you live in you might have ground Kasava root mixed in for a slightly different flavor. If you do have kasava in it, the nshima isn't quite such a brilliant white but more off-white.
The food here is very tasty as long as you don't eat nshima all by itself. Everything is so fresh that the flavors are really wonderful.
