Page 33 - Barefoot guide

CHAPTER 4

AN AFRICAN CELEBRATION OF

GOOD FOOD MEDICINE

Once again, our story of how Africans are learning how to cope with COVID-19 shifts to another set
of characters, this time in Southern Africa ...

STORY

FOOD TO MAKE YOU HEALTHY AND STRONG

Garikai stood moodily throwing stones into the river, watching the ripples spread out over the surface. He hadn’t
wanted to come to the village for lockdown, he wanted to stay in town. But he had no choice.
He missed his school, he missed his friends, and he really missed the food they ate in town. There was to be a big feast
at Mbuya’s today, but he didn’t feel like it. The feast of his dreams would have been fried chicken and chips, that bright
orange fizzy Fanta, white bread, pink Vienna sausages… But he knew his grandmother’s feast would be quite different.
When his mother said they’d be eating traditional food, he thought it’d be maize meal sadza and beans. But he hadn’t
even recognised the food on his plate last night. He hadn’t touched it and had gone to bed hungry.
“Garikai!” his cousin, Tendai, was calling him.

Garikai walked slowly towards the kitchen hut.
“I feel sorry for you living with Mbuya, Tendai” he said. “How can you bear
to eat her food?”

Tendai laughed. “Her food is delicious when you get used to it.
And so healthy. Look how strong I am. Whereas you, little cousin,
are getting a bit fat and soft.”
Tendai playfully poked him in the stomach. Garikai pushed
his hand away, but he felt embarrassed. His stomach was soft,
while Tendai was strong and muscular. Maybe, if Mbuya’s
food could do that, it was worth a try.
The family was crowded in the kitchen hut – including
his grandmother, Mbuya, and his great grandmother who
was a hundred and six, and the oldest person Garikai had
ever seen. She walked with a stick, but her eyes and mind
were sharp – she noticed everything! There was his mother,
Amai Garikai, his uncle Sekuru James, and Nyasha, a young
woman who came to the village every month to give advice
on growing food.

“Ah, there they are,” Mbuya said, when the boys came in.
“Tendai would you tell everyone what food we are eating today?
Tendai is my best helper,” she explained to Nyasha “in the garden and
in the kitchen. I’m teaching him to cook like a true African.”

CHAPTER 4: AN AFRICAN CELEBRATION OF GOOD FOOD MEDICINE 25