What's in the Pantry

I imagine most of the readers of this log know of my love of food. I consider myself a pretty good cook, and am probably even better at eating. Life in Kigali has changed the way I do both. Tonight I'll go over availability and touch on other issues later.

As you might imagine, The selections aren't the same here as in the US. Many of the foods we are accustomed to finding in supermarkets are much less available or simply unheard of here. Most types of breakfast cereals, crackers, tortillas, canned soups, almonds, and tahini spring to mind. Many foods are available, but only at a terrible price and with lower quality, such as my beloved bacon, most types of cheese (notable exception below), oatmeal, any kind of meat or poultry or fish, ice cream, pasta, and bread.

On the other hand, fresh fruits and vegetables are usually quite cheap. In fact, many are not only inexpensive, but of the absolutely highest quality. I've never had such good avocados as here. The tomatoes are really excellent as well. We love regularly eating fresh pineapple, mango, papaya, mandarine oranges, and a great local fruit called "tree tomatoes". Local potatoes are very good and cheap, though they come with a lot of dirt on them, which is different from the sterile-appearing ones back home. Local cucumbers, cauliflower, carrots, and onions are cheap and good as well. Roasted salted peanuts are plentiful and sold everywhere, even by guys carrying buckets full through just about every neighborhood. All of the above are grown by very small farms, usually with hand implements only, and totally organic. Notable exceptions are those not grown locally such as apples, grapes, and lemons, which are usually imported from South Africa.

Cheese is great if you like the local Gouda, which we do. It's available absolutely everywhere, and it's cheap. It's quite a staple of our diet. It melts well and makes for a good macaroni and cheese, which is Zoe's favorite. Yogurt is pretty good as well, and very available, though different from home and not quite as cheap. Milk either comes in the Parmalat-type stay-fresh boxes that don't need refrigeration until they are opened or fresh. We've only found fresh milk from one brand so far, and almost only in whole milk. We do have one store that carries it in nonfat, but not always. It's very good, but we have had it spoil within a day of purchase a few times. It doesn't cost much more than in the US, but only comes in 500 mL bags (about an eighth of a gallon), which can be inconvenient. Incidentally eggs are fairly cheap and all free-range organic, since there are no industrial poultry farms.

Wine is universally expensive and mostly not exceptional, though I'm told this is in the process of improving. Beer is cheap if you buy local. The two big local brands are Mutzig and Primus, which are both fairly good. I believe they are both owned by Heineken but brewed here. Also brewed locally is "Guinness Foreign Extra," brewed in Ugunda but of course licensed by Guinness. I think true beer snobs would likely be appalled at these 33 Cl (11 oz.) bottles, but I'm not. I think it is very palatable and the price is right. As far as spirits, there is pretty good selection of gin and whiskey, less of rum and vodka and others, but the price is always awful. Bottled water is everywhere and not very expensive but we prefer to boil and filter our own.

NOTE: I still don't have any idea about the house. I've been told again that everything will come tomorrow. I honestly don't know how much longer this can go on before the deals fall through. I'll let you know when I do.