African food stories anyone 69Richard Years ago (about 1974) I was working in a chemistry lab in Leatherhead. One of my colleagues, Sam, was from the west coast of Africa - I...
BBC. fascinating the one I like happened to a friend of mine a while ago. He was on secondment form the GPO (I said a while ago!) in Nigeria. He lived in a compounded village for security, and was well looked after by all, including the local 'ladies', one of whom picked him up (literally, Mike wasn't big) and, well, you can work it out. The food story came about from being homesick. The local food was OK, nutritious, well cooked, but samey and rather bland, but enthusiam for it was lacking, and home-style food (British) was thought to be an answer. The guy in charge of the secondees asked for suggestions that the local cooks could make. One suggestion, which all agreed should be on the menu, was chicken pie. A day soon came when said dish was put on the menu. A pie dish, covered in wonderful looking pastry adorned each table, and everyone looked at it in anticipation. Mike took up the serving cutlery and cut into the pie. What was inside was chicken alright, and only chicken, roasted!. Apparently the cooks had never heard of chicken pie, and this was their attempt at what was, in effect, just chicken in a pie. Most times our knowledge of 'foreign' food is sadly lacking in reality, I wonder what food is like in some country I've never been to, certainly not what I can see in books, the internet or even TV, as it is usually sanitised out of all recognition to the real thing. cheers Wazza
