The food we eat here wouldn't seem too exotic or weird to most of you back home. We eat lots of green salads, pasta dishes, stir-frys, chili beans, seasonal fruits and vegetables, and lots of bread. A visit to our daily market isn't too different than any farmer's market in the USA, although we have fewer options to choose from in general since we depend solely on locally produced food and Africans are fairly conservative in their eating habits, rarely deviating from their traditional menus. However, two new items have recently cropped up for winter: bright green bugs and field mice. The bugs are sold in little piles for about 20 cents and the people claim they taste great and have lots of oil. The mice, which people call ratos, sell for about 50 cents served on bamboo kebobs of about ten desicated little creatures. The vendors are keen on emphasizing that these are field mice, and not the ubiquitous varmints found plagueing people's homes, which are
deemed unfit for human consumption. Again, people claim they taste great, once you burn off the hair and fry them up in oil or boil them for a soup. We have yet to try either delicacy, but we would be willing to procure them for anyone seeking some extra culinary excitement on their African visit.
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