This past Saturday, I went to Kanye to
catch up with the family. Grandma is back for two months and when I
approached, she shook her big finger at me like I've been a bad girl.
In fact, I haven't been bad—I've been so good that it's scaring me!
All I could do was to shake my finger back at her, making her laugh
and remember who I was.
Mom, Dad, and Kesego come back from
Church, and fed me a good African meal. I asked my mom if there was
any wisdom in eating with your hands---”No Tshepo, No Wisdom!”
You see Tseph, we didn't have utensils back in those days, and some
things just taste better with your hands.....period! Besides, it's
easier, you don't have to wash dishes afterwards, now doesn't that
make sense? Sure does mom, I hate doing dishes.
Noticably though, it truly is an art to
eating traditional African foods with your hands, but you have to
watch very carefully, or in my case, get a lesson from master mom.
You can only use your right hand, make a ball with 3 fingers---no
rolling in your palms like we would make a meatball---no--just 3
fingers and then you put your thumb print in the ball, and use that
to scoop in meat, veggies, or a sauce, and then plop in your mouth
gracefully. It's the graceful part I have trouble with! Now if you
haven't perfected this technique, watch out---it'll plop on your
shirt or some other unintended destination, thus making everyone
laugh at your blunder.
It's hard stuff doing it right, but my
mom is usually wiser than she thinks---it truly does taste better
with your hands. Did you know Tshep, "If a child washes his hands, he could eat with Kings!" (African Proverb) Thanks Mom, I knew I came here for a reason today!
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