Busy Hands

Of all the cross-cultural problems I thought I’d face in Zambia, I knew eating with my hands wouldn’t be one of them. Liberated from the annoying gentility and overall nuisance of cutlery, I was excited to see just how efficient it was to eat how God intended.

Turns out, very. For my head-in-the-trough eating 'style', metacarpals beat the hell out of anything civility has come up with.

And, oh, the fun. Step 1: Wash your hands in rosepetal water, or Purell if none available. Step 2: Grab a blob of mealie-meal (the white morass on my plate). Step 3: Roll 'er around in your palm till it forms a gooey orb. Step 4: Dunk it in your gravy, trying scoop up assorted bits of vegetable matter as you go. Step 5: Try and guide the entire sopping package into the foodhole with minimum embarassment. Step 6: Appreciate why the word nshima, translated into the local language, literally just means 'food': you're fuller than after Thanksgiving dinner and it cost all of $2 to make.