Lekkal, Lekkal: Eating in Senegal

While preparing for my semester in Senegal, in between online searches for maxi skirts and careful readings of bug spray reviews, I started experimenting with my diet. As someone who had been a serious vegetarian for a couple years and a dabbling vegan for a few months, I knew I needed to get real comfortable with meat, real fast. I made the decision to eat a sliver of turkey at Thanksgiving dinner, as a communal feast seemed like a good time to casually include meat in my diet, all in the spirit of goodwill and shared dining. This was not nearly as traumatic as I expected it to be. I did not wake up in the middle of the night racked with guilt as my body struggled to digest the foreign contaminant. I was totally fine, mentally and physically. Over the next couple months I ate fish more regularly, indulged in some bowls of chicken noodle soup, and ate a couple pork dumplings. All of these experiences were actually quite enjoyable and stress-free.

But at different points in my life I have been able to use my vegetarianism/veganism/general healthy eating to form my own little Susannah food pyramid of foods I feel comfortable eating, while also having the privilege to be pretentious with my diet. I have perused restaurant menus and, after deeming the vegetarian lasagna to be too cheese-heavy, requested a large plate of side vegetables. This is not fun for the people you are dining with, and if we’re going to be honest it’s not fun for the person eating the rabbit food. My taste buds do gravitate towards healthy foods, but they also enjoy some variety. Unfortunately, in America, we find this quality of food management admirable. I have often munched on a salad while others praised my self-restraint. This is a wonderful way to give yourself a short-term confidence boost that will end as soon as you realize you are in fact still hungry, and it is an easy way to make your fellow lovely human beings feel bad about their normal food choices. Luckily, I came to Senegal!

If Senegal were to make their own food pyramid it would include carbs, oil, fish, meat, French fries, sugary juices, and ananas (a pineapple soft drink that tastes like angel’s tears). But, constructing a food pyramid would also be against Senegalese dining nature because meal time is a time to eat yummy food while connecting with friends and families. No one packs a green smoothie in her bag, which she will eat alone at lunch which perusing vegan recipes on Pinterest. Instead, someone will order a complex, hearty dish complete with a solid source of protein, a generous helping of rice, and a fresh made fruit juice to wash it down. Newsflash, people are not all waddling around overweight like the characters in Wall-E. As a result of stress-free, filling meals people rarely snack and don’t do dessert that often (my sweet tooth though thinks this could maybe be tweaked a little).

The food is pretty much always fresh and local so there are limited preservatives. And the meal time itself is drawn out and communal because while a green smoothie can be slurped down in .183 seconds, it takes a little longer to get through two cups of rice doused in palm oil. Everyone takes times with their food and then shares in ataaya (tea).

What’s more, there is not an obsession with portion sizes. At meal times, we eat the traditional Senegalese way, which means eating out of a shared bowl with your right hand. Just digging into a massive bowl of rice, onions, and fish without any real knowledge of how much you have eaten is a great way to master intuitive eating. And, you are forced to eat slower when you have to make a little rice ball with your hand rather than shoveling it all on to a fork.

If you feel trapped by your eating patterns I recommend cooking multiple portions of dinner, throwing them in a bowl and then inviting whoever is nearest to come share your meal together. You will most likely leave the meal satisfied but not stuffed, and enlightened by the conversations you had while you and your dining partners had your paws in each other’s food.

I also have learned that if you are living in another country and you really want to embrace the culture you have got to go all in, and that means rolling up your sleeves and eating some beef stew. I have never tried this but I can only imagine the horror that would come across my host’s face if I sat down at dinner and “tactfully” shared I don’t eat fried fish or red meat. As I am a person blessed with no food allergies there is not a single thing I truly can’t eat. In the past months in Senegal, I have gone weeks eating white bread with chocolate spread for breakfast, a food choice that my closest friends and families would be shocked to see me chowing down on.

But guess what? I have had some great memories in this country built around food! In Dakar, I could have spent some lunches walking ridiculous distances to the nearest Western-style grocery store to buy overpriced and bland hummus and carrots. But, when dinner is not until 9 at night I probably would become faint with hunger and my level of French would regress about five years from my fatigue. This would, quite clearly, reduce my level of enjoyment in Senegal.

I have found some new dishes I like, and I have only increased my appreciation and longing for some of my favorite foods (read as: I have woken up from dreams where I imagined myself enjoying a big bowl of quinoa, beets, chickpeas, avocado, and drizzled lime) but I see myself having similar dreams about Senegalese food in the months after my return home. I know I will miss the spicy, nuanced onion flavors characteristic of every meal, and what’s more I will be filled with a longing for the memories that were made while I deboned a fish.

I share this to mainly show the different relationship with food in Senegal and the US. Of course, many people go hungry in America but in the upper middle-class pockets where I do most of my eating we never worry about not having enough food. Therefore we have the privilege to become inventive in what we choose to eat and restrictive in what we cannot. Especially now in Nioro, I realize that fresh fruit is a treat and no one is ordering a whole side of vegetables for themselves. When socially conscious liberals are pulling up to Whole Foods with NPR on full volume they are engaging in what to me now represents one of the greatest forms of privilege: extreme food choice. Of course, we should not feel guilty for the lives we lead but when it comes to attitudes towards eating I think Senegal gets it right while America does not, and taking a couple pages from West Africa’s book could leave us much happier.

Food is fuel, and that mantra is very clearly understood here. While Senegal has its own set of flawed beauty ideals (such as very light skin), thinness is not something that is revered. In fact, generous curves are the most coveted body type so no one is too afraid to ‘lekkal’ (Wolof command form of ‘eat!’) when dinner is served.

To all of you reading who cannot come dine in Senegal to experience this refreshing way of eating, I want to remind you what food is for. Meal time is an opportunity to talk, eat, and be merry. Don’t let food fears get in the way of that. This time a year ago I was reading online about all different sorts of ‘cleanses’ (juice, soup, etc.) but a year later I am partaking in the best four month eating cleanse I ever could have found. I am detoxing from Western misconceptions about how righteous are food choices should be, and how significant a role certain food choices play in our wellbeing.

In America we, quite frankly, have too many food choices so instead we have fun making personal menus and preferences based around our blood type, the personality of our digestive tract, our metabolism, etc. while all the while ignoring three very important factors- hunger, ease, and taste. I have ordered off a restaurant menu only a handful of times over the past three months while every other meal has been decided for me. I am proud to say that I am a far cry from the girl who would flip through pages of a menu and find nothing I wanted (ha- the thought a multiple page menu feels distant now!)

I have come to the decision that upon returning home I will no longer label my diet. I am making a promise here to enjoy guilt-free any dish, regardless of contents, that is prepared for me with love, or is meant to be enjoyed in a shared and communal setting. I have wholeheartedly engaged in every meal (OK, fine – I couldn’t stomach this thing called “Senegalese soup” but I tried!) and my clothes still fit, and my belly and my heart are full.