What the Food's Like
Answering the most common question we get
One of the top 5 questions we get from friends who hear we moved to Rwanda is, “so what do they eat there?” It is true that meat is much harder to find and is only for those who are able to afford it. It is also true that vegetables and fruits are the ultimate in fresh and come straight from being farmed to sold at markets and eaten within just a day or two. We have had a few surprises, too, including the fact that we’ve eaten more pasta here than we ever did in the U.S. Who would have thought?
A Typical Day
I’ll start with what a typical day looks like. Keep in mind that we are currently still at Matt and Andrea’s home for about 1.5-2 more weeks until when we can move into a home we are renting. That is to say that their house helper, Donetilla, is amazing at whipping up last-minute morning pancakes and prepping homemade cinnamon rolls about once per week for breakfast. When Donetilla is not spoiling us, our typical breakfast is cereal with milk or yogurt, toast with strawberry jelly (JV’s favorite), and/or scrambled eggs. Bananas are very, very common. Most bananas here are smaller than in the U.S. and sweeter. We all actually like them a lot better.
As the morning rush ensues, I am scrambling to get the kids’ backpacks together including snacks and water bottles. They eat lunch at school, but bring a small snack for the afternoon. The below is an example of what we’ve been sending them: Digestives, AKA biscuits, AKA cookies that like to sound more healthy than cookies. We also love the non-chocolate type, and sometimes add peanut butter (yes they have that here). That can go along with an apple or banana, and sometimes, if they’re really lucky, a juice box.
At lunch, the school provides a meal to the students and staff. Hannah, Mary Hope, and JV all go to the first lunch period, and Thom and I go to the second lunch period. At lunch time, everyone goes through a line and gets the same food. Yesterday we had beef stroganoff with noodles (the spiral kind), fresh cucumber slices, sliced carrots, and mixed fruit. I will stop and give a shout out here to the pineapple in Rwanda. Amazing. The mixed fruit at school is this pink-colored mix of pineapple, apple, Japanese plum, and sometimes banana. Other days it’s just one type of fruit (orange, watermelon, etc.), but fruit is a daily part of the meal. Last Friday we had samosas, which are like fried meat or veggie pies with salad and….you guessed it, fruit. Water is always the drink.
Then, on to dinner. I will skip the details on the afternoon snack pleas from the kids that run every 15 minutes from 4pm until 6pm. Dinner options are varied and include grilled cheese with tomato soup to beef and veggies in a gravy over rice with green beans. Spaghetti with meat sauce is VERY common around here, as is macaroni and cheese. Soups are also very common. We just had vegetable soup, buttered toast and fruit for dinner tonight. The Miller house has some great cookie and brownie makers in AnnaMarie and Kethia (the Millers’ daughters), so we got to sneak some of those tonight, as well.
Rwandan Food Facts
Avocados are grown everywhere, are absolutely ginormous, and as a result are very cheap. Thankfully, our kids love avocado, so it’s been going in and on many different things. Side note here to one of my favorite lunches at school which was chapati (thick pita bread) wraps with omelet-style eggs inside, avocado, and tomato. So good!
Eggs are fresh and sold in stores on shelves (not cold). They are a staple of life here. They must come from the chickens we see running around the road that we live on. :)
Spices are hard to come by, so many bring them in from the U.S. or other countries and keep their pantries stockpiled. This includes chocolate chips which have to be brought in. Obligatory photo of Matt and Andrea’s spice shelf:
There are cows and chickens around, so meat is available. Most beef is purchased from local butchers, and you “have to know a good one” I hear. So far, I’ve been blessed to have Donetilla take care of this. This includes ground beef, beef tenderloin, beef stew meat, even slices of filet. Chicken is available from most stores and markets sold as whole, frozen chickens. (Shout out here to Ron, my stepdad, who has asked us the most questions about chickens. No, I have not figured out how to catch and prepare a live chicken yet!).
French fries are called “chips” and are like thick Chick-fil-a fries with less salt and more chewy. They are always homemade. School has a day with just “Chips” on the menu where they pile you a plate full and then pour some beans and veggie stew on the side that you eat it with. Ketchup is included, of course! And fruit.
A future post coming I hope about milk here, as there are interesting ways to get it. Matt has it delivered fresh from a cow farm nearby daily. The milk man comes by and drops a white jug off, taking yesterday’s empty jug. Then the milk is strained and boiled to pasteurize it. There’s a long and funny story about Thom and I not knowing this process last weekend and guessing what to do.
There are groups in the city that use WhatsApp to communicate when strawberries or cheese or mushrooms come available so people can order them. There is gouda cheese in all markets, but other cheeses are hard to find here. I think there’s a lady in town selling cheese trays as a specialty business now. Strawberries are tiny and also hard to find! They’re almost always washed and frozen so they can last longer. Fruits like blueberries and grapes are only found in Kigali (the capital of Rwanda).
Restaurants
Musanze has a few places to eat if you’re in the mood for at least a 2-hour experience. First, I’ll mention Crema, which is the coffee establishment that Matt’s son Aidan started with some help from others at Homewood church and supporters in Musanze. They have food on the menu including avocado, bean, and meat quesadillas, baked items, etc. A popular restaurant is Migano which has a huge menu of drinks (must enjoy Ginger), smoothies, shakes, and many different kinds of foods from all over the world including pizza, burgers, chicken dishes, curries, etc. We had great ice cream there, as well. Chinese is a thing, as mentioned in the last post, but now I’m skeptical about the after-effects of the oily noodles!
But honestly we haven’t thought much about restaurants because of the epicness of Friday night pizza night at the Miller’s house. Magnifique!
Rewarming
Microwaves here are hit and miss. Depending on the time of day and the power stability, you might get more or less heating. Some mornings when I’m trying to rewarm my coffee it could take anywhere from 15 seconds to 2 minutes. Rewarming leftovers at night… chalk that one up. You could leave it running for five minutes and pull out food just as cold as you put it in. The other day, we rewarmed rice on a stovetop by putting it in a pot and tossing it around for a bit.
Side note: Only in Rwanda has it been totally normal to hold an unbroken conversation despite one participant abruptly dropping to the floor, nearly laying down, and shoving a match under the oven to light it before popping back up to finish their thought.
Coffee
I wrote this whole article without mentioning the star of the show! Coffee. It’s a staple here, as well, and delicious and tasty. We buy whole beans from the market (Gorilla Coffee brand) or from Crema (reselling beans roasted by Question coffee in Kigali) and grind them each morning for pour overs for all (except the kids). Crema and other establishments have great espresso drinks and other coffees.
One last thing: I wrote this post without ever visiting the big vegetable and fruit market in Musanze, so perhaps I can update you all after that happens. I’m told that the experience can be tough for a “mzungu” (the term people use here for people like me who are obvious outsiders), and haggling prices does not go well. There are market delivery app’s that I plan on using when we move to our own place.
I bet Ron could ring a chicken’s neck.