Hot Orange

Have you ever eaten a really hot orange? One that has been sitting in a car in the blazing sun all day, for example?

Don't do it. It's disgusting.

dipping a toe in the music scene

I have now had my first trip to go and see Senegalese music on a stage. I've qualified that because although I've not been to a club to specifically watch a performance before, there is music everywhere around here. In particular, the area where I live is a fairly close knit community and there is a lot of traditional singing goes on around the place and there are also a few groups of guys who set up for drumming sessions here and there - just like Camden! I am considerably less keen on the whole musical experience when it is in honour of the recently deceased, because in my very limited experience this means maximum volume and a 12 hour singing/wailing marathon. It is touching for the first couple of hours but it's a bit hard to concentrate on your work when the same tune is booming into your office for hour no. 6.

I saw a brief but very impressive performance by Habib Fall, long time bassist to Youssou N'dour, who is setting out on a solo career. By contrast to the standard 7 or 8 man band, his performance was just three guys and was a very mellow and catchy affair and very hard to pigeonhole. I'm already a fan.

For something a bit more folk-y, there was also Pape & Cheikh, who are way famous, have toured Europe, played in London and all sorts, but predictably I had never heard of them. I have now though - what's not to like about Senegalese music??

1001 Ways to make a right mess of the environment, part 1

I was recently lucky enough to be taking a boat ride around the mangroves of the Saloum Delta in Senegal. Mangroves generally get a bad press - they sit at the point between salt and fresh water and tend to collect sediment and rubbish and so are associated with disease. However, they also prevent coastal erosion, filter the water and provide a habitat for all manner of birds and aquatic life such as manatees and all sorts of fish. Shellfish are a big fan and like to attach themselves to the branches - collecting them is a big part of the economy of many communities. Cutting down mangroves is pretty disasterous all round, but it happens all the time because of industrial development, new roads, a need for wood and whatnot.

There is an ongoing campaign to improve the conservation of mangroves and all the economic and environmental benefits they sustain. In the Saloum in particular, there has been a long history of communications work with the communities there and the value of the mangrove is widely understood. However, understood or not, I saw first hand that there is still a long way to go...:

Pic 1: After a day's hard work spent half standing waist deep in muddy water and half sitting in boats that need constant bailing out, these ladies have two boats full of oysters (and they were delicious, probably part of the appeal was eating them out of a wheelbarrow? I've now eaten oysters from a bucket and a wheelbarrow as well as a more conventional plate and the plate definitely loses out)

Pic 2: Presumably to avoid standing in the water all day, why not chop the branches and take just take the oysters and half the mangrove as well?

But here's the dilemma: if you had to sit in a broken wet boat all day when you know you could do the job in half the time and spend the rest of the day doing something else, wouldn't you be tempted to do the same?

The Eggman

This morning I have just seen a man balancing at least 20 egg trays on his head. Those ones with 24 eggs in them. And they were all full. Clearly a man with supreme confidence in his own posture and strength but also in the lack of mischief in others not to give him a little shove (i was tempted but luckily i was in a taxi :-)). The thing is, though, that the top of the trays was a lot higher than the reach of his arms by a long way, so how does he get them down? Everytime he sells a dozen eggs does he have to take them all down and then hoik them back up again?

SeneGrub

After the weather, the next thing I have been asked most about is the food. Tasty descriptions of ingredients, home-made concoctions and the offerings of various eateries is really the realm of Experimental Jifflings (there’s a link on the left) but let me give you a bit of a picture of food in Dakar:

Theiboudienne:
This is the King of all Senegalese dishes and the first meal you will read about in any guidebook. And rightly so because, my goodness, it is everywhere. If you don’t like fish and rice, you’d best either pick an alternative holiday destination or bring a packed lunch. I think it looks pretty special – a giant plate of rice with a hill of goodness piled in the middle – lots fish still on the bone, and then a selection of veg that varies and can include cabbage, carrot, aubergine or manioc, all in a fishy, onion-y sauce. It doesn’t look pretty for very long though – the fun part is that everything is still whole, or in big chunks, so when digging in you have to grab the carrot or the fish or whatever either with your hand or a spoon, depending on household preference, and break a bit off for yourself and for anyone else not within reaching distance of said carrot, but without using your left hand – a bit of a challenge at the beginning but soon develops into a party trick.

There is also a variation with meat which is equally good although I doubt I will ever master cutting meat off a bone with a spoon…

Yassa
Mmm, yassa is gooood! It is meat, often chicken, with a lovely onion sauce all over it. I am told it is just onions with some lemon. I am sceptical as I am not sure how those two solitary things can blend together to make such a tasty thing, but apparently it is all in the timing and caramelising of the onions. I’m happy to eat it, whatever it is.

In fact onion sauce is omnipresent, so I would add onions to my list of things you must like if you are going to live in Senegal, along with French bread, Nescafe and Hot sugary minty tea.

Mafé
Mafé is another rice dish with meat/ veg but with a peanutty twist. Extremely tasty but you pay for it afterwards- it sits in your stomach like a brick.

Chakri
So imagine this one then – millet and sour milk/yoghurt with sugar. A peculiar texture but actually really good – sort of like a cross between a bowl of bran buds and semolina. The sour milk is unpasteurised – I’ve had it a couple of times without any trouble but I realise that stomach-wise it’s not such a smart move, and you can make it European style with normal or evaporated/ condensed milk.

There is also a hot version – the name escapes me but with the milk poured on it’s like a rice pudding fresh from the oven.

Sheep’s feet soup
This has a wolof name but I’ve forgotten it and anyway it wouldn’t have the same impact. An enormous pot of soup with all sorts of veg is made in a sheepy stock which contains not just feet but neck and rolled stuffed intestines. It’s surprisingly good (ok, ok, I admit I am still acquiring the taste for the foot part but the rest is good), although I bet it would taste better with a blindfold.


I don’t want to deprive Mr Jiffler of potential content so I won’t say anymore. Suffice to say I am worried about becoming the size of a house with all this rice, white bread and hearty food…

Mauritania

Nouakchott's new high-speed fish transportation service:

La vie dakaroise

Officially I am starting month 3 of my contract, but I’ve been travelling so much that I have only racked up about 5 weeks or so in town, so I’m still indulging myself as a beginner. This means that I am still allowed to go to the ‘Bakery of Hope’ on the corner near my flat and eat their fantastic cream doughnuts as a meal until I sort myself out properly and that sort of thing….

Dakar, if you don’t know it, to me is similar to Nairobi in terms of scale, busy-ness, general feel and whatnot, but it’s by the sea and you are about a million percent less likely to be a victim of a nasty crime. (I’m somewhat superstitious so I am now clinging to my wooden desk). So far I have a warm feeling about the place, but then that is probably because I live and work out of town so I don’t ever have to go there; going into town and getting stuck in the perpetual traffic jams are my choice and usually because I have something fun to do (like buying saucepans). I imagine that anyone who has to drive there a little bit every day might feel less benevolently about it.

So, a few titbits about Dakar that the lonely planet (maybe) doesn’t tell you about:

- Mosque noises
This is my first time working in a Muslim country and so it caught me by surprise. During the day I find the calls to prayer often very soothing, but first thing in the morning it can drive you to distraction. I am slowly training myself not to have to sleep with earplugs and manage not to wake up during the 4.40am call - considering there are 2 loudspeakers pointing directly at my house that is no mean feat.

- City Animals
I wonder what the goat, sheep and cow population of Dakar is. Actually the sheep population is a darn site lower after Tabaski, until next December when they will fill the central reservations of all the main roads again and every street corner will look like a nativity scene with a little tent, candle light and the animals. Cows have right of way in traffic, and goats have to look out for themselves- must be a size thing.

Horses are also a popular means of transport – it’s a nice sight in the evenings to see them all lined up by their carts munching away in their nosebags. And frankly, why not – I can’t think of a better way of carrying fridges and wardrobes about the town. It’s much simpler than trying to squeeze things into white vans, and eco-friendly!

- Friendliness
It’s hard to express in words how hospitable and just all round nice everyone has been to me so far. The Senegalese teranga (hospitality) is a bit of a cliché, but I think it goes beyond that somehow. Everyone has gone out of their way to be helpful since the day I arrived and to give you an example, I am just the right side of 30 and plenty big enough to look after myself, yet 2 different households have sent me food round for dinner this week…

- Rubbish
I’m going to mention this now because already I have become used to it and in a few weeks time most likely I will stop noticing altogether. The rubbish in this city is dire. It is everywhere. There is not a piece of empty land that doesn’t have a big fat pile of debris on it. The goats are doing their level best to deal with it, but even they struggle with plastic, metal and wood, and even with the organic rubbish they can’t quite eat it quickly enough before it starts to smell.

Mind you, I did see a sheep chewing on a fussball table yesterday.

Lengthy introduction…

Rather than starting this blog with a humorous opening gambit, I’m going to go off-piste and kick off with a mini disclaimer: the aim of this blog is just to share some of my pictures and experiences in and around Senegal with my lovely friends and family and therefore not clog up their inboxes with weekly travelogs. I reckon they might thank me for that at least J

By its very nature (by that I mean it’s me writing…) it will be a British take on all things Senegalese, from observations on everyday occurrences which are still a novelty back home to stuff which is out of the ordinary wherever you are from. That’s it – by finding something novel, unusual or funny I am not suggesting that anybody’s way is better than anyone else’s or meaning to offend - quite the reverse, I am totally fascinated by everything surrounding me and its that fascination that has plunged me into the world of geeks and bloggers (sorry, Mr J).

Disclaimer No 2: I am usually pretty flimsy at keeping up these things, so please don’t be too surprised if Mrs Jiffler has disappeared within 6 months (it’s taken me 2 months to write the second post!!), only to be a distant memory on some wacky cookery blog…