Away from Africa

A colorful display of lamps and towels Along the roads of Douala and on the way to the Western part of Cameroon, there are shops and market stands galore. Sometimes the road seems to be one uninterrupted marketplace. These are some of the  pictures I snapped from car windows, on the go. Oranges, hardware and more... I loved her headdress! Perhaps a daycare center? In the baskets: mystery. The kiosk: for cell phone refills. Even the historic Mandessi Bell House (below) in downtown Douala has become a market.... Grilled peanuts are sold in recycled whiskey bottles Apples and more Bread loaves and bobolo  (thick fermented cassava sticks, usually eaten in central Cameroon)

Cassava is known in French as Manioc , and here in the United States often as Yuca . It seems it originated in South America, but it is widely grown in equatorial Africa. In Cameroon it is a staple, and the most common and popular use is Gari, a sort of coarse tapioca; mixed with water, sugar and peanuts to make a filling snack or meal. In fact, the way most Europeans know Cassava is through tapioca pudding! A field was planted by a friend in Abo, Littoral region, two years ago, and finally the cassava roots were harvested in November/December  2010 (a warm and dry time of the year). Our very trusted friend Guérin supervised and participated in the harvest and the making of Gari from beginning to end, and sent us photographs of the process. Cassava in the field Cassava and bags transported to the main road (left to right) Piling cassava roots at loading area; filling the truck; unloading Peeling the roots; the drying area; putting the peeled roots into bag...

In earlier blog posts , I wrote about the variety of Cameroonian food. In this post, I'll delve into the daily life of the household in Douala, and the efforts put into getting a meal on the table. Douala is situated 4 degrees north of the equator, near the coast, at the estuary of the Wouri River. The climate is tropical. Humidity is extremely high and temperatures are most often in the 90-degree Fahrenheit range (30 Celsius). Plantain There is a rainy season that lasts about two months every year, when it gets slightly cooler (in 12 years I managed once to wear stockings, not really because I needed to), but humidity goes through the roof, and it can pour nonstop for several days in a row. In the first months, I used to go to the food market several times a week to buy groceries. Deido market was the closest (Deido is the Douala neighborhood where we lived, and my husband's ancestral home). It was not a very large market, but you could get everything you needed fo...