Food!

         I'm going to try to write more about what it's like to live in Tanzania.

This time, I'm going to write about food. Food here is a little different.  Today I'll write about raw food, next time I'll show some of the typical Tanzanian meals.

 

First of all, water.  We can't drink it out of the tap.  And, although boiling water kills the bacteria, etc. that might be in it, it still has a very high fluoride content due to us being near a volcano.  Fluoride can be very harmful to teeth in extremely high amounts, especially for children's teeth that are still growing in.  Their teeth can grow in with a brown line across them.  So, we only drink bottled water that has gone through reverse osmosis- the only known way to remove fluoride from water.

Butter comes in a 1 lb. block wrapped in foil.  MMM, butter!

Tropical fruit, yum!  The bananas come in many different varieties here including small "finger" bananas, red, green (plantains), and huge ones.  I LOVE avocados, and mangos.

For those who don't know, I am gluten intolerant (I can't eat wheat), so I was excited to find rice flour, millet flour, corn flour and tapioca flour here.  Now, I can try some baking from scratch.

Eggs come in a "tray", which contains 30 eggs.  Trust me, we eat about 30 eggs a week.  They are a healthy snack when boiled, and we eat eggs most mornings for breakfast.

We buy UHT (ultra high temperature) milk, which can remain unrefrigerated until opened.  That's how milk comes here because not many people have refrigeration, and it lasts much longer.