Cenene

Early in the morning I pass the market on my way to a meeting. The market is crowded, people are shouting around and it looks like something really important is happening. I decide that work has to wait 5 minutes for me to be able to find out what is going on. I push my way through the crowds and see people hassling over something in white bags. Negotiations are tough and it seems that the price is going more up than down. I push myself a bit more forward to be able to find out what is in the white bags and why people are so excited about it. The bags are moving, that’s what I am sure about, but what is in it?

After I find out, I walk to the place where my meeting is taking place. Of course, being 5 minutes later is not a problem; I still end up waiting for half an hour. That gives me time to chat with the secretaries in the office. I learned before that it is very important to befriend them so that in case you need some printing job to be done, you can avoid queuing at the little secretarial offices by just going to one of your friends to do it for you! One of the secretaries is very excited today. She just came from the market to buy the last harvest of this season. ‘And they were good this year!’, she says. ‘Let me show you how to peel it’. While peeling she asks if I have ever eaten this delicious meal, which is not only her favourite but also that of all other people of the Kihaya tribe who live in this region of Tanzania. Upon my answer that I never really tried, she invites me to come to her house for dinner. ‘We will cook them and you will love it’. I thank her for the invite and am happy that right at that moment her boss calls me into his office. On his desk: cenene: the food I am talking about. After greeting me the traditional way and expressing his satisfaction with my ability to answer all his funny greetings (how are you, how is your house, how is your village, how is your family, how is work, how is the rain this morning and how are the cenene), he continues his informal chat. ‘Have you ever eaten cenene? It is the best food we have and we just got the last harvest’. I tell him that I passed the market on my way to his office and how surprised I was about the excitement of the people. The last harvest is reason for everyone to go out and see how the harvest of this year looks.

After this meeting, I meet with my employer. His first question is whether I have seen the market place today. I start laughing and tell him that by now I am fully informed about the cenene. His addition to the story is that when he travelled to the UK last year, he took a bag of cenene which he bought for 10 pounds sterling. In the UK, he was able to sell it to Tanzanian people from the Kihaya tribe for a total amount of 200 pounds. Well, I know what I have to bring home next time I go to Europe!

Grasshoppers are the things that people here are making such a fuss about. Before you cook them, you take of the wings, the head and tail and what is left is the delicacy of the region. I will gain some more courage before I will try. At least to be able to tell people around that ‘yes, I have eaten it’. I am sure that will help my integration process in the country.