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The Food... (yes, by Josh)

I’m gapping oh! - “I’m really hungry!” Since I tend to be oriented toward food, I (Josh) decided to write a short blurb about the food here in Liberia. We have had the privilege of eating real Liberian food at least once day during our stay here, and it is VERY GOOD!

The staple here is rice; if a meal does not contain rice, it is not a full meal! Along with the rice, they usually make a “soup” to eat with the rice (to put on-top of the rice). Here on the coast at least, the base of the soup is fish and palm oil. A relatively small fish is gutted and de-headed. It is then cut into cross-wise chunks, fried (skin and bones included) in palm oil. To this base may be added an assortment of different foods to create various dishes. One of our favorites is potato soup. It is made from the greens from sweet potatoes (I’m not clear if these are really sweet potatoes or a type of yam). The greens along with copious amounts of pepper (chili), a little chicken bouillon, and various other spices and water are added to the frying fish in a big pot. For other dishes, they will use Cassava greens or lentils instead of the potato greens.

The food here tends to be spicy, which I LOVE! Some tribes, such as the Kru (Gracie’s tribe), often give their children very spicy food at very young ages “to make them strong.” Needless to say, Gracie eats food almost as spicy as me! For this I am very happy!

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