I am always amazed at how much our childhood experiences seep into our adulthood. I don't know about you but I have been longing for some things that I had in my childhood much more lately. Its not that I had a great life them. I remember clearly how I felt growing up. I grew up in both central and Rift Valley provinces of Kenya. My family was not wealthy and my eye was always drawn to our well-to-do neighbours' cars, good smelling food, shoes, clothes and style. I coveted their stuff. I could not wait to grow up and buy all the cookies, cakes and pretty cloths and shoes that my family could not afford to get me.
Well, here I am today and trust me, I miss the githeri,(maize and beans) ngima and sukuma wiki (boiled corn meal and kale) more than the cookies and cakes. And to imagine that I was forced to eat these over and over again for dinner and lunch until Christmas day, when the menu would change?! Now that I am grown i know that these two staple dishes are apparently the healthiest diets I have come accross.
Just yesterday I went to the store in my neighborhood and bought dry maize and dry beans to make authentic childhood githeri. When it was ready I sat down on my couch, put my feet up and sincerely thanked the good Lord that I can access such a delicacy in this far flung land of milk and honey. Who knew that a Kenyan Living in Boston would be able to get the 'murram' so easily.
Is there something you took for granted in your childhood that you could now cross the oceans to get?
