Julie Greene – Trip to the supermarket

Notes from
Sierra Leone

Trip to the supermarket
18 June 2003

Fly-by view while driving through the hills

Fly-by view of town and ocean below

I’ve been pretty hungry since I got to Sierra Leone. I’m sure there is food somewhere, but I’ve been having trouble finding it. Lining the road that cuts through the hills to our offices are loosely constructed structures that I suspect may sell food and other goods. At first glance, though, it’s hard to tell quite what they may be selling.

On Tuesday, a company driver took me to the Freetown Supermarket on my way home from work. It turned out to be a smallish affair selling relatively high-priced imported foods and household supplies. There was an aisle of soaps and shampoos; an aisle of rice, pasta, and canned goods (Campbell’s tomato soup sells for about 5,000 leones, or $2); an aisle of crackers, teas, and sodas; and an aisle of cereals and cans of milk. I chose a tin of powdered milk over one of the small boxes of preservered liquid milk sitting warm on the shelves. I also picked up soy sauce, red chili oil, a can of creamed corn, a bag of rice, and a couple of other items totaling Le58,000. That’s $25 for nine items. I have to figure out what people eat around here…

The driver took me outside to buy vegetables from a street seller. I picked a tiny onion, a short bloated cucumber, a pale splotchy eggplant, garlic, and a deep purple, round fruit about the size of a kiwi that I couldn’t identify. These totaled Le2,000. Much better.

I came home on Wednesday night and considered my purchases. Eventually, I threw together the following dish(feeds one):

1 small cucumber, diced
1 small onion, diced
6 oz creamed corn
Pepper
Olive oil
White cooking wine
Soy sauce

Fry the onion in olive oil. Add the cucumber, creamed corn, a dash of white wine, and a dash of soy sauce. Simmer for a few minutes to let the liquid thicken a little. Add pepper to taste. Dish generously over rice.

Next article: Downtown Freetown

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