First things first: for those of you who spent sleepless nights worried about me not being able to eat donuts for the next two years, I truly appreciate your sympathy. But, you can sleep in peace! I have found Niger’s version of donuts: they’re called farimassa and they are delicious. Plain and simple deep fried dough. I get my own serving of munchkins every morning for twenty cents… it’s possible I’ll never come home.
As a fried food aficionado, I feel like Niger is the prefect country for me although I have a feeling my cholesterol level probably says otherwise. In addition to farimassa, you can also find tsala (deep fried millet balls), kekena (deep fried bean balls), and masa (less deep fried, but still fried, mini millet pancakes).
My only complaint about the food in Niger is that there is not much variety. Breakfast is generally one of the above, unless I’m really lucky and the village store has electricity—then I can buy yogurt. For lunch and dinner I usually have some combination of rice, potatoes, beans, macaroni and spicy red sauce.
As for fruits and vegetables, there are a lot of onions available in Niger and they are particularly strong. Kara Park—the onion cutting goggles we looked into last year would be awesome here! Also in the market on a good day you can find an assortment of tomatoes, eggplants, cabbage, and lettuce. As for fruits: bananas, coconuts, oranges, and watermelon show up sporadically in the market too.
I miss dairy products quite a bit, but being able to eat deep fried foods at all times and not feel guilty about it is pretty awesome.
Yours truly, eating a fried cricket.
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