Ethiopia is a country of diversity in all areas of life, including that of foods, beverages and recreations. Its culture is an amalgam of northern, eastern, western and southern Ethiopia specialties and cuisines. A foreign tourist interested in Ethiopia and Ethiopian culture may be fascinated by how different and numerous the country’s foods and beverages are and how they are intimately tied to the history, geography, and economy of the communities they practice them.
One may know or form an idea of the geography of a country in a relatively shorter time by flying over the different topographic zones and form their own opinions of the country. But it is far more difficult to have a bird’s eye view of the food and beverage cultures of a country and the material and spiritual components that, together, give the visitor a real understanding of the country. One has therefore to spend a long time and travel widely in order to understand the human aspects of those cultures in a country as rich and diverse as Ethiopia.
The scientific study of the diets of countries is closely interwoven with the history, economy and politics of a country like Ethiopia that has developed various traditional food items both in time of abundance and during moments of droughts and penury. So food cultures evolve through times and historical events that shape the destinies of these countries. Ancient Egypt is a good example of how its food cultures evolved through time. According to Encarta Encyclopedia, “Egypt was recognized during ancient times as a land that was extremely fertile. The Nile flooded yearly, and the receding floodwaters left rich soil in which the farmers could grow a variety of crops. The land, therefore, enabled the inhabitants to have a fairly varied diet. They were able to grow different grains, such as barley and emmer, and from these grains they made bread, cakes, and beer…”
According to the same source, “The Aksumite diet would have varied, depending on social class. The staple was likely a cereal dish, but the upper classes also would have had such imported luxuries as wine and olive oil. The alcoholic honey drink tej (mead), a common beverage in modern Ethiopia, would have been available to everyone. Workers and rural people would have eaten injera (flat, unleavened bread) and porridge made of local cereal, probably wheat or barley…”
By the way, we can even assume that Axumite Ethiopian must have been well fed judging from the amount of work they were during each day because, “The city of Aksum is famous for the large stone stelae that were erected to mark royal burial places. These enormous single pieces of stone, weighing hundreds of tons each, were quarried a few kilometers away from Aksum, brought to the burial sites, and raised into place-a process that would have required an enormous amount of labor. “
Religions also play a pivotal role in determining or defining the kind of foods that people can eat or abstain-from during fasting seasons or on ordinary days. If for example you ask an Ethiopian from the rural area to share your breakfast of pork meat with them, they will certainly run away as if they are chased by a wild animal. Eating pork is not only prohibited by the church rules and ethic but Ethiopians seldom indulge in it unless they suddenly find themselves in the midst of foreign people in foreign lands. Young and modern Ethiopians from Europe or America would tell you that there is nothing wrong in eating pork but the traditional Ethiopians are still suspicious of its spiritual implications.
Christian Ethiopia has just finished its annual Lent fasting season that last almost two months during which time meat, butter and fatty foods in general are prohibited and alcohol and sex are also considered sinful indulgences that need to be avoided during those two months of deprivation. There may not be any scientific explanations for those prohibitions except that modern dietary science with its theory of calorie restrictions and intermittent fasting is considering fasting as practiced in Ethiopia an extremely good opportunity to cleanse the body of poisonous substances that might have been accumulated in our arteries, causing such fatal diseases as hypertension and heart attacks.
Christian Ethiopians however fast for less mundane and more spiritual reasons. Put simply the logic says that when human deprive their bodies of those fatty substances in their diets, they deprive their spirits of the temptations that cause the major sins that result from overeating such as covetousness in all matters of life like sex, money and even power and other temptations that God has told them to refrain from in order to become better creatures. The Islamic version of fasting has its own rules and objectives that are not that much different from the Christian version. Both appeal to cleansing of the soul, sharing with others, compassion and prayer as duties that must be fulfilled during fasting.
The aftermath of two months of Christian fasting is followed by another fifty days of unhindered consumption of meat, milk, butter and all the foods that were prohibited during the previous two months. There may be some explanation for this rule too but the logic seems to be compensation of two months of deprivation with two months of indulgence, including Fridays and Wednesdays that are usually the fasting days of the week. So, Ethiopian eating habits are formed by their spiritual and material cultures at any given moment of the year and they are strictly applied by their followers and practitioners. We are technically in the middle of the two permissive months after Easter while hotels and restaurants are awash with meaty dishes while fruits and vegetables are relegated to the background or simply ignored until the end of the permissive period.
Speaking of food cultures, one may not overlook the fact that most famous dishes served in modern hotels and restaurants of big cities are mediocre imitations of their original rural versions. Let us take for instance kitfo which the food specialty most coveted by meat lovers everywhere. Yet what makes kitfo in Addis Ababa a poor imitation of its rural version is the fact that traditionally it is served or washed down with katikala, or traditional liquor that gives the food its peculiar taste which is different from the kitfo which is often washed down with Whiskey, vodka or Gordon gin that are foreign imports that may go well with the food but may deprive it of its original taste that is authentically Ethiopian.
The economic situation at any moment may also influence people’s food culture. The ongoing inflation is not a good news not only for food lovers but also for ordinary consumers who used to enjoy the Eastern holidays with good food and good drinks all home-made. It may be defensible from the medical point of view that people consume less edible oil, butter or even meat. But this view does not make sense from the point of view of traditional practices whereby meat, butter and related products were abundant in the not so old days. Nowadays, people are forced to reassess their food consumption both quantitatively and qualitatively because their purchasing power has dwindled to a considerable extent and they are forced to save on every item for the sake of survival. That may be the reason why these days people in restaurants do not invite you to share their meals by way of courtesy as they used to do in the good old days. “Enibla!” (or let us eat together in Amharic) is the magic word that was repeated every time someone orders a dish and starts to eat while someone is sitting nearby waiting for his order to arrive. This was also a mark of generosity from the person who uttered the invitation. Nowadays we are rather eating in silence as we are absorbed by many thoughts that accompany the arrival of the foods: their quality, price, quantity…etc. Although we may not perform feats of labor like our Axumite brothers and sisters in the 7th century, it is still good to be alive and kicking at this time of penury which is bound to vanish once we stand up and decide to work harder and eat better.
It is sometimes fascinating to see so many people swarming the streets of big cities who depend on food from the rural areas for their survival. This also shows that we are not yet nearing apocalyptic times or revisiting the droughts and famines of older times. This gives us both hope and confidence in the future in the spiritual wisdom that everything good or bad is bound to change.
Two months of fasting followed by two months of freedom of indulgence in meat and butter at the end of which we are preparing to welcome three months of rains and cold. The rainy season will descend on us and this too will be a time of freedom from the morbid and depressing heat of the last few months that did not leave us day and night. The rainy season is going to complete the cycle of the year and the latest food penuries are expected to vanish following new and abundant harvests.
Once again we may have time to emulate our old Axumite folks who produced enough food grain to feed the population of time that was not big anyway. “As in most ancient societies, the internal economy of Aksum was based mainly on agriculture. The kingdom produced enough food to be self-sufficient. The main cereal crop may have been wheat, since a head of wheat is shown on coins. Aksumites most likely also grew teff, an indigenous cereal grain widely used in the region today.” The coincidence is astounding indeed. Like the Axumite, we are struggling to produce enough grain to feed the people and much has not changed from those remote times as far as agricultural practices are concerned. The difference may be that, this time over, we are determined to beat off the food penury that has been besetting us from times immemorial and the good news is that we have the technology and the determination to do so.
BY MULUGETA GUDETA
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SUNDAY EDITION 29 MAY 2022
