On a recent trip to Africa, the black brothers taught me a lesson, because African food can be described as bizarre.
The red circle is my "flowing" range
Friends who have seen our "Che Guevara's Adventures in Africa" know that I have a strong interest in the Congo, and this is not the first time I have set foot on the land where the communist Don Quixote fought.
This resource-rich, beautiful and impoverished tropical jungle is definitely one of the most magical countries in the world.
Copper ore sent by a Congolese friend
As soon as I left the airport, which resembled a bus station at the junction of urban and rural areas, and received my friend, the local "powerful person," i hired a policeman to take me to the hotel.
The next few days, apart from wandering around, spent most of my time in this typical colonial-style hotel.
Drinking tea at three o'clock every day, it is also very pleasant not to lie flat, and the big sun in the dry season of Savannah's climate makes people feel less tropical melancholy.
Just as the middle class likes to imitate the lifestyle of high society, the food I eat in the hotel is the standard that the Congolese "upper class" imitates the middle class of its metropolis: Western food.
Decent but boring and tedious, like an enhanced version of Pizza Hut or a high roller
In the spirit of coming from the masses and going to the masses, at my strong request, my black friends decided to take me to experience the real Congolese "human flavor".
·“ Beware of the new crown" poster
Similar to the rest of the world, in a large restaurant, you can only eat food on the "face", and the real b noodles of the world only exist in the table of ordinary people or in the back kitchen of a small and inconspicuous restaurant.
For example, the mushroom I found in the kitchen of a black friend's house is about the size of Mario
And congo's b-side is hidden in the unusually crowded, noisy, and dirty farmers' markets in its downtown area.
To get to a farmer's market, walking and riding a motorcycle are the "only two" viable modes of transport, as whether you drive a Mercedes or a Mazda, you will get stuck in traffic.
Borrow a motorcycle to set off
Of course, "sophomore and eighth" is not impossible
You don't have to actually walk into the farmer's market, just stand at its entrance and a complex breath will sneak into your nose.
It is a mixture of the taste of cooked animal and vegetable fats, the taste of fresh and spoiled fruits, the taste of premium spices and inferior leather, the "body fragrance" of red dust with black friends, the fishy smell and the taste of sewers.
If a perfume reviewer is here, his nose and brain must be overloaded at the moment.
Image from Weibo
The "top note" of this smell comes from a black dried fish.
From a distance you will mistake them for the staple food of Shimaichi Old Eight, but when you get closer, you will find that they are mostly "mummies" of some kind of catfish.
Some of these fossil-like ingredients can give you the illusion of being picking out alien specimens.
The tight, fishy and charcoal-grilled food, combined with its eerie appearance, is enough to make every alien diner feel that time and space are confused: either eating some ancient creature or eating some alien ingredient.
To accompany this dried fish, it must be a wild spinach soup (mfumba) cooked with 5s-grade pressed palm oil.
Mfunmba on a European food website and 5s grade pressed bulk palm oil in the market
It is said that some descendants of African descent who have emigrated to Europe for generations will occasionally taste this poorly sold food to miss their distant homeland, but this is like the Kung Pao chicken made by Mexicans in Chinatown in the United States, which has no soul after all.
And when I finished eating this bowl of soup with dried fish, I was a little closer to the soul of australopithecus, the ancestor of mankind in the Congo Basin
Of course, if you think the soup is too salty, go to the stall next door and buy a freshly cooked cassava (manioc).
And if you are a "smelly" Anhui person, then this fermented cassava dumplings (chikwanga) with a hint of sour sweaty feet can dissolve all the grease caused by meat.
If people with dense phobias have hell, crossing the "dry goods" and "cooked food" in the market will become their nightmare for a lifetime every second in the "fresh area".
Although I don't reject bugs, the last time I saw them selling bugs with a washbasin was in Beijing's pet market.
In China, whether it is the cocoon pupae in the northeast, the grasshoppers and monkeys in Shandong, or the bean dan in Lianyungang, even if the bamboo insects in Yunnan are compared with their cousins in the Katanga Plateau in Africa, they obviously belong to the "inferior insect family".
A big brother who sells bugs tells me in detail about several different kinds of bugs.
Here, the various creeping bugs are collectively referred to as chenille (caterpillars), the color is the only criterion for distinguishing different varieties, and the size is the parameter that affects the price movement.
The black caterpillar belongs to the popular blockbuster and is a must-have appetizer in the home.
Green caterpillars are more tender and fat, and white-collar workers who advocate healthy eating can use it as a light food version of bugs.
Red caterpillars are very rare, good supplements, and the price is not cheap, probably equivalent to the sea cucumber in the caterpillar.
For the generally undernourished Congolese, bugs are indeed a rare source of protein, and the neighboring provinces to the north have launched a kilueka program to turn bug farming and processing into a large-scale industry.
·“ Bug Hunter" and Bug Dryer
But in the end, I chose a yellow caterpillar, which probably feeds on corn, and it also tastes strong corn.
Although I have always thought that humans like crispy foods such as potato chips are derived from the genetic memories of barbecued and fried insects, my Congolese friends did not choose the method of frying I recommended, but made a pot of local traditional onion tomato stew.
A pot of bugs costs only a few dollars, and they say I eat stewed bugs with an expression like a hemorrhoid attack
But the real king of the bugs must be a white flesh worm called mmosé.
This delicate palm weevil larvae is usually placed in palm shreds to keep alive, rather than having to endure the torture of roasting ass like a cocoon pupa.
Zongzi and tangyuan both have a dispute over fresh sweetness, but only "sashimi" is the only way to respect mmosé.
Pinching its hard black head and dipping it in the sauce, letting the trembling body explode between its lips and teeth, the faint smell of coconut milk will instantly fill the mouth.
But collecting insects is destined to be a slightly inefficient and under-armed way of eating, and only hunting animals is a sign that humans have evolved to the top of the food chain.
The meat area in the market is destined to be a place that is not suitable for children.
Which food is the most delicious is a matter of opinion, but if we want to discuss who eats the most "ancient" food, it must be the Congolese.
Some of the Recipes of the Congolese, inheriting the predatory instincts of human beings, are living fossils of human food history and "old brands" that no one dares to compete for.
And the monkey on the chopping board is the best proof.
Air-dried monkey meat, probably every bite can awaken the memory of cannibalism in ancient times.
Anyone outside the Congolese jungle who can calmly eat a monkey has the initial potential to become Dr. Lecter Hannibal's successor.
If you're lucky enough, you'll also be able to meet fresh monkeys here, with any choice of parts, and the whole one is better to buy. If it is not sold the next day, the price will be cut, of course, cold chain storage is definitely not there.
Animals that have just been slaughtered, as long as they wait for a short video of Douyin, will become a paradise for flies
The eldest sister who sold the meat strongly recommended that I taste monkey meat and told me that the taste of roasted monkey meat was not even comparable to that of veal.
Seeing my face, she expressed the simple philosophical concept of Food in the Congolese: si ça bouge, ça se mange! If you can move, you can eat!
But when I thought of the legend that AIDS spread from the Congo River Valley to the United States, which is difficult to distinguish between true and false, I still politely refused.
Hunter's stronghold
Congolese hunters are mostly part-time, while the best prey often comes from the tropical jungles further north. All creatures that enter the hunter's field of vision may eventually appear in the farmers' market, even the top overlords of the Congo River are not spared.
Apparently, the crocodile here escaped the fate of becoming a Hermès leather bag.
But a fellow reptile, the chameleon never appears on the Congolese table, where it is seen by some as a symbol of evil and contagion.
Obviously harmless to humans and animals
The "turtle" the size of the manhole cover has soared in price because of the supplementary tradition of a certain foreign oriental people.
The Congo Basin can produce millions of tons of raw food each year, which for Congolese people has nothing to do with hunting or showing off, it is just a survival consideration.
The Belgians, who brought the most tragic and dark history to this jungle, brought the eating habits of their former slaves back to the European continent.
Although they do not admit it, this business of smuggling wild game to Europe through Brussels is not a secret among the Congolese at all.
In 2018, the Belgians themselves broke the scandal of smuggling monkey meat
Return to the Villa of a Friend of Africa at the end of the "adventure" in the wet market, around three o'clock in the afternoon. Instead of drinking tea, the workers at a friend's house sat around the door, enjoying a cornstarch sweet beer (munkoyo) with tomato salad, salted fish and tropical sunshine.
After tasting this liquid of unknown nature, I just wanted to do a food broadcast, and then shouted: African cuisine, OK!
Source: Dr. X