Rationing food

written Thursday, 14 June 2007

Yesterday I went to the lumoo, the weekly market, in a neighboring village and bought some food for my host family (onions, beans, okra, and some spices). When I got back home I gave the food to my host sisters, who divided up the food into separate piles for each of them. I had seen them divide food like this before, but it didn't make any sense to me since the whole family's food is cooked together in a big pot (or two - one for the rice or corn meal and one for the sauce) and then everyone eats the same food out of common bowls.

So I asked my counterpart why they divide up the food like that, and he told me that each woman has a day of the week (or two days, depending on the number of women in the family) when it is her turn to cook. They divide up the food in order to ration it out so it will last the whole week. Otherwise, the women who do the cooking the first few days of the week will use as much ingredients as they want for their cooking, without regard for what the women who cook later in the week will need, and then the food that is supposed to last a week will only last a few days.

I think it is an interesting system in a society where pretty much everything is shared.