We've been hearing from some of our far flung Sporkful fans lately, which is awesome. Recently we heard from Iraq, now we get mail from Trude in Rwanda, where she's working with the Peace Corps. Because she lacks broadband, Trude receives Sporkful care packages from home, burned on CD.
Trude's reaction to several episodes gives a glimpse into the food culture in Rwanda and also some great tips useful in any country. I was most intrigued by the buffet setup there. We did an episode on buffet strategy, but in Rwanda, Trude explains how different rules apply:
The problem is, it's not all you can eat. You get one shot, one plate, and if it's an unknown buffet, no way of knowing what is going to be good or bad before you sit down to try it. Rwandans are experts at piling their plates high with food to get their money's worth. They call this making a volcano on their plate.
A food volcano! That is a keeper. On the pizza episodes (Part 1 and Part 2):
Last week I had run out of tomato paste, but made pizza crust topped with freshly made baba ganoush (flavored with cumin, garlic, chili, lemon juice, diced tomatoes) and cheese. I highly recommend this as a substitute for tomato sauce if you're an eggplant fan. I was worried the chunks would slip off the crust or make it soggy, so I layered crust, cheese, sauce, then cheese. Delicious!
Definitely something I want to try. Are you far from your home country and making new food discoveries? E-mail us with your experiences. /mark
