Ivan a1zd Patricia Karp

Transcription

1 . t >t~ ~;:~;-; ;:;'..~ : ~l:; ;-b._s' k 14 -.~-~,,:. '~~C~"~;"::f"-=":'* """,.. "r.. ) ttr'::.t-.. From Jessca Kup~r, ed., The Anthropologsts' Cookbook. ': Routledge, and Kegan Paul, ~...~.). ~..J f(" tj'-..\ for wu.c,~t.h;ch.:j h~ ~..,~ 10 ~ odt.!~..~,.5..!. ;~.9: ~.. ;...,.-.~.-. ~ ~. ;;...,.. ~...'!f. ~.....1'" ;~~:..' ,.....;~~..-J.~-t~.;;~.~.:.., -,. '.~~ ;~::. ~~.. Socal Aspects of teso Cookery van a1zd Patrca Karp The teso of Kenya are an Eastern.Nlotc-speakng.people who lve n the northern part of Busa dstrct of the Western Provnce of Kenya. n 1969 there \vere about 250,000 teso n Kenya. There are also \\'ell over 500,000 teso lvng n Uganda, most of \vhom lve n the Teso.dstrct. They are separated n space. and by the accdent of colonal hstory from the {enya teso_ As a result consderable dfferences n dalect and custom.have developed between these two groups. Our feldwork was conducted for a. perod of two years,' from 1969 to 1971, among the teso'of Kenya. Durng ths perod, we lved as members oran teso famly n the Amukura area. of Busa dstrct. n ths famly van Karp was treated as the younger brother of the household head and Patrca Karp assumed the role.of a young.teso woman learnng to be a v.'fe. As' such she was taken under the \vng of the household head's mother, Fulgara Toto, and,treated as a somewhat dull but eager young woman. From Toto we ganed some of the most mportant nsghts nto teso culture and socety. Certanly one of the frst and most contnuous aspects of teso socety that mpressed us durng the t\vo years of our feldwork was the mportance (for the teso) of the sharng of food and drnk. Ths s stressed n the etquette of everyday greetngs. t s proper to greet people and then to ask for any news..after an exchange of ne\\~s~ the persons nvolved enqu..e after each other's health. The teso are a forthrght people and treat these enqures as serous requests. 'After all these ssues have.been settled,. two questons are asked.tbef~st, An'ajon?',..asks at \vhose home beer s to be bad that day. >~/The second,'nye1la;nyam'joott kon.l%p', can be.. translated as CWhat knd..of food s there n your home to~ay? We. as whte Eurooeans._---_. -, ~sked ths knd "ofqueston b(:cause theltesoassumcd...-. ~_. :."'\M()uldbe very dfferent from thers. \Vhenweanswered!lta" tbelteso form ofmaze or cassava andmll(:f bread. people would go. nto gales oflaughter.\vhenasked "'by, they repled that atap \vas Afrcan food'andnotfor Europeans.. l : t..!',&. t

2 ... _.~-- _.., SOfal Aspects of lteso CookelY From the teso pont of vew, one of the sad features of the colour-bar a \\ re and chldrc~ that accompaned colonalsnl n Kenya '\'3S the refusal of Europeans to food sser\'ed, ant share an Afrcan's food or hs food \\:,th an Afrcan. 1ence, teso often tred hood chldren s c to nlake us v/e)come n ther homes by gvng us foodstuffs to tnke home of a frend or an j nstead of sharng a meal n the more usual fashon. They \\'ere surprsed \\,ll have several r and pleased by our \\,lngness to share food and drnk. f there \vas hosptal- from pasture.and ty to be offered, we asked to be fed lke knsmen or neghbours, nstead of counsel. These nf beng gven food to consume n the prvacy of our hut lke selfsh strangers. \\ ho s host. Ths Once \ve were taken at our word and served the meal of the day. t conssted ton bet\\oeen m~ of cassava bread, \\,thout the usual nllletadded. The relsh \\'as composed of teso notons of.1,t. a vegetable gathered n the bush, boled n sour mlk and flavoured \\'th salt are ser\'ed nsde 1 made from the ashes of the leaves of certan grasses. Ths \\'as the only nleal The typcal. ]. 0 J \\'e had whle among the teso that we found unpalatable; under the cr The starch s a b t,,. cumstances of our declaraton, there was no choce but to eat stocally. or sorghum nto 1,.. Vrtually all rtuals are accompaned by the sharng of a meal and beer plantans. There made fronl fnger mllet, the tradtonal teso food. Ths qualty, of \vllngness n a sauce consst l to share s also part and parcel of the judgments that teso make about each s used by most ) other. One of the worst terms that one tesocan call another s epog, whch' Austran frends & most Englsh-speakng teso translate as meanng selfsh'. The term s a head asked ourf t lttle dfferent from the conventonal meanng that we assgn to the word. nlaze or cassava j The teso also mean by epog somethng we mght translate as self-suffcent'. The starch: j, A person who s epog s someone \vho beleves that -he can get on wthout ceptons of cooke anybody else's help. As a result, he does not feel an oblgaton to share the s eaten \\'thout ; food n hs home wth hs kn and neghbours. The teso descrbe someone the manner n \,oj \vho s epog as the type of person \vho eats n secret. Ther mage s of a greedy t\vo sexes. Only, and foolsh person hdng n the darkness -of hs hut consumng hs year's cookng-house on supply of food. Anyone \\,ho s lke ths s foolsh because, as teso \\ ll pont on the other hane out, technology s lnlted and the envronnlent s uncertan. As a result, prmary occason ( o. people need to share \\~th each other n order to buld up a set of recprocal durng funeral s oblgatons whch wll provde a hedge n dffcult years. Hence teso negh sacrfced for. the t : t bourhoods and kn-groups fulfl the functon of dstrbutng subsstence were held n- the. products under condtons of scarcty. We mght say that, for some purposes, ntated or were!, a an teso neghbourhood.has a common economy renforced by the values of happened to pass! : mutual commcnsalty. ~ted wth men.: The teso eat ther meals n a yarety of places, and the place n whch fts toget~er,vtl t s eaten s sgnfcant for the meanng whch the meal has for them, as "'ell opp9st()tl~~t,~f as the type.. of.cookng that s nvolved. Most' meals are taken nsde the encocles~.,~~,~u "sleepnghouse of the wfe that:. has.don~ the cookng. f a few guests are whlc~~~.~~.~ c.nvojved. the meal s served n the }usband's guest house. Each wfe n an rl~h~~(:~lll~g~f.. '0' tesopolygamous famly s a separate dornestc unt and feeds herself and.her.hcso~n~~,n~} wves' homes so that he does not sho\\" favourtsm to any wfe. Few husbands and.. pr()~,.ct:~ ty< do. ths and.ther falure to bchave equtably s a constant cause of nlartal for.. th~;\l~vx~lt!,"-.chldren. A husband s supposed to alternate hs attendance at each of hs 'hujds.saprll'lat J strfe. 1n any case, meals are often served to a larger varcty of persons than cxchangc~ ~lj,n j ;~~~~~~;'~!~~~l~~;~bllllllll~llllllllllll ~~~~~ :a-.jl~rt~~~t'!'

3 ~..-..._----~., (~ _..--.~ ad. \, ac;ocal Aspects o.lltrso Cookery 103 a \yjfe and chldren. Chldren especally eatwhere\'cr they happen to be ""hen food s served, and the sght of a.\voman eatng \\,th a varety of neghbourhood chldren s common. Mc:n often arrve late n the afternoon at the home of a frend or an mportant person n order to share a nleal. A local notable wll have several men drop n at hs home after the cattle have been returned from pasture and commonly a meal wll be dspensed wth hs advce and ~ounsel. These nformal meals are eaten outsde the guest house of the person who s host. Ths sa sgn that anyone who drops by s welcome. The oppost.on between meals eaten nsde or outsde s mportant n understandng teso notons of hosptalty and sharng. Specal guests on specal occasons are served nsde the house. The typcal teso meal s based on an opposton of starch and a relsh. The starch s a cbread' made by pourng a flour of cassava and fnger mllet or sorghum nto bolng water. Sometnles the bread s made of cornmeal or plantans. The relsh may be made from boled vegetab"les or.meat served n a sauce consstng of the broth n whch they were cooked. Curry powder s used by most house~!jlds as a flavourng. Once we were vsted by some Austran frends and taken to.ao teso household for a meal. The household head asked:.our frends ~\yhat was the man food of ther country- was t Dlaze.or cassava or plantans or mllet? The-starch: ~.~at-o.r~reljsh opposton s very mportant n tesocon - ceptons'of cookery. No meal can be eaten wthout a starch. When somethng s eaten wthout a starch, t s not a meal. What s nterestng about ths s the manner n whch cookng s ted up wth behavour assocated wth the!' tv'qsexes~,9nly.wom~t:l-can.. cook a starch,,and.t must be cooked nsde the <oco'ok.ng-house on the wonlen's freplace constructed wth three stones. Men, on the other.hand, can cook meat, but only outsde and only by roastng. The prmary occasons when roasted, as opposed to boled, meat s eaten are durng funeral sacrfces and, durng precolonal tmes, \\,hen oxen were sacrfced for the age-set ceremones of the men. These age-set ceremones were held n the bush durng the dry season and only men \vho had been -ntated or were about to be ntated were allowed to attend. f any women happened to pass by, they were tortured. The opposton of roastng, assocated.wth men, and bolng, assocated wth women, s very mportant. t fts together wth the opposton between nsde and outsde and a further opposton between nature and culture. As the lteso system of categores,.encodest,.women are assocated wth.bolng, the.home, and domestcty. ',whkmenareas,socated wth nature. the outsde world" and polteallfe.~1'bem,canjn~of ths can be understood by rc.latng ths~~t of categores to'. teso concerns. n,a $ocetythat$$ubsstence-based. thes~rvyalofh~,:,se. hejlds.,,s a prdlary.c,oncern. Gven,the uncertant)'that teso.face about,ran and productvty of land, most households{onow a strategy of pro<ucn2, both for the survvalo! ther members and n order 'to Jnantan relatonshps of ~xchange wth other households that wll nsure th,esharngo( suhsstence

4 ,.' , ]04 Socal Aspects of teso Cooker>' ~. products under condtons of scarcty. 'fhs strategy nduces a tenson bcty.'een.thesatsfacton of domestc \\'ants and the satsfacton of requrement for producton for the needs of neghbours and knsmen. Ths tenson s reflected n the, dfferent context of cookng assocated wth men and women. On the one hand we have cookng and eatng assocated wth the nsde and wonlen..n ths context, t s prmarly the requrements of a famly unt composed of a mother and her chldren (sometmes a husband) that are satsfed. On the other hand, we have cookng and eatng on. the outsde assocated \vth men. What are satsfed n these contexts are the requrements of a household as a socal group assocated wth other households whch \\'ll help each other n tmes of want. n \vhat follows we descrbe teso patterns of cookng and eatng. Atap (called posh0 or ugal n Sv.pahl) s the basc starch food. We provde two recpes. The frst, for akapulu, s for a vegetable relsh that we often enjoyed n teso homes. The second, for alaboro, s a specal dsh, probably adopted from the Baganda, that s served on specal occasons. '.. The teso begn ther day wth a small nleal. Most people eat a very thn porrdge made of cassava, flour or mllet flour and water. A few people, those wth some. ncome, sometmes purchase a loaf of whte bread and a tn of butter at the local store, and ths serves as breakfast. A very small number of people eat eggs for bre3kfast, a custom probably learned (rom the Europeans. A common breakfast food s a pece of boled cassava. The common tem at all breakfasts s the beverage - a strong, smoky-flavoured tea, made by bolng,tea and water together wth large anlounts of mlk and sugar. Even the smplest meal nvolves a great deal of work for the women, whose responsblty t s to grow or purchase whatever food s necessary, collect \\~ater'and frewood, and prepare the meal. A woman and her chldren collect as much frewood and water, the latter n tn contaners holdng 4 gallons (about 18 tres) each, as they can carry on ther heads. They usually have to make more than one trp to the bush and stream n anyone day. The fre for cookng s started on the floor of the cookng hut on a freplace bult on a foundaton of three stones. On these stones rests an enormous pot of water whch must bol for the porrdge, tea, or atap, the man food of. the teso. When the water bols (and t seemed to take forever when we were hungry) the cassava or mllet, or combnaton of the two, s added n the form of ground flour, and ths s cooked untl the rght consstency s reached. Each person has a snlal bowl ofporrdge and as much tea ashe or she wants. Ths.teso meal was sometmes supplemented' by cuttng' or, buyng. a of sugar cane. Chldrer; especally, cut large peces of cane and peel wth sharp knves or pangas.they pun t through ther teeth,extractng the sweet.juce and fbrous strngs of sugar cane. t sa very fllng snack. t s recognzed that chldren need more food than adults. Some foods are referred to as a 'chldren's food'. We grew raspberres to whch chldren v.'ould help themselves. Chldren also collected other fruts and berres,.-..

5 ~~~~ :~,~~~. h?:~'~:r,[~;~'j?' ",... ~~C': ~;;:~ \ \...~ Socal Aspects o.f teso Cooker)' '..:~":"'t.' m,..n ~: for ~1cd OCt the ~lcn..-j of p'lhe ~ptn...j~a j,. ncludng wld goo~cberrcs fronl the bush, and ate theln as they \\'alked along or played. We often ate such thngs \vth the chldren and the teso were mldly amused by our taste for 'chldren's food'. The second and last meal of the day s the late afternoon or evenng one. Ths calls for more extensv~ preparaton than breakfast. Ths meal conssts of atap ('sold food') and an accompanment, referred to as a 'relsh' or 'vegetable' by the teso. Agan, the woman of the home bulds a fre n the cookng hut. Frst she prepares the relsh. Ths can be ether a vegetable or meat. The meat.. s always beef or, for specal occasons, chcken, and the vegetable s usually somethng that grows wld and s coj1ected by the women ",bd n durng the day. A favourte s ekwa/a, whch s smlar n taste to spnach. The meat wll be boled for hours n a ttle\\'ater and curry powder. The vegetable ~,"'':P may also be cooked for a very long tme, usually wth spces or wth sour mlk. ~. O The relsh may be flavoured,vth mushrooms. They are usually gathered by!'r-~,"d women, but t s not uncommon for a man to fnd mushrooms as he s walkng ~fctd :: through the bush and brng them home to hs wfe to dry and cook. ~,.,ttr>. Whle the relsh s smmerng, the atap must be prepared. The large pot of water s put up to bol, then the cassava or mllet flour s added. t :~(t.j. ln s cooked untl t forms a thck,'sod mass. By now the relsh s ready and the Qtap s turned out onto a ~.....bcr large. plate and co\'ereduntl everyone s ready to jf[,.ro- eat. Some people have tables and chars made by local carpenters. ~10st, ~ ol~je however, st on the floor of ther huts. Atap s taken from a comnlunal plate, but each person has hs own small bowl of relsh. No teso use slverware, 'but ~... ~. may have some on hand to b~ used by dstngushed vstors. A small amount ~f)., of atap s taken, always wth the fngers of the rght hand, and formed nto a.~~ ball. Then a depresson s nlade n the centre of the ball \\,th the thumb. t s ~J4 then dpped nto the relsh and eaten. Peces of beef and chcken are also '~~1 eaten wth the fngers. ~~. Other food s collected from the bush by chldren. After a ran, the.~~ 1ft. ar becomes flled,..th flyng whte ants. The chldren run nto the bush at ~ dusk and pck hundreds of these ants out of the ar and stuff them nto tn.e 01 cans. Whle they are dong ths, they eat as many as they put nto tn$. All ;'~ecrc the.termtescouccted n the tns are brought to the chldren's mothers. The ~.!ac ants are then lgh~fred n ghee (clarfed butter) and eaten by the men and ~~ ~'ch)dren of the home. They are. qute tasty prepared n ths \vay....,!" '. ':':";".. ~. ~ _ (...,..:..,:.::: '..'., :.: ~,!k1: f~:1,{ -,:',/..:.: :.~~.!»:~t,~ ~.~... ~~~-..~ ~~~.~.:. y::.'1v. '; ~5 ~.~~~~:~~~... ~~". ~~4

6 ~ 106 Socal Aspects of lleso Cookery Bush Vegetable (A1<apulu) (To serve 2-4) 1 b (450 grams) fresh spnach or 1 8-oz. (220 grams) pack frozen spnach, defrosted 1 medum onon, coarsely chopped 1 tomato, chopped 3 tbsp ghee or butter 2 tsp curry powder 1 tsp salt 2 cloves garlc, fnely chopped (optonal) 1 ", t. ;.... t..'. '\'~r;-.~,.t., 1 ;.~.1.,,;.::...,..~ )6,. Wash spnach and remove stems. Cook n the water that clngs to the leaves, untl tender (ab~ut5 mnutes). Dran and set asde. Cook the onon and garlc n ghee untl lghtly browned, strrng occasonally. Add salt, curry powder and tomato. Cook about 1 mnute. Add the onon mxture to the spnach and heat through. Serve as an accompanment to atap. A/abaro and Groundnut Sauce (To serve 2-4) 6 green plantans (a/abaro) 1 large onon, coarsely chopped 5 tomatoes 2 tsp curry powder 1 tsp salt 3 or 4 tsp groundnuts, chopped or ground 1, cups water Peel and wash the plantans. BoH untl about half-cooked. Add onon, nuts, salt, tomatoes and curry powder, str well and cover. Cook over low heat, strrng occasonally untl the plantans are soft. May be eaten as an accompanment to alap.