African Grocery Shopping

Another aspect of adulting, is embracing others for who they are despite who you think they are. My husband is African. It's a wonderful adventure that has it's strange moments, too. Tasks, objects, ways of life, and other mundane things are put into a new light when you spend time with people from a different background than your own.

One such thing for us is grocery shopping. I have items in my kitchen that I never needed until now. Ginger for example. I use a lot of ginger root now which was not part of my cooking habits before. Not as exotic of some of the items out there.

I also have my kitchen stocked with gari, fufu, and white yam. Wait, what? Now we're plunging into the exotic. Or for my husband, the daily.

Let's start with gari. It is a dry staple that is easily hydrated when you add water (like rice). It is ground manioc (also known as cassava) which is then dried. We eat it with a mixture of water and sugar (or honey) or we add it to sauces as a thickening agent.

I don't use a lot of gari but my husband does. 

Let's move on to fufu. Fufu is an African dry staple that can be made from white yams or plantains. It is starchy but low in fat. It is also very filling. The powder form is combined with hot water to create a doughy mixture. 

We eat a lot of fufu. It's delicious!

I'm afraid to ask what this product is LOL.