Last Hours
12/25/2004 2:51AM (12:51PM Khartoum)
The last hours in Khartoum are always a mad dash towards the finish line, which is tomorrow at 9p, when my flight leaves for Addis Ababa again. I can barely remember what I need to do, let alone what I want to do. The problem with the Sudan (if you can call it a problem) is that you are surrounded by people who love you and want to be with you, sit with you, talk to you, eat with you, and so on. Everyone wants their moment in the sun, and time is your biggest enemy, especially when you consider that Khartoum traffic is horrendous. The center of Khartoum has not been expanded since the British built it in the late 19th century. All the ministries are there, as are all the municipal buildings, two universities, and any possible organization you want to go to. Add to that, the fact that there has been a huge migration from the provinces to the capital, and all those people have business to attend to in downtown KRT, and all of them have cars. You can imagine the traffic situation fairly easily if your stomach is strong enough.
I have too many visits to take care of today, with little in the way of time to actually enjoy the time I spend with people, and no car to take me where I need to go. Having reconfirmed my reservation for my return to Addis Ababa I am ready to render unto Caesar for the rest of the day. I have made too many promises to visit too many people, and as all of you know, I am not one to welch on a promise. The tale of my visits is probably not that interesting, so I will spare you the details of where we went and what we ate, and the number of times people told me that I look like my father.
What I will quickly talk about, instead, is food. Yes, my favorite subject has finally made its way into the blog, but not just because I am a greedy guts. No, the reason I want to talk about food is the fact that food in Sudan tastes better than it does anywhere else in the world. This is not an idle boast, but a simple fact. Ever since I arrived I've been struck by the flavors of things - even salt tastes more like salt here than it does elsewhere. The meat is more tender and savory. Even the fatty parts are quite delectable and melt in your mouth. I go out of my way to eat them in the Sudan. Vegetables are crisp and full of color. Their aroma fills the room when you are slicing them up, and their flavor fills your mouth as the aroma fills your nostrils. It is all in all a perfect experience for the senses, and I find myself eating with the kind of gusto that has lately been lacking in my eating in the US. Pedro, I found myself thinking of you often as I ate because you're always on at me about my poor eating habits Stateside. Frankly, I feel a little bit justified now since it's mostly fodder to me over there anyway, but I do understand what you mean. I wish you could visit Sudan and taste the food that I've tasted, so you could see for yourselves.
Yet in spite of all this great olfactory sensory advantage the Sudanese populace is shifting in a visible way towards less flavorful food. Like everywhere else in the world, the Sudan is experiencing a shift towards tasteless, mass-produced food. This is most clearly seen in the restaurant boom in Khartoum. They range from a very few up-scale restaurants, to a large number of local eateries with coarse local fare. The up-scale places aren't so much better than their more pedestrian sisters, differing instead in the ambience and a few menu items.
What makes the restaurant craze in Khartoum so mystifying for me (apart from the food quality issue) is the traditional place of restaurants in Sudanese culture. In the past, restaurants were the province of strangers, and people without families. The quality of the food was never comparable to what you could get at even the poorest homes, and while it has improved, it still does not touch the type of meal you'd eat at home. The clientele were invariably men, usually bachelors, and of very modest means to say the least. All of this has changed dramatically, and you can now see men and women, well turned out, eating at restaurants together. The key is on the way they dress and the fact that they are eating together. Once again, this is a major shift. I can only suppose that this is the local face of globalization.