more on food...

This is "achoo." It is a specialty of the Northwest Region in Cameroon. It's pounded tapioca mixed into a paste with "yellow soup" as a sauce, and there is lots of palm oil involved. Taxi drivers will end their day craving achoo, babies grow up eating achoo, grandmothers eat plates spilling over with this heavy, thicker-than-mashed-potatoes goo. You get the picture... people love this stuff and grow up on it. In my opinion, you either love it or you hate it. You eat it with 3 fingers on your right hand. Be careful not to rupture the nicely formed pocket that holds all the oily, salty & tasty goodness, or you'll get stared at from seasoned achoo-eaters. In the pic above, it's served with a piece of grilled chicken and a strip of cow... something.

bagel & chai

Behold a picture of my breakfast. They have BAGELS in Foumban!! Or, if you're not convinced, it was at least soft yummy bread that resembled a bagel in shape. Meera, Mackenzie and I attended the Ngoun Festival in Foumban, and we were led to a hole-in-the-wall chai tea place for breakfast. It was delicious. You can get a "bagel" for 100 francs and "chai" (i.e. 90% sweetened condensed milk) for the same price. Food is in "quotations" because it is slightly different in Cameroon, but it doesn't make it less good. Plus, we had to descend these stairs to reach it which made it more of an adventure...

festival ngoun