How To Eat Peanut Butter Stew!

5/26/98: Up early for chapel at 7am. Then Ruth headed off to begin inspecting the hospital, while I went off, camera in hand, to begin shooting the campus. I was introduced to a local man who pastors a church in a “musha” (village) near Karanda, and we were invited to his home for dinner…

NOTE: The main photo above shows Vengai preparing the peanut butter stew over an open fire, which included chicken, tomatoes, a leafy green vegetable, and was eaten with your fingers!

5/26/23: Dan helped us understand that the invitation was a special gift of hospitality, but also would be a hardship on the family, as they were quite poor. So he instructed us the culturally appropriate thing to do was to accept the invitation but to offer to provide the meat for the meal, a part of the meal that was not typical for a poor family. So we purchased the chickens, but thankfully, the slaughtering and dressing of the birds was done by the farmer who sold us the chickens. We were also glad that Melita and Rita, two nurses from Karanda, would be joining us, and would be able to coach us through the experience.

Pastor Thomas Z. was a friendly man with a warm smile, and his wife, Vengai, was even more cheerful than he. Once we arrived, we did get to participate not only in the feast and fellowship, but in the food preparation. Both of us took turns at cutting vegetables and stirring the pot of stew over an open fire outside their tiny cottage. It was a traditional stew made of peanut butter, tomatoes, onions/chives, rape (a leafy green vegetable similar to spinach), and, of course, the chicken. I had never imagined peanut butter as a stew ingredient, but the meal was fantastic! The stew was quite thick, not soupy at all. I was wondering how to eat peanut butter stew without spoons or forks, and I found out that in Shona villages you do so with your fingers! The starch staple of their diet, and of this meal, was made up of cornmeal mixed with water and beat into a thick paste called “sadza” (“ugali” in other parts of sub-Saharan Africa). You take a little ball of this paste into your hand, pinch it into a sort of cup or little bowl with your fingers, and then scoop the stew off of your plate with that, slurping the whole thing into your mouth. Both Ruth and loved the meal, and she has since used peanut butter in various stews and soups that are always delicious!

After we were done eating, we had some delightful conversation with Pastor Thomas and Vengai, and Melita and Rita. We all took turns sharing bits of personal stories, including testimony of God’s work in our own lives. Thomas and Vengai were moved to lead us all in an impromptu time of worship, and they sang up a storm of Shona Gospel songs with their young son beating rhythm on a drum. I was able to record some Shona singing in chapel a few days later, but, oh how I wish I had brought the tape recorder that night!