La Vache Qui Rit: A Cultural Exchange

Here in Bafia, we have a nice little event called “Family Tuesday”.  Every Tuesday, all of the stagiaires are required to go home immediately after training to participate in a cultural exchange with our families.  In reality, it’s just a way for the Peace Corps to ensure that we don’t spend too much time with other Americans at the bar and that we do in fact integrate a wee bit and learn the ways of Cameroon.  Nevertheless, it is an opportunity for us to engage in all sorts of fun activities, like learning how to cook certain Cameroonian dishes, going to the market together, and learning how to kill a chicken (which my host mom insists I must do eventually even though I am vegetarian… We’ll see about that, Mama!)

Each Tuesday, I arrive home after school like the good little girl that I am.  However, we have not necessarily been following the list of activities provided by the Peace Corps because I am typically very present in my household and eager to learn and help out regardless of the day of the week.  So Monday night before I went to bed, it came as a bit of a surprise to me when my host mom asked, “what meal will you be preparing tomorrow for Family Tuesday?” 

I knew this day was coming; I just didn’t think it would spring up on me with less than 24 hours notice.  I had originally planned on making pancakes as a nice Sunday morning feast, or maybe even as a Family Tuesday brinner.  Pancakes with tartina chocolat (the Cameroonian equivalent of Nutella)…mmm.  That would be delicious! But no can do on such short notice!  It would require heading to the market to scope out the proper ingredients, and there is definitely not enough time for such a long journey with such and early curfew.  What quick and easy American meal could I make for my family in an unfamiliar kitchen on such short notice with limited ingredients?  Fettuccine alfredo!  (Okay, yes, technically Italian, but equally loved in the States, right?)

Actually, I was aiming for a mac & cheese / fettucine alfredo combo, or really just any sort of cheesy pasta... Let's not get too technical with this.

After classes, I went to all of the stagiaire’s favorite one-stop-shop, “The Yellow Bar.”  This is typically where we go for a nice sometimes-cold beer or soda after school sometimes, but it’s also where we go to satisfy all of our chocolate needs, and even to buy toilet paper.  On this particular day, I was searching for spaghetti and cheese.

The spaghetti was easy to find.  The ladies at the bar had a nice selection of pastas for me to choose from, and we all had a good laugh about my plan to cook for my host family.  However, they were all out of “La Vache Qui Rit”, or better known to my folks back home as “Laughing Cow”.

Cheese is a rare commodity in this neck of the woods.  There is one boulangerie downtown that has something that resembles Kraft Singles, but aside from that, Laughing Cow appears to be our only option. While it was a major disappointment in the so-called “pizza sandwich” (read: a baguette, tomato paste, and L.C.), I was willing to give it a second chance.

So the Yellow Bar was out of Laughing Cow, and so was the place where I bought the Pizza Sandwich Restaurant.  I was then directed to the Little Blue Shack (we are unbelievable creative in the names that we give the local hot spots, am I right?)  At this point, I was convinced that I would have to make the trek to Centre-Ville, but luckily for me, the Blue Shack was in stock!  I purchased an entire wheel and a packet of powdered milk.

I returned home and began cooking, with Patricia as my sous-chef.  I had no recipe to work with, but I had already decided that if it turned out horribly, I would just declare that Americans love things that taste really awful.

So here’s how it went down:

• Cook some spaghetti.
• Sauté a handful of garlic and an onion.
• Mix the powdered milk with some water to make a cup-ish of milk-ish stuff.  Add this to the garlic and onion. 
• Mix in all of the Laughing Cow cheese wedges.
• Add basil and salt.  Stir.  Combine spaghetti and sauce, and VOILA!  We have “fettucine alfredo”! 

We sat down at the table together and began eating.  Personally, I thought it was fantastic, but since cheese isn’t all that popular here and because I didn’t add any MSG, I was expecting that it wouldn’t go over very well with the famjam.  I told everyone they could be totally honest if they didn’t like it. 

The results?  Mama and Papa didn’t eat as much as they usually do, and I was not surprised (nor was I offended) when I caught Mama eating a plate full of meat that she had cooked earlier.  However, leave it to ten-year-old Patricia to make me feel great!  Not only did she help herself to seconds and thirds, she also asked to save the leftovers to put inside a sandwich for breakfast the next day!  And even more importantly, I thought it was delicious. 

Everyone seemed incredibly appreciative of me cooking dinner.  Mama told me that it's important for her family to experience foods from other parts of the world just as I am experiencing all sorts of Cameroonian food, and Patricia is excited to see what I will cook for her next time (though I can’t promise that there will be a next time).  All in all, I’d give myself a gold star!