Let's talk about food.

*Warning: This post may come as a shock to anyone who has ever known anything about me at all.*

You’ll never guess what I had for dinner the other night: a little bit of snake and a little bit of croc! Yep, that’s right, folks! After six (maybe seven) years of being vegetarian, I decided to break the fast with some good ol’ fashioned reptile!

But let’s back up a few steps.

We arrived in Bafia on Wednesday, and immediately settled into our homestays. They first thing my Mama (sorry real Mommy – this is what I call my new Cameroonian mother) asked me was if I eat fish. Of course she already knew the answer; it was on the bio sheet that she had received a few days prior. My bio sheet contained the following important information:

• Really stinkin’ bad at French
• Wants a bazillion cats, or maybe a llama, but is afraid of dogs
• Willing to share Starbursts but STEP AWAY FROM THE NUTELLA
• Eats no meat, no chicken,no fish. Hates milk and eggs, but will choke them down if absolutely necessary.

So as the night went on, Mama and I sat in the kitchen-house as she cooked, conversing with my broken French to her incredibly patient ears. I discussed my family and, well…errrm… I guess it stopped there. My “day one” vocabulary was très limited.

Soon enough, that infamous question popped up again: “tu manges le poisson?” Errrm, non. Non, merci. Jamais. I explained that my family lives close to the sea and fish is super-duper popular where I come from, but ick. Just ick. I have never and will never like fish.

Mama assured me that I was wrong. The previous volunteer that she hosted (I am number 9) never ate fish before coming to Cameroon. After living with Mama for three months, he LOVED it.

Hrrrrrrm… Okay. Well maybe someday I’ll try, but absolutely positively definitely not today.

Fast forward to dinnertime. I serve myself a hearty serving of vegetables and rice, and Mama plops down a few bites of fish on my plate and asks me to try it. In the meantime there is a plate full of shiny fishies in front of me, eyeballs still intact, staring right back up at me.

I put up a good fight, but in the end, Mama always wins. I tried the fish.

Then I had seconds.

Fast forward a few days. Maria Breaks Vegetarianism: Bush Meat Edition.

Spontaneous wedding invites seem to be common in my travels to Africa! On my first Saturday in Bafia, I was invited by another volunteer, Mayra, to attend her host-sister’s wedding. I received the invite about a half hour prior to the start of the wedding, and quickly changed into my fancy skirt (read: the skirt that I wore the day before but is still mostly clean).

Earlier that day, Mayra had told us about how when she left the house in the morning, she saw snakes being cut up and a monkey being pulled tail first out of a pot. For some reason, I thought nothing of this.

Upon arriving in Cameroon, and even after eating fish the other night, I had my mind fully set on maintaining vegetarianism throughout my entire service. Yet for some reason, when my friend Matt and I started talking about trying snake at this wedding, I became super giddy. It’s now or never.

We passed on the monkey and the chicken feet, but decided to split a hunk of snake and heck, while we’re at it, how about a hunk of crocodile too! (Or at least it was something in the croc family. Species not yet confirmed.)

And guess what?! I’d totally eat it again!

A friend from home (shout out to, Markalark!) gave me the wise advice to try crazy foods in Cameroon... Little did I know it would happen during the first week!


Edit: I would like to say that I do not condone the eating of bush meat (even though it can be yummy!)