Eat Your Veggies

What is one of the biggest jobs of stay-at-home moms all over the world?  Feed the family!  Most of the food here is sold at roadside stands.  We can get pretty much everything we need from these places: rice, oil, flour, milk, etc.  But sometimes we go to a small department store (about the size of a 7-11) to get supplies because they’re all in one place and have delicacies like peanut butter and mayo and granola and olives and processed mozzarella cheese.  One thing we always get from the roadside, though, is produce.  In fact, it’s only sold that way.  You can go anywhere in the city and find small shops and carts selling all manner of fruits and veggies.  In some areas, they also push the carts down the streets and sell door-to-door, but no one wants to push a cart up the hill we live on, so we have to go down to the corner.

Just the other day, I went to get around $10 worth of produce.  Now, remember, this produce is fresh, some organic, almost all locally sourced, and seasonal.  I’d like you to imagine going out to the local farmers market.  How much could you bring back with your $10?  Here’s what I got:
    6 lb. potatoes
    2 lb. tomatoes
    2 lb. green pepper
    1 lb. spinach
    2 lb. carrots
    4 lb. apples
    4 lb. oranges
    1 dozen bananas
    1 bunch chilis
    1 bunch cilantro
    1/2 lb. mushrooms

Yep!  And, produce here is more expensive than in most of the country.  So, you will understand why this is one of my favorite things about living here.  We eat very little meat because it’s expensive and poor quality compared to what I’m used to growing up on the farm, so it’s great to know that we have such a great supply of veggies.  I do miss some things about shopping in the States:
    -- Having eggs that are clean enough to crack right into a bowl -- ours come covered in feathers and chicken poo, so we clean them in vinegar water.
    -- Having veggies that you can come home and throw into a pot -- ours are usually still covered in dirt and have been sprinkled with local water that contains things like typhoid and giardia.  I have to wash them all in vinegar water before storing or using them.
    -- Having milk in jugs or glass bottles.  The milk in shops here is in a carton.  It doesn’t taste good.  We can also buy milk from a local farmer, but it’s hard to find an honest farmer who won’t add water to the milk they bring you.  I don’t blame them, the price of milk isn’t fair to them, but even when I’ve offered to pay more for whole milk, I don’t get it.
   
Again, living here is a constant dance between dealing with the difficulties of the place and discovering the joys and blessings.  One thing’s for sure, no matter where you live, the biggest challenge is not bringing home the veggies, but getting your family to eat them!!!!!!

"I will defend myself against swarms of peas!"

 "What?  Carrots again?"

"I'd rather eat this than that pumpkin soup!"