Fish is a common food staple for many families in Zambia. This is one reason why I am here—to teach rural farmers about aquaculture, otherwise known as fish farming. Most local markets will have dried fish for sale or even small fresh fish like Tilapia.
My Bamaama brought home fish or nswi a few weeks ago for supper. Before I bathed, I watched as she cleaned out the fish with her knife and rinsed the fish clean with water. She didn’t take off the frins or the tail or the head or anything!
After my bath, I returned to find Bamaam cooking each fish WHOLE is some oil in a frying pan. I know by now I’ll have an interesting meal ahead.
Its suppertime now and Bataata and I sit down at the table. He offers the water to wash my hands, he says a prayer in Tonga and I begin to remove the lids of the dishes. Nshima…check! Cabbage…check! NSWI…? Ugh…whole fish?
I tell Bataata that eating this fish will be difficult for me. But I can do it.
With my plate full, I begin to pull back a “steak” of fish as my Bataata shows me to do. I slowly pick out the bones and set them aside. This is it. I look at Bataata and he begins to tell me how its hard for me because it like the fish is still alive on my plate. I agree with him and say, “Its like he’s about ready to pick up his head and say, ‘Don’t eat me! Don’t eat me!’” This gets an eruption of laughter from us both! I have tears in my eyes and my abs kill from laughing!
I go back to my fish and slowly, bit by bit, begin to eat. It’s actually very tasty and I begin to relax into this whole fish eating situation.
And then, I get to the head. I’m not quite sure what to do so I ask, “Do I have to eat the head?” Bataata is back to laughing and we’re both gasping for air. Finally we calm ourselves and he assures me I don’t need to eat from the head.
The rest of the meal goes on without incident, but Bataata did try to offer the last nswi to me. I declined!
This may have been a “you had to be there moment.” But it really was quite the experience and now when we talk bout nswi, Bataata and all the bana (children) go to laughing and pretending to talk like a fish on my plate!
Maybe I’ll get used to fish. But I still am very creeped out by them, especially the live appearing ones on my plate looking at me with their eyeballs. Yikes!
