The last couple of weeks I have been in the West African country of Mali doing work for my master’s degree. My first day in country, on the way from my house to call a taxi at the paved road, a woman working in a small garden plot called out the morning greeting of “I ni sogoma” My work taking videos and pictures for an organization called Mali Health could wait; there were glorious plants to be seen. I walked over and found the woman growing hot peppers, peanuts, watermelon, papayas, manioc, beans, amaranth and onions under the shade of lime, fig, banana and mango trees. She lived nearby and said she came each morning to tend her plot, harvest some produce for sale and enough ingredients for her family’s dinner stew. We exchanged the ritual greetings about our family’s state of health and how well we’d slept then got down to how she grew food in Mali and how I grew it in the states. With the exception of her growing warm season crops and my focusing on roots and greens we used the same types of compost, chicken manure and careful weeding and rotation planting.
Red amaranth
Here’s a bit more background on the country: Mali is a landlocked predominantly Muslim country of about 14 million people. It is famous for the northern city of Timbuktu, wonderful music, a rich, deep culture and most recently, conflict in the far north. (It is not Bali, Maui or Malawi; a confusion often made when the name comes up.)
Hot pepper
The insightful Bridges from Bamako blog has a really good post that sums up why it was so easy to fall into a comfortable conversation with this complete garden stranger. Here is a summary:
- The first quality listed is “mogoya” or personhood that promotes plunging in and not just talking with everyone but helping people out as well.
- The second is “danbe” or dignity, honor and reputation. Mali has an incredible history and oral tradition that gives people a strong sense of who they are and where they come from.
- The third is “faso kanu”or patriotism. I took taxis all over the dusty, vibrant city and the usual conversation was about our respective families and the World Cup then it often moved to the really good things about Mali. “Awo, Mali ka di.” (Mali is good.) was said with strong conviction by most drivers.
- Lastly there is “senenkunya” or joking relations. One of the first questions asked is your last name. My Malian name is Aminata Diarra and my teasing cousins are the Traores. When we encounter each other we say with shocked outrage “It’s not possible! You need to change your last name right now! You eat vast quantities of beans and you are not a serious person!” Depending on the pair’s creativity, amount of time on hand and fluency these ritual insults can get pretty intense with great hilarity expressed by everyone present. This creates a joyful social atmosphere that promotes the building of relationships between strangers.
Figs
The gardener I encountered was a Traore so I took great pleasure in letting her know that she would personally be consuming all the beans that she planted and that she would eat them for every single meal.
Bananas
The sun rose, the day progressed and with some regret I left my new found friend and headed off to find a taxi.
Peanuts
“Jirifuro” – a small garden plot
Here’s a recipe for a Tigadega Na or Peanut Stew that could be made with the harvest from Madame Traore’s plot:
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 chopped onion
- 2 cloves chopped garlic
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
- 1 pound chicken, beef or fish, cut into chunks (optional)
- Hot pepper, black pepper and salt to taste
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 3 small sweet or regular potatoes, cut into chunks
- 1 (16 ounce) can chopped tomatoes, with liquid or 8 medium sized chopped fresh tomatoes
- 1/4 pound collard greens, roughly chopped
- 1 cup chunky peanut butter
- Heat the oil over medium-high heat; cook the onion, garlic, and ginger in the hot oil about 6 minutes. Add the meat; cook and stir until completely browned. Season with the red pepper, salt, and black pepper. Pour the chicken broth over the mixture. Stir the potatoes into the liquid and bring the mixture to a boil; reduce heat to low, cover the pot partially with a lid, and cook at a simmer for 15 minutes.
- Stir the tomatoes, collard greens, and peanut butter into the stew. Partially cover the pot again and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, another 20 minutes or until the meat is tender.
This can be served with rice, noodles or the Malian firm porridge, “To“, that is made from corn or millet.
If you’d like to learn more about gardening in Mali there are quite a few organizations working on gardening programs. Here are links to a few of these.
