Communal eating Part 1

Looked up the definition of eating in the dictionary .Eating is the act of consuming food.

That definition fails to fully express what meal times were like during my childhood years when we visited my maternal and paternal grandmothers in rural Shurugwi more than 300 kilometres from Zimbabwe’s capital city Harare.

Once we went to Shurugwi it meant dividing the number of days equally between the two grandmothers who were always so happy to have their grandchildren visiting.

At either homesteads the cultures and way of doing things were basically the same.

The difference was where they lived .

VaMa Sibanda my maternal grandmother, also called VaZi No ( short for Va Zinonsense- she didnt tolerate nonsense from the family or the community!) lived in the farms of Rockford.

My paternal grandmother , VaMa Moyo or as my cousins who stayed with her had nicknamed her Va Big ( she was overweight!) stayed in the villages of Chikato.

When she came to stay with my parents in her old age, she was to get another name, Grandma Jones ( from a movie that my siblings had watched!)

On the Rockford farm there were three active kitchens.By active I mean that cooking was done in all the kitchens and food was shared to all present at the homestead. This was amazing coordinated work!

So this is how the meals were organised.

Grace was said in the kitchens.At times it was sung, hearing grace sung was a dinner bell on its own!

Sadza, ( Zimbabwean staple thick maize meal porridge) was served in flat enamel plates and the relish served in enamel bowls.

Enamel was trending then.Tea was served in enamel cups!
There were no individual plates those days when we visited our grandmothers.

People would eat in small groups of between three and five.The number per team, depended on the one who was serving I guess and maybe their mood!

The team leader would carry the two plates and call out names and the place where his or his team would have their meal.

Calling out the names was also a code to wash hands, properly if I may add.
If the hands were not clean, one would be asked to wash again while others carried on eating!

The groups were according to ages and sex.

At my mother’s home, I used to eat with my young aunts.It was great.Usually it was two or three aunts and me.

My siblings would be in different groups seated in different places, on mats or on stiols or on stones ,under the big shady fruit trees.

As one ate , one assigned themselves a fraction of the sadza, it was a great way to master fractions! Even before I knew what fractions were , I used them!

If you were three , you would safely using your eyes divide the sadza in the flat enamel plate into thirds and do the same with the relish.

The trick to master was to ensure that one stayed in their individual lane like relay team members! It was an unsaid rule, no criss crossing in the plates!

So one would break the sadza from the portion demarcated by your eyes and sitting position and dip into the relish and then bring it to the mouth.Chew properly or the team members would caution you.

As you were many, the cautionary statement would begin with your name .

And because another small group would be nearby , others would know that your eating etiquette wasnt up to scratch!

If you were near the elders , they would also caution you so eating properly was a must!

If there was meat in the relish, you couldnt pick a piece until the eldest had done so or she had told you to pick one before she did.

Once you picked your piece of meat , you would take a bite and put it in the hand that wasnt breaking the sadza and dipping into the relish.

The process would continue until you were full .Being full meant you would stop eating even if the food was still in the plates.

At times while there still was food in the plates, the eldest would tell you to leave what was left for the youngest to finish off .

Noone would leave the eating place until all had finished eating.

Then it was expected that you would acknowledge and thank those who had prepared the food. Even if they were far off and couldnt hear you, it had to be said!

The youngest would take the plates to the washing point marking the end of meal time.