October 4, 2007

  • Mafuta ( Fat one)

    When Jennie was first talking about going to South Africa, we discussed the food issues.  Jennie and I both thought she would lose a lot of weight there because the food would be gross.  Then we learned you are force fed.  We weren't too worried because we figured they would be too poor to have a lot of food. 

    Yesterday Jennie called me from her rural homestay.  Actually, I was shocked she got any reception since there is no electric or flush toilets.  Obviously there is a cell phone tower though.  Which I think is odd.

    The first thing she told me was her "diet" was shot at the rural homestay.  She informed me that not only were you not allowed to have leftovers, due to no refrigeration
    , ( not to mention it's rude) you also got fed way too much.  This might be okay for a week if the food was good.  For example, when your on a cruise ship, good food, 24 seven, you let yourself go. 
    Unfortunately, Jennie whispered ( so as not to be overheard and offend) the food is NOT good and there is way too much.  She started listing a typical day and I made her stop so I could take notes.

    Breakfast:  Porridge that looks like cream of wheat but tastes like crap unless you put tons of sugar in it.  Sour Milk.  Four pieces of buttered " toast" ( not made in toaster) eggs cooked in oil, french fries, and fried tomatoes.

    Lunch is at school, but when they are home, it's two NOT Oscar Meyer, Bologna sandwiches with tons of mayo ( I didn't ask how that was kept cold, so I will have to ask ) Tea

    After school snack: french toast ( very strange)

    Dinner:  Huge Polish sausage, pap ( corn mash type thing) heaped in a huge pile on plate with some kind of spinach type vegetable on top.

    After dinner snack or desert:  Popcorn with weird season salt.

    Apparently dinner is around 8:00 pm. and bed time is around 8:30 pm.

    She said all the food is lukewarm, due to the fact that they only have one burner so you can only cook one thing at a time. 

    The rural homestay mom is apparently fat. 

    I don't understand how you can be both poor and fat.  I think I would rather have a flush toilet and TV. rather than two not real Bologna sandwiches.

    Admittedly I am not even close to being a skinny minnie myself, but that's because I can afford to be fat.  I have a flush toilet ( more than one in fact) and I have electric and several TV's.  I even have Cable, a DVD player and DVR.  This actually encourages me to eat a lot.  If I were poor however, I think I would be thin.

    I also feel bad that no one has told the poor, fat, homestay mom, that eating late at night is bad, especially right before bed time. 

    And it's not like they are eating in front of the TV.  I don't get it. 

    Thankfully, Jennie is only there for a week.  Now when she goes back to the other homestay house, I don't think she will feel bad not cleaning her plate.  After all they have a refrigerator for left overs, and Jennie has been there long enough to tell the mom, it's not cool to stuff your face in America. 

    Unless of course you have already enjoyed being thin in your youth, as I have, and now think you deserve to just let go.

    And like I said, you have to be able to afford it.  It's hard for me to feel bad for the poor welfare moms who weigh 5,000 pounds, but now I know that's not unique to America. 

    I have to give my kid credit though.  I could NEVER eat something I don't like.  I couldn't force myself, and I would throw up if I did.  I may be chunky, but I have my standards when it comes to food.  And Pap is definitely OUT.

    I bet she never thought she would long for the yucky bathtub, but I think she is missing her "normal" homestay house. 

    I will let you know when she has updated again so you can read the rural homestay stories yourself.

    Till then, I am going to make myself some healthy Kraft Mac and Cheese, and call it a night.

Comments (32)

  • I would have a really hard time eating something I didn't like. If I didn't gag, I'd probably be making horrible faces and offending the host.

  • I think that obesity is common in lower socioeconomic classes because its a lot cheaper to eat bad. For instance, you can get a double cheeseburger at McDonalds for $1, while a turkey sandwich at a deli costs over $5. And, bologna is much cheaper than leaner, real meats!

    But I definitely agree...your daughter is great for eating it all!! When I went to South Africa, the food was awesome....but she must be in a different part!!

  • can't she say she keeps kosher or something - lactose intolerance - Vegan?

  • I'm a total food snob.  I'd never make it there.

  • See I think poor = fat because you eat cheap startchy food

  • Silly!  It's Kraft "cheese and macaroni."  God, didn't you learn anything from the commercials? 

    This is the second xanga I've read this week that references bologna.  Strange.  Or is it baloney? 

  • Wow, I could never force feed myself that much in a day. I'd offend everyone. She does deserve a lot of credit. Especially those choices. I'd just ask for french toast for every meal myself. :D

  • Oh gross, I'd die.  I am vegetarian for real so I'd use that excuse for sure, and throw in the kosher one too.  Anyway - as a few people commented above, it's harder to eat healthy when you're poor.  I make an effort but usually my cooking turns out to be a biohazard, so it's back to the mac and cheese.

  • OK, even though I'm the awesome 9th commenter, like all of them had said my theory on why the poor lady is fat... LOL... I'm with you though, couldn't be forced to eat nasty stuff... and that breakfast you described sounds like a texture nightmare... I'm a texture girl... must feel good in my mouth...

  • Hmm... like you I'm fat, but can afford to be. We also have flush toliets and electricity, which also enables me to waste time blogging instead of doing something healthy like exercising. Personally the oatmeal breakfast with the sour milk would make me hurl long before the pap came around.

  • I agree nutritious food is expensive and folks who can't afford much probably eat as much as they can. We have to remember when we are in someone else's culture who says "our" way is best. My husband told me that one time when he was in Poland he ate seconds. Which to them was ok but what he didn't realize is that, the family's dinner for the next day was eaten up by him.

    So always remember when you travel other folks exist and our way doesn't mean it's good or bad it is just different. My husband told me that folks in Europe sometimes think all we eat is ketchup yada yada.  So a little understanding on everyone's part is probably best.

    I don't always agree with the culture of my in-laws in the Netherlands but that is what makes them also special and unique to me.

  • Yeah, I actually lost 5 lbs my first year of college b/c I hated the food in the cafeteria. If there is no food I like I will mostly just not eat. I pretty much lived on captain crunch - long live the captain!!!

  • i could handle the french toast as a snack. I know I could NOT do the sour milk though. makes me want to gag just reading about it. but then again I gag alot lately.

  • Your daughter is very brave......and must have an iron stomach to eat that stuff.  I couldn't do it. 

  • so wait, they eat dinner at 8 and bedtime at 8:30 so when do they eat the funky popcorn after dinner snack?  and I'm sorry but something named pap should be not be related to food, it's just wrong.

  • Wish she was getting better food, poor girl!  I see a boat now, too, but it was gone for a while, I think, because of Xanga's mantenance!

  • I agree with you and your daughter is very very brave. 

     I lived on pb&j for years.  And never lost the desire for them.  :)

  • Oh, I think we all know that only the rich can afford to be thin in America... well the rich and the anorexic..., and those that can afford endless plastic surgery.   I mean, how many of us can afford personal trainers, salmon, and a chef, on a daily basis?  I eat what I get, and when I get it.  I know I could work out more, but the American culture is very unique when it comes to dieting.  Glad daughter is staying in touch via the tower somewhere in South Africa.
    Hope you are well.
    Hugs, Tricia

  • I think it's strange, too, that the cell phones work, but the toilets don't.  Jennie is a real "woman"...she's much stronger than I.  No "pap" for me.  I do good to have one "smear" a year...I sure couldn't "pap" every night.  LOL

  • No flush toilets? OMG, I can't imagine going anywhere that doesn't have modern plumbing.

  • I would die if I had to eat all that yucky stuff.

  • That Jennie is quite the trouper, alright!  She is so young, yet I bet very little in her life will ever gross her out!  I'm glad she will soon be back with the other family.  Sour milk would just turn my stomach!  And pap sounds like crap!  :-p

    Thanks for your good wishes.  I think the one thing the doctor finally got right was the fact that I needed iron.  Already, it is helping.  Compared to yesterday, I feel like Popeye!  Or is that Pap-eye?  LOL

    Kathi

  • Woah, that diet is crazy! I'm on the large side and couldn't pack that much away for breakfast. Being poor, I guess they focus on survival out there and don't give a thought to their health. My bro told me there are plenty of markets where fresh fruit is sold over there, maybe Jennie can get as much of that down her as possible in the remainder of her time over there.

  • I could handle any of it except the sour milk.  Blech.

  • poor girl!

  • If Jennie can eat that and not gag...then she may want to try out for Survivor or the Amazing Race (they do have to eat weird stuff on there sometimes). Watching Oprah today she had on Jerry Seinfield's wife who was promoting her cookbook...made just to get your kids to eat their veggies. She purees veggies and then adds them to things like mac & cheese and those kids don't even know what hit them. She even had kids in action eating the stuff and liking it!

  • I sooooo lol at this!

    But the truth is, it's much cheaper to eat unhealthy than it is to eat healthy. Well, at least in this country. 99 cent burgers abound, bologna and mayo are cheap, they give huge blocks of cheese to poor people...I mean, it's just so cheap to eat food that's bad for you. It's the healthy stuff that the rich eat...you know, fruits and veggies!

  • Oh my gosh I wouldn't be able to do that if it didn't look good smell good or taste good than I'm not eating it.....I'd probably starve to death....

  • Wow, I'm sorry I haven't been following this.  I'll have to do some back-reading to get caught up

  • I think poor people can be fat because carbs are pretty cheap! If all you eat is pasta.....which you can get for 50 cents a box....pretty soon you start to look like a noodle!  More power to your daughter!  I'm right on the couch next to you stuffing Mac and Cheese down my throat and watching TV! (I'm not poor.....I just WANT to eat the pasta

  • Just remember its not truly a mac & cheese meal until you cut some hot dogs up in it. Yum!

  • For a jewish woman, you sound awfully republican.  Poor welfare moms are likely fat because it is the unhealthy fatty foods that are cheapest.   Bologna is a hell of a lot less expensive than skinless chicken breasts.  White bread is half the price of wheat.  Kool-Aid, better known as sugar water, is less expensive than orange juice or milk.  Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

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