Le petit dejeuner, Senegal style

One thing I really miss from home is the food.  The selection, the quality, the diversity, be thankful for everything you have in the States.  In Dakar, french bread fuels the population.  Costing about $.30 per loaf, this squishy, white bread is present at every meal.  For breakfast, children eat about half a baguette.  I've been questioned and mocked many times because I only eat about a quarter of a baguette for breakfast.  At lunch, it's generally served as a side, regardless of the main dish.  For snack, the Senegalese put everything from eggs to dumplings to spaghetti on bread.  Starch stuffed in starch.  At dinner, another half-baguette is eaten to accompany the meal.

Joanna, a celiac, has a lot of trouble here.  Before she switched host families, she was being fed french fries and peas for breakfast.

Two other missing components from my normal breakfast are milk and coffee.  Here, it comes in a can and in the form of powder.  Just add hot water!  Though this may be quite easy, the final product tastes anything like coffee with milk.  I've actually switched to drinking kid's cocoa in the morning because NesCafe was getting a little old for me.  So here is the breakfast process:

1. This is the table where I eat breakfast, all set-up for preparation.  If you notice, nothing needs refrigeration.  It's much easier that way.

2. Powdered milk!  Add hot water and stir.

3. Powdered coffee! (NesCafe, you'll see the name everywhere here)  Again, no grinding, filling, or brewing needed.

4. Add hot water.

5. Here is the final product, with my quarter-baguette filled with jam.  This is what the Senegal eat for breakfast.  Every morning, no exception.  I did buy family a box if cornflakes, but pouring a boiling milk mixture over top makes them turn to mush.  I haven't quite figured out how to do that one yet.