This Porridge is Juuuuust Right

I may have mentioned in the past my aversion to the fermented-millet porridge that is served here every morning. In all of my foodventures here in Africa, it is the only food that I have tried and have decided never to eat again.* However, as much as I don’t ever ever ever want to eat it, I really enjoy observing how different people eat theirs. Some add sugar, some add milk, some eat it plain. But no one can compete with how Fr. Joseph eats his.

Most mornings at Mazzoldi I sit across from Fr. Joseph during breakfast, and he follows a very meticulous routine when preparing his morning porridge:

1. He fills his bowl about three quarters of the way with porridge.
2. Then he fills it almost to the brim with milk.
3. Next, he takes a large spoonful of butter and very slowly stirs it into the porridge and milk until the entire mixture is evenly blended.
4. Next, he dumps in 5(!) spoonfuls of sugar, pouring them so that they form 5 little mounds in the porridge in the shape of a cross before they dissolve.
5. Once again, he stirs it all very slowly.
6. If the bowl is too full at this point, he might eat a couple of spoonfuls to make room for step 7.
7. Then he takes a piece of brown bread and breaks it up into dozens of little pieces, giving each a little squeeze before dropping it into the mixture.
8. Now, after once again stirring everything very slowly and deliberately, he eats it.

The whole process takes around 15 minutes (I get impatient waiting for my toast!), and it only takes him about 2 minutes to eat it. He told me he feels like he’s taken lunch after he eats it. I can only imagaine!

*I truly hope this doesn’t dissuade anyone from trying it when they come to visit Africa. I also have a violent dislike of cottage cheese, so take whatever I say with a grain of salt.