Village Market Groceries – Teaching High School Biology in Tanzania: A Peace Corps Volunteer Experience

We are very fortunate to live within walking distance, about one mile, of a village market with abundant produce, dairy, meat and dry goods. The path to the village market passes through neighborhoods, fields of corn and eucalyptus stands. It seems every square inch of space is planted to some useful crop.

*Friday we stop first for lunch of fries and beef kebab or eggs mixed with fries. And a beer or water.*

Have to prepare for rain during the rainy season.

We get milk and yogurt from a dairy cooperative that collects milk locally. Milk is heated to boiling before sale and the yogurt is made in house. We purchase both in stainless steel bottles; one liter of milk for the equivalent of $0.44 and one half liter of yogurt for a little less. When purchased the milk is near boiling and the yogurt cold from a refrigerator, and we put the bottles in separate bags. They can only be kept for a day even in the mild climate. Both milk and yogurt are delicious. Milk is not homogenized, so it can separate quickly and cream always rises to the top.

This informal market meets every Sunday.

The vendors will not use this nearby public facility, likely because there is a fee. They prefer to line the path with their piles of fruit, vegetables and baked goods.

Smelly berry vitex (msasati) is a native fruit with a tough skin and huge pit. The flavor is unique and it makes great jam.

I made a list of the fruits we have found in the various fruit stands over the past 9 months. Only two of the 21 fruits found in the village are native to the area. In other words, almost anything can be grown here but very few popular fruits originated in the area. We try to sample as many fruits as possible to make a varied diet and have tried all of these. Not all are available year round.

Common name	Tanzania Name	Scientific Name	Native Range
Apple	Tofaa	Malus pumila	Central Asia
Avocado	Parachichi	Persea americana	Mexico
Banana	Ndizi	Musa acuminata	Southeast Asia
Custard apple	Tope tope	Annona chirimoya	Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia
Guava	Mapera	Psidium guajava	Mexico, Central America, South America
Lemon	Limau	Citrus limon	Asia
Lime	Ndimu	Citrus sp.	Indonesia or Southeast Asia
Loquat	Msambwa wa kizungu	Eriobotrya japonica	China
Mango	Embe	Mangifera indica	South Asia
Wild loquat	Masuku	Uapaca kirkiana	East Africa
Smelly berry vitex	Msasati	Vitex mombassae	Kenya and Zambia to South Africa
Orange	Chungwa	Citrus × sinensis	China
Papaya	Papai	Carica papaya	Mexico and Central America
Passion fruit	Passioni	Passiflora edulis	Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina
Peach	Pichi	Prunus persica	Northwest China
Pear	Pea	Pyrus sp.	Europe, North Africa, Asia
Pineapple	Nanasi	Ananas comosus	Brazil and Paraguay
Plantain	Ndizi	Musa × paradisiaca	South and Southeast Asia
Tamarillo	Matunda damu	Solanum betaceum	Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Chile, and Bolivia
Tangerine	Chenza	Citrus tangerina	China
Watermelon	Tikitimaji	Citrullus lanatus	sub-Saharan Africa

Vegetables regularly found in village market. Note 12 of the 23 listed vegetables are greens. We have found Tanzanians love to eat cooked greens often and in great variety. It seems they will cook greens from just about any garden plant. Very nutritious. But they never eat greens like spinach, lettuce or cabbage raw.

Common Name	Tanzanian Name
Abyssinian mustard/radish	Figiri
African eggplant/bitter tomato	Nyanya chungu//ngogwe
Bean plant leaves	Majani ya maharage
Black nightshade	Mnavu
Cabbage	Kabichi
Carrot	Karoti
Cassava leaves	Majani ya mhogo/Kisamvu
Chinese cabbage	Chinisi
Cowpea leaves	Majani ya kunde
Cucumber	Tango
Egg plant	Biringanya
Green onion	Liki
Hot pepper	Pilipili kali/mbuzi/kichaa
Kale, collard greens	Sukuma wiki
Lettuce	Saladi
Okra	Bamia
Pumpkin leaves	Majani ya maboga
Spinach	Mchicha
Squash	Mumunya
Sweet pepper	Pilipli hoho
Sweet potato leaves	Matembele
Tomato	Nyanya
Vegetables	Mbogamaboga

The market provides meat from beef, pork, chicken, sheep and goat. It seems the price may be regulated, because we always pay about $2.60 per half kilogram, about one pound. The weirdest thing is the price is the same for all meats except chicken which is nearly twice as expensive. And more interesting, the price is the same regardless of the cut, steak or regular, bone or no bone, fat or no fat. And the butcher always chops the meat into little pieces with a machete unless Gerry is quick enough to tell him or her to leave it in one piece. Chopping a piece of meat with bone results in numerous bone chips that must be removed before cooking or later at the dinner table.

This pleasant man sells goat meat one half kilo at a time. He chops it to smithereens with the machete leaving bone chips in every piece of meat unless you remember to stop him. BTW goat meat is much tenderer than beef. Not sure why; maybe goats are slaughtered at a younger age.

Pork intestine make a good snack with beer.

The items missing from the market include coffee, powdered milk and fruit jams. We go to a larger town to get these. I have resorted to drinking instant coffee, because the hassle of finding coffee beans, grinding them and brewing drip coffee is too much and sometimes the brewed coffee is not much better than instant coffee.

Modern eggs (mayai ya kisasa, large brown, $0.20), local eggs (mayai ya kienyeji, small white or brown, $0.25), dried fish (dagaa) from the big lakes, corn oil for cooking and Obama strawberry chewing gum.

Prices are very low compared to what we paid in the States: avocado, $0.22; pineapple, $0.66; banana, $0.04; orange, $0.08, papaya, $0.44. None of the fruit vendors has a scale, so purchases are by the piece or pile of fruit. We are very happy the modest Peace Corps salary allows us to benefit from the great variety of wonderful fruits. Although the climate is very cool we have to be careful with storage of perishable items. So we go to the market early every other day. In fact, walking to the market is rather pleasant. The walk home can be arduous when there is a lot to carry.