Ethiopian Food

One of the nights of missionary candidate week, we took a trip to a local Ethiopian Restaurant--Queen of Sheba. We did not know where we were going, other than to eat an international meal. We were told upon arrival of one caveat, we could not speak English, nor could English be spoken to us! This was by far one of my favourite experiences I had all week.

To order our food we could act like animals and point--to find out what type of meat it was, we could make faces, but under no circumstances could we speak English. I did cheat so that I could drink some sweet tea, but seeing a bunch of adults trying to figure out what to eat and choosing the most random of items (the menu was give to us in another language), was quite difficult, and absolutely hilarious!

The food was excellent. Ethiopian food is served on one big platter, "sponge" bread at the bottom, each persons meat order on top of the bread. We would take a piece of sponge bread and meat, and then eat off of the platter, each of us trying each others special dish! And yes, we ate with our hands! =)

At the end of the meal we celebrated Jennifer's birthday with a coffee ceremony. We were brought coffee beans to smell, before the coffee was brewed. The coffee was served in tiny--maybe 2 oz. cups, with popcorn. In Ethiopia coffee is typically served at breakfast. Popcorn or nuts are given with the coffee, because people do not want to eat a heavy meal, before manual labor. I did eat a little bit of popcorn and coffee--even though I do not care for either, it was a cultural experience that I enjoyed.