Fufu Friday!

Last Friday, we had a fufu party at our house with the construction team that came from Michigan.  Fufu is a major staple here for the locals.  

It all begins with manioc, a long tuber type vegetable that is black on the outside and kinda hairy, but it's white one the inside.   It's kinda like a huge yam.   So first,  you peel 'em and boil them.  And then the fun begins.

Here is Joseph, Marie, and Adzo, putting the boiled manioc
into the fufu pounder thing.

Joseph and Marie sorta beat the manioc up a bit for us first.

And then the rhythmic pounding begins.  This is me and Jennifer working
together pounding it.

And here is Nolan and Zack, pounding it too.  It takes a LOT of pounding!

And here is Nate and our guard, Ibraim, taking their turn.  Still pounding.

And here's the fufu, the first batch is ready.  Think of it as really gluey mashed potatoes.

And here is Teddy at the table ready to dive in.  He got a tiny portion because this
stuff is SUPER filling.  It sort of sits in your stomach like a big ball.  (Which
is why the Africans like it - you feel full for hours!)

And this is my fufu.  They make a spicy chicken sauce to go over it.  It's really
really good!  You take bits of fufu off the ball, with your hands, and dip it in the sauce, or
just use the fork, if you want to be less-African!

So, it turns out, we are now the hosts of Fufu Fridays for every team that comes!  At least for the next few months.  It's fun to do once in a while, but really, if I had to do this every day to feed my family, I think it would lose it's "fun-ness".  If you come on over for a visit, we'll make sure you have the pleasure of trying fufu.