Week 3: Ethiopia

9 August 2013: Ethiopia - spiritual heartland to the Rastafari Movement.

This week we travelled 7,2 km south of the Brisbane CBD to the suburb Moorooka, the Aboriginal word for "Place where the Iron Bark grows"). Another spin-off of this culinary mission, is that we get to places we would never have considered before.  Moorooka is where the government built housing for returned servicemen after the World Wars, and later it became a hub for resettling refugees from ex-Yugoslavia, the Middle East, and more recently Africa. Today it is home to a huge South-Sudanese, Eritrean and Ethiopian community, and  their colourful culture is evident everywhere.

"Made in Africa: Ethiopian Restaurant"  is located at the back of an arcade lined with retail outlets reflecting the suburb's demographics: a Sudanese Barber, a couple of ethnic shirt shops, a shoe shop, an Arabic café, a shop selling African beauty products ....... It was culturally very far removed from anywhere I would usually find myself on the northern side of the Brisbane River.

Keith and I shared a Kenyan beer (the Ethiopian beer was sold out) and some Sambusas (similar to Indian Samoosas) while we waited for the boys to arrive. We duly noted that it was the first time, in our 20 years of marriage, that we ever had a beer together! Ethiopian music DVD's were playing on a wall-mounted television, and posters of Ethiopia and maps of Africa were randomly pasted on the walls. Next to us was a table with a group of African men enjoying a drink after work, opposite us were three ladies having a night out, a family of four arrived, and soon the 6 tables in the restaurant were filled.

I have accepted a challenge from my friend Teresa to familiarise myself with the language of each nationality we visit. I will endeavour to translate Bon Appetit into the local vernacular (in this case, Amharic): Melkam Megeb!

Our host recommended we share the combination platter to experience the variety of flavours on offer. That was a good call, as we had no idea what to order, nor to expect. Basically you take a piece of injera (Ethiopian flat bread)and scoop up the wot (stew). You eat with your fingers.  There were mild beef and spicy beef, very spicy chicken with hard boiled eggs, mild lentil and hot lentil stew and two vegetable dishes: spinach and a potato/ carrot/cabbage mix. They were all served on a huge round platter that was placed in the centre of the table, and they were all delicious! The food was honest, hearty and healthy.

Being the place that the coffee bean was discovered, we had to end the meal with Ethiopian brewed coffee. Interesting story, the discovery of coffee: a shepherd boy, Kaldi, noticed his flock was behaving a bit odd. On closer investigation, he discovered they were browsing the little black bean from some shrubs growing in the area, and decided to try some himself (as you do when you notice weird behaviour!). The rest is history. Our coffee was served in a traditional clay pot, and poured into small, earless cups. Black, no sugar. Kaldi must have been the most alert shepherd-boy on the horn of Africa. This was perfectly paired with  a semolina and coconut cake.

As a cultural experience, this was our favourite so far.

We could have been anywhere in down-town Johannesburg, except, our car was still there when we left!

Next week....Poland!