Farm to Fork...and then some.

            Although my grocery options are more varied than the average PCV in Cameroon, they’re still quite limited by American standards. So when I randomly find a box of lasagna noodles in one of the “Western supermarkets”, I buy it without much deliberation. Lasagna night can be in my future! The unavailability of most other necessary ingredients is far from being a deal-breaker. Like they always say, Peace Corps is all about being flexible.

            Working in my favor is the missionary-run meat and cheese shop in downtown Bamenda. Meat-eaters find it a sanitary respite from the standard meat vendors that hawk their cuts on wooden tables alongside the road. It resembles an American deli counter, sells slices of meat and cheese by weight, and has become a popular shopping destination for the expatriate population of the greater Bamenda area. As in much of Cameroon the stock is never entirely dependable, but mozzarella cheese has been a fairly consistent offering over the past few months so I’m not too worried.

            The larger issue is going to be the ricotta cheese, which I’ve never seen for sale in the entire country. My friend Clare, who has launched this project with me, steps up to tackle this first challenge. We decide to attempt to make our own from fresh milk, an uncommon item itself. One of the dairy farmers that I have worked with procures a 1.5 liter bottle of milk for me, and I head up to his farm by motorcycle to pick it up. It turns out that I have arrived a bit too early, so I have to wait for a few minutes for the cow to be milked. You can’t get much fresher than that!

            It turns out that making fresh ricotta is much easier than I ever would have expected. Using a large pot and slotted spoon borrowed from a neighbor, (when asked what they would be used for, my answer of “making cheese” raised more questions than it solved) Clare slowly heated a mixture of milk, vinegar, and salt. The milk begins to thicken and then form clumps quite quickly, which she then spoons out and deposits in a bowl of cold water. After straining out the water, we are surprised by how much the outcome closely resembles our desired product. Cameroon is a land where anything is possible!

            Jarred tomato sauce isn’t available here, but that’s not an issue at all. Tomatoes are the cheapest thing around, and all the other ingredients are widely available and typically quite fresh. It’s easy enough to whip up a giant batch of tomato sauce, and then we’re ready to start putting it all together.

            Once we have all the ingredients, making the lasagna itself isn’t difficult at all. We layer the noodles, sauce, ricotta, and Edam cheese (of course the mozzarella was “finished” at the missionary cheese shop) and stick it in my “Dutch oven” giant pot over the burner. Add in a giant green salad, some sautéed green beans, and a good group of friends, and it feels like any other family meal back home.