A Life in Exile

I’ve learned a lot of lessons from living overseas and part of that growing process centered around food. No matter the extent of globalization, every place and people are unique. If the preferred dishes in the northern portion of my home country vary from the South, where I live, that is multiplied ten times over when crossing a border or ocean. It doesn’t matter how many ethnic restaurants you’ve eaten at in your home country, trying new foods in new locations can be intimidating.

Food initiation.

I can still remember those early days in the Ivory Coast, as I was being introduced to my colleagues. I sat at their tables, eating a good home-cooked meal and listened to their stories of life in the country. These one-family-at-a-time gatherings were pleasant, the food was great, and I had no problem sleeping or getting up the next morning. I should have known something was amiss during larger gatherings, as the topic of conversation was inevitably about diarrhea or some stomach problem. What was it with these people? Did they enjoy sharing their maladies with their colleagues?

I found out how little I knew when a fellow short-term worker took me to eat, what is commonly called “street food” in most countries. It can be anything from a shawarma stand on a busy sidewalk to a woman selling plantain in newspaper cones in the grassy area of a traffic circle. Open-air restaurants (i.e., restaurants with no actual building or roof) can also qualify for street food. In tropical climates, such as where I lived, these places are widespread and popular. The food is also delicious!

However, my stomach often had a different reaction to such delicacies, and I could now join in the conversations of my colleagues on the dreaded D-word. What did I learn?

Issues are often inevitable.

Unless a person is already widely traveled and has an iron-clad constitution, it’s almost impossible to avoid a gut reaction (pun intended) to some foods on the field. Whether it’s due to a lack of sanitary conditions at the food stall or restaurant or because it’s just really hot outside, microbes find their way into the food we eat and then let us know they’ve arrived.

I can honestly say I probably had some level of diarrhea for my entire two years in that first overseas experience, but it didn’t kill me. Colleagues and doctors helped to cure my ailments and I pressed on in service undeterred from eating out. By the time I moved to the Middle East, I had a stronger stomach and handled new foods much better.

Be prepared.

Colleagues already on the field are your best resource to know what medicines to bring with you or to find in local stores. Having a ready supply of over-the-counter medicines to help with stomach upset is invaluable. Knowing I can take something before or after I eat at a new restaurant or home enables me to press on in trying new things or eating with national friends.

Sometimes a person adjusts to new foods quickly, while, like me, it never fully happened, but that doesn’t mean we have to stop eating. Especially in cultures where food is a huge part of hospitality, it’s important to be able to accept what’s offered without causing offense.

Remember the role of food in relationships.

Being brave to frequent the local vendors or restaurants, despite stomach upsets, is a minor cross you choose to bear for the gospel. When a foreigner chooses to eat at such places, the local owner is automatically wondering why. What would bring a foreigner who has the money and opportunity to eat at any fancy restaurant they choose to a lowly stall for plantain or shawarma or an eggplant sandwich?

There’s your open door. While tasting their delicious food you can tell them about the Bread of Life. Food is a doorway to the soul, even of the one who prepares it for you. As you try new dishes and places to eat, ask Jesus to open the hearts of cooks, waiters, and friends to taste and see that the Lord is good.

Did I eat everything? No. But I did taste most dishes I was offered, including snails and bush rat. Do I miss those days? Indeed, I do. Even thinking about plantain and my favorite dish, sauce d’arachide (groundnut stew), makes me want to hop on a plane!

Grace and Peace

If you missed the last Mission Monday post, click HERE, or check out this post on food: Eggs and Pastrami.