At the Mercy of the Weather

Corey and I are fairly conscientious eaters. We eat organic when we can, we eat seasonal, and we try to avoid anything that has more than 5 ingredients. People who know us may be yelling, "What about being vegan?" and yes, we were, but not here! It's impossible to be vegan in this environment but we are already talking about going back to a vegan diet at home when we return. Anyway, this blog is not about veganism.

Here, despite the constant sunshine, there are definite seasons for food. I'm sure I have mentioned it before. We are back into papaya, passion fruit, mango and pineapple season but avocado are just getting ready to be picked on our tree. Jackfruit is also harder to find. Corey doesn't mind that.

In February, we noticed a huge spike in fruit and vegetable prices. We were told that with the increase in the temperature and the long dry season, fresh produce was costing more to truck into the city. Even matooke, the staple banana, was costing a lot more for the 50lb bunch.

Now that the rains have started, the cost of produce has come back down drastically.

This past weekend, we were buying groceries at Nakumatt, the big supermarket in town. At home, it's very rare that Superstore has run out of anything. Here, something can be available for weeks or months and then is never seen again. My favourite chili sauce is a perfect example. Not seen anywhere since November.

One item on our list this weekend was butter (no veganism with butter.) There was none to be found at Nakumatt and they were even putting bags of milk where the butter used to be.

We weren't surprised and just chalked it up to the truck being stuck in a jam somewhere for hours and hours while the butter melts.

Today, we looked for butter at Embassy. Apart from the $5 half pound from Denmark, there was no butter to be had. No worries, we would get some from Buziga Market.

None there either. Corey said to the lady, "No butter?"

"No butter. There is a milk shortage. It has been so hot that there is no grass in the West so the cattle has nothing to eat. Then it does not produce enough milk to make butter. Milk is the priority. There has been rain this week so better grazing so more milk next week and butter the week after."

So, because of the hot and dry weather, we have to wait 2 weeks for butter to be ready for sale again.

We have a lovely big tub of margarine to eat instead. But I am not sure how Mum will fare without her butter...

It is amazing to be living in a country that is so dependent on the weather for the food production. It's the way it should be but we are completely not used to that any more.

Have a great week!