Trying these foods made Malawi feel like home faster than I expected, which likely had a lot to do with the people I was eating them with. The UNC Project has three guesthouses that interns, students, fellows, and faculty will live in during their time here. Every few weeks someone new seems to show up and since going out can be as affordable as cooking, most of my evenings include going to a favorite restaurant or trying a new one. Some meals felt celebratory, like Thanksgiving dinner cooked with friends or going out to play games at Bumpy Road Brewing after submiting applications for medical residency programs. Others felt grounding—simple plates of beans, greens, rice, or nsima eaten in the guesthouse living room since we planned our work breaks around the delivery of "Mally's tastiest beans." Perhaps the most surreal was siting together on safari in South Luangwa National Park in Zambia, knowing animals could wander through the trees nearby at any moment. Overall, these meals made me feel welcomed, curious, and connected to the people around me.
Many meals are prepared simply but thoughtfully. Here, it's easier to feel connected to ingredients because of their proximity to daily life. The landscape quickly becomes rural once outside of the capitol, surrounded by farms and passing small towns with vegetables and meats on open display. I will often have to wait for cows, chickens, donkeys, and goats to cross the road outside the city, but can also find chickens wandering the streets of my neighborhood.
