my village seasonal fruits

oh yes, each time I see mangoes amongst other fruits like bananas, guavas, oranges, peaches etc in my local supermarkets, fruit and vegetable markets it brings me back to my growing up years. I do remember growing up not needing to buy these, I could easily pick these juicy, succulent and flavoursome fruits. my mother has a fruit orchard, yes, she believed in not just eating them, but remembering to plant the seed, I remember the mangoes at our homestead were varied in shapes and sizes and flavour (mabhuru mango, emukombe nemadiki,nemaparaffin) that’s what we used to call them, you may have different names and descriptions of these depending on where you are from.image

when it was mango season, we would eat  a lot of them with no limits especially if you were privilledged to have plenty like us. we would just bite into them straight and oh it was very nice to lick the juices flowing down one’s hands. I recall when it was raining and we could hear them fall and we could not wait for the rain to stop so we could go and pick these organics ripe and ready ones.

I resented though being sent to sell them by the buses especially when I was in my teenage years, It was fun all the same and a source of extra income.

now this fruit is very expensive and the taste is no longer the same, maybe my pallet has changed, and one rarely gets a variety of them where I live, I still make an effort to buy them and my children love them so much, you would think they have an orchard tree, it must have been passed on in the genes. Zimuto had plenty homes with mango trees, thank you Zi_muto for sweet childhood memories, as sweet as a mango!!!!

Hello World!!

Embracing my upbringing and heritage is so much at the core of my heart and I strongly believe certain things, no matter where we are in life and how far we climb up the career ladder, move continents, change our language, change our circle of friends, etc., one can choose to hold on to their childhood memories in a positive way, embrace it and identify with it. proud of my roots, celebrating the gifts and skills taught by my mother (mai) and my grandmother- ah these two women played such a beautiful role bringing the inner strength and boldness in me. A big thank you!! The word of God in Deuteronomy 30:19  sets us choices of life or death,blessing and cursing: therefore I choose life so that my seed may live: I have come to realise the importance of holding on to the positive things of my childhood: therefore “I choose life” I choose to express these through FOOD, yes I AM A FOODIE!!! I choose to put all these memories in a positive way for the benefit of the World and for my children to pick on these and hopefully choose to embrace the good of Africa, the taste, flavours and stories behind the way of preparing food, the struggles of finding it, the abundance of certain ones, the scarcity or extinction of some, the fellowship and meaning of gatherings, the introduction of Western foods, the health benefits, the roles of both men and women and bringing to the table, food presentation and eating habits, community roles, the draughts season, food preservation, regional delicacies, etc., etc.,oh I miss motherland! I cherish my childhood, I am truly a Zimba, I am  a Mukaranga, a Muvhitori,(Fort Victoria) Welcome to Zi_Muto (The Thick Soup) Masvingo, mwana weZhira, born and bred in a typical rural home, to a woman of true Shona/Karanga values,hardworking above and beyond human comprehension; I can say “I can do all through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13.

Ipaishe Masvingise and her family with their food for the week. From left to right: potatoes (big blue bowl left front), pumpkin, orange drink, white pot of peanut butter, big orange paw paw fruit and (orange) cucumber (white bowl behind the pumpkin), small sweet potatoes (white bowl behind pawpaw), bag of oranges (back left), packet cornflakes (centre back), greens, brown rice (white bowl in front of greens), dried vegetables (green plate), cow peas (white bowl on left of green plate), not sure what the two bowls at front are I'm afraid, maize (blue bowl at front), two packs spaghetti, jam (yellow lid), dried meat (behind jam), groundnuts, tomatoes & packet tomato mix (basket), maize flour (white pot at back next to tomatoes), packet of cremora (powdered milk), packet rice, eggs, wild fruit (just in front of eggs, look like oranges but not), packet soya (between rice and flour), sack flour, sugar beans (green bowl), tub of margerine (metal lid), biscuits/bread (white/pink bowl front right). There's also a pot with a ladel thing sticking out of it - that's a maize based drink. Ipaishe is a Phase 1 farmer. She is just about to harvest her 2nd crop. Ipaishe: "Now with water I have two crops already, it gives me more than enough food and I can sell the grain to pay for fees, medical bills, pay for help in the fields and even support my extended family who don’t have their own land."