CHANGE: What do Sudanese people eat?

Meat, Foul and Eggs are regular dishes in most Sudanese meals (Photo: bitalsudan2010.blogspot.com)

Last year, as I was interviewing a journalist who lost his job when the newspaper he worked for was closed down, I discovered Mulah Lobaya. For those who don’t know it, its similar to Okra , but cheaper and a small amount  of Lobaya makes large quantities of Mulah Lobaya.

My idea was to write a story about how journalists working at Ahjras Al-Hurreya newspaper, defunct since July 2011, survive without jobs in an expensive country.

The journalist I interviewed told me that in his household, this dish is a regular at all meals as they don’t have a lot of money to spend on food.

Weeks after that, a brave young journalist explored other cuisines by visiting Souk Libya in Omdurman. In a report for Hurriyat, the journalist found out that many families can’t afford chicken, they end up buying chicken ‘bones and legs’ in an attempt to get at least a mild flavor of a food item they long to eat.

The IMF said that the Sudanese economy is collapsing, but I don’t need the IMF or World Bank to tell me that, I see it with my own eyes. When I moved to Sudan in 2010, I made a small salary writing and editing for a daily newspaper. I saved half of my monthly income. Two years later, I sometimes make less money than I made in 2010.

What do Sudanese people eat? In reality, many Sudanese don’t really eat that much. The men washing cars in front of my house have a big plate of foul at around 2 p.m. When I asked them why the late breakfast, they said they can’t afford to have breakfast then have lunch, this meal is their main meal. They chug small cups of tea the rest of the day.

In the supermarket next to my house, I see jars of jam, Nutella, peanut butter and other “luxury goods” gathering dust, the owner tells me “People are buying less luxury items such as tuna and jam”.

Sudan has become that kind of country, where tuna and jam are luxury items.