A bite of Ethiopia

‘Coffee is just a drink, but kaapi is an emotion’, proclaimed an advertisement. Having switched to mostly masala chai and occasionally instant coffee, I remembered the post siesta afternoons in my home town and hallucinated on the aroma of roasted coffee beans. The smell would soon be followed by a whirring sound of the beans getting ground. My mother would rotate the handle of a mechanical grinder fixed on a kitchen shelf. After a while, the comforting aroma of freshly brewed filter kaapi would waft in the air. Everyone in the house would go to the kitchen, search for murukku or banana chips to munch, and savor the delicious kaapi. The nostalgia made me agree that kaapi is indeed an emotion.

The entire childhood experience of roasted and freshly brewed coffee came alive in a recent trip to Ethiopia, high up in the horn of Africa. My husband and I were part of a Rotary medical mission. Ethiopia is one of the oldest countries from where Homo sapiens emerged. The country was never colonized, barring six years of Italian occupancy. Traditions are retained even as Ethiopia is emerging as a growing economy. In the year 1974, fossilized bones of a female hominid were excavated from a valley in Ethiopia. The assembled skeleton, estimated to be 3.2 million years old and named Lucy, gave a new direction to the understanding of human evolution. Ethiopia boasts of another first, discovering coffee! Way back in the year 800 AD, a young goat herder, Kaldi found his usually somnolent goats jumping wildly after eating some berries from a bush. He too consumed the beans and felt alert. Kaldi took the ‘magic beans’ to some monks who made a drink out of it. The monks could keep awake longer and chant hymns with enhanced energy. Later the coffee beans were taken to Arab countries and came to be known as Arabica coffee. Ethiopians are naturally proud of coffee and celebrate coffee making as a ritual. When it was coffee time at the hospital, the host doctors took us to a nearby building. At one end of the hall, a middle-aged woman in traditional coarse cotton dress and turban, was roasting coffee beans on an electric stove kept on the floor. As the heady aroma of coffee emanated, she brought the pan to us. Everyone waved their hands to inhale the smoke and thanked her. The coffee-maker went back to grind the beans in a small electric grinder. She put the powder in an earthenware pot, added boiling water and waited for a while. The powder rested at the bottom of the tilted pot and she poured the decoction in small painted ceramic cups; sans handle. While the local doctors drank black coffee, some of us preferred to add milk and sugar. Coffee, pronounced as ‘kofe’ or ‘buna’ in Amheric language appeared to be more than an emotion. It was a ritual, a celebration, a reverence.

At lunch time we were served the traditional cuisine which was predominantly plant-based. Rolled-up dosa-like Injira was the main dish, equivalent to roti or rice in the Indian meals. It was made from the batter of a millet-like grain called teff. The batter allowed to ferment and turn sour gets enriched with gut-friendly bacteria. It is poured on a large heated pan and covered, to cook in its own steam. The oil-free, gluten-free, spongy injira with low glycemic index explains the low prevalence of diabetes, less than 5% in Ethiopia in contrast to more than 10% in India. Side dishes made of pulses, vegetables, salad and servings of fruits, instead of sweets completed the ideal heart-healthy meal. Rolled-up plain injira or a sliced-up spicy version was served with every meal. The spongy texture and flavor of injira took me down the memory lane to the pulicha mavu dosai (sour batter dosa) that my mother used to make. A senior doctor loathed the habit of youngsters preferring unhealthy fast food of the West over traditional Ethiopian food. Retaining healthy habits of the past even while embracing modernity is essential for healthy living, be it in Ethiopia or India.

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