EVEN LIONS HUNT SOMETIMES!

Even the lion hunts sometimes. I have now graduated from college, and the good old days of dining hall meal have ended. This means that from now on I will be my own chef, well, at least until I marry a traditional Sierra Leonean girl. It is amazing that I have been fed all my life, and now I have to prepare my own meal. However, the kitchen remains an exclusive business for women in Sierra Leone. I know my feminist friends are now debating their responses, but trust me; it is simply a matter of division of labour and specialization. My mother wasn’t the cook at home just because my father wanted it that way, but since my father was the breadwinner, as is the case with most Sierra Leonean families, my mother did her own service at home.

This whole cooking adventure is a matter of self-taught. I am my own maestro, experimenting with various condiments without a recipe. I started with basic pasta and meat source. My good friend Peter Brock, who is a maestro chef in his own right, contributed a simple advice: “Jo, remember to put salt in the water before boiling the pasta; it will taste better.” In such peculiar matters, any contribution is golden.

It is rather unfortunate that most of you cannot be here to try my pasta para el Lion, especially Brian McGowan, who was my first adviser on culinary affairs before he left. I must admit that my first year job in the Skidmore dining hall also came in handy. I will also add that I now understand why Peter is always excited about cooking. It is quite a pleasant activity in itself…the smell of vegetables, the boiling of water and the transformation of various condiments into edible stuff. I also had some background reggae music to help me through the process. By the end of the cooking I was quite hungry from dancing in the kitchen. I had a sumptuous meal which was the work of my own hands.

While the food did not conform to conventional recipe, as Skidmore students you cannot agree more that creative thought matters. I promise you all a creation of my own hands in the kitchen whenever I visit or vice-versa. I am looking for vegetarian ideas too. Don’t be surprise if you find my recipe on the cooking show…well, my cooking show…and it will not air in France or Italy.