Year after year farmers watch the skies, wondering if there will be enough rain (or too much) for the maize crop. While lack of maize could threaten food security, other crops like Cassava and Sorghum, which are more resistant to weather changes, are largely ignored. What if we changed our staple food, and all our nshima was made for Cassava meal or Sorghum or Millet? Why not?
One historian says that maize was only introduced in sub-Sahara Africa in 1889 (in Zimbabwe) and from there it was introduced in Zambia along the line of real. Before that,Millet and Sorghum were used for our nshima. That means for hundreds of years we had a different flour for our food, and maize is in fact a new comer on the scene!
This may sound shocking, but the source points out a number of 'clues' to the fact that maize was a latecomer on the scene. There are many areas where the maize is soaked by being dried again and pounded. This is what is done to Cassava before it is ground, otherwise the Cassava is poisonous. The same soaking is done with Cassava leaves. So how did people start the practice of soaking maize as well? The logical assumption is that people who used to do this for Cassava transferred the practice to maize when it was introduced, even though maize does not have the poisonous properties when consumed directly. Many of the traditional grinding tools point to the fact that millet was more common at some point. Unfortunately, the challenge is that all of this is oral history.
And besides, we are so used to maize that we almost have drug withdrawal symptoms when we go without it for too long!
Of course, this just means we are used to heavy nshima, and our culture has adopted it. There was a time when we would have rice and chicken on Christmas (special days) and nshima was the daily diet. Imagine a day when rice is the norm and nshima is for special occasions! In a hundred years Zambians may be saying "How did we ever live without millet?" What is a hundred years in the grand scheme of things? Does this seem impossible? All it would take is another decade of unpredictable rain, and shifting our main food will be a matter of pragmatics. What do you think about the future of Zambia's favourite food?
