Menus

As we all know, going to different countries can cause many cultural difference to be observed. Some of them can be easy to accept or adapt to, and others can be very difficult to grasp, and even after time they still might seem strange.
Having been in Rwanda now for 10 months I feel that I have noticed and taken in many new and/or different things. I want to take the time to talk about something that greatly amuses me and that has caused a few entertaining meals while I have been here. What I'm talking about may not be revolutionary or even all that important, but believe me when I say, it is very different here then it is in the states or most european countries. What I'm talking about is menus.
While I was growing up I was fortunate enough to not only live in areas that supported multicultural food, but I was also lucky enough to have parents that would spend good money to give us wide varieties in the food that we ate. At the time I hadn't even realized how I valued all the food I ate..coming here sure changed that.

Let's first talk Rwandese restaurants. A 'normal' place will serve brochettes and fries. There might be an option about what kind of meat you get. Some places even make 'omelettes.' Oh, wait, I forgot to mention, thats for dinner. Almost all places here only do buffets for lunch; those include all the different types of potatoes, bananas, rice, sauces, maybe some greens, and meat. What this means is that when you go into most places they don't have menus. What they might have is under their sign saying that they are a restaurant there could be pictures of the food available. This means that you just have to talk to your server to figure out what you are going to get. And remember, always ask for a cold drink, if not they will bring it warm, and I'm serious.

Now onto 'our' restuarants. We will go with typical suburbia fare. Every place we could go to is going to have a menu, and most likely the menu will be multiple pages. When we are young we might not know what to order because we don't know what the different foods are, but by the time we are older we can't decide on what we want because there are too many options, not because we aren't familiar with the choices. And let us not forget that we don't ever ask for a cold soda or beer, and most sodas are free refills, and water is almost always free(unless you are going for the fancy stuff).
That is just how it is for us, and I'm not specifically talking about the high-end places, just the normal run of the mill joints.

So now imagine being here. Places with menus are great. It means that there will be some options. I want to make it clear though that I love brochettes and fries, some days I down-right crave them, but other days, you just want some good old food.
As I mentioned when I wrote Kigali for Tourists, there are some good food places here, and honestly most cravings can be satisfied as long as you are willing to pay.. which if you are with a group of other westerners, you usually are willing. That is to say, the average Rwandese person does not go to these places, and even if you suggested food like indian, chinese, or italian, they wouldn't even know what exactly that meant.
This leads me to my amusement.
I have been out a few times with some of my non-American friends and watching them pour over the menus is always fun. Now, I don't mean to make fun of my friends, because they mean a great deal to me, but its just I never thought somone wouldn't know what carbonera, or bolognese, or arrabiata meant(in reference to sauces on pasta). Things like that have just become second nature to me, not just because I speak Italian, but because if you eat the food enough you just know what is in the different sauces. Normally in cases like this, my friends ask me to order for them, which is just fine because I can guess what they would like. The part that makes me laugh is just when they ask me questions and I'm at a loss to explain what something is, like capers or anchovies or chili. Somehow my explanations are always lacking, even though in my own head I know perfectly well what something is. It is also always great when your friends keep the menus for a little light reading over the meal.
With all of that said, every once in a while my friends and I stumble upon a Rwandese restuarant with a menu, and we suddenly get super excited, we just can't help ourselves. Somehow a restuarant feels more real to us because of it having a menu..strange right?