Amazing appetite in the Village

Many times when I get a guest from the village or a house help, they are normally amazed by the lack of appetite in my children. They are shocked that people in the City  beg their children to eat and everyday use persuasive words like baby please eat, Toto eat your foods, junior, sweetie, darling please eat your food then I will buy that toy or doll for you. It’s a daily struggle until they reach teenage when they eat without cajoling.

They tell me that children in the village do not wait for a “whistle” to be blown to inform them to start eating, the moment food is set on the table and mostly on the floor, within seconds or a few minutes the food is gone. If the parent does not keep some food for herself then she will have to prepare more. Compared to the ones in the City they eat more ugali (Kenya staple meal made from maize flour), the size of ugali one child in the village takes is enought for two people in the City. The adults also have amazing appetite and can consume a lot of food. So their parents have to work hard in their farms and other manual jobs to be able to put a big ugali on the table everyday.

Normally the main meal is dinner, light meals like porridge with boiled maize, githeri (boiled maize & beans), sweet potato, cassava, arrow-roots etc... are taken in the morning and lunch time. They also have fruits and nuts to eat during the day. I was told porridge is an appetizer that widens the stomach, I still didn’t believe it is the appetizer and ask my relatives in the village what other appetizers they give their children in the village but they just laugh. I think villagers consume a lot of food in the evening after hard work and taking healthy appetizers during the day compared to our children in the City who consume unhealthy junk during the day.