the feet and a very vigorous figure of eight stirring movement done, using the edge 

 of the pot as a fulcrum. The making of good porridge, nsima, is a highly skilled 

 task and one for which the African girl prepares herself by starting to make it at an 

 early age. 



As soon as the porridge is ready, the well-washed food baskets or bowls are 

 sprinkled with water and the porridge divided out into them by means of a large 

 wooden spoon, cipande. The mass is very carefully smoothed into an even dome- 

 shape with the help of water to give it a finished appearance. It is now ready to 

 send to the eating place, bwalo, together with the smaller bowls of side-dishes which 

 have been previously cooked. Should any porridge be left over, it is usually given to 

 the children cold next morning and it is called nkute. In times of hunger, it is 

 remade into porridge by boiling with some more flour. 



(6) Porridge containing bran, madea or gaga. 



When maize is scarce, a proportion of fine bran meal is mixed with the flour. 

 It is cooked as follows: — a handful is added to boiling water, after a few minutes, 

 the remainder is added and the whole boiled for about 10 minutes with continual 

 stirring. The consistency is stiff'er than that of porridge. It is not considered a 

 suitable food for men and even women are often ashamed to admit that they eat it. 

 It is, however, said to be more sustaining than ordinary porridge and gives more 

 strength for hoeing. Women eat it fairly frequently, especially when the maize 

 in the grain store is getting low. It is the custom for women of most tribes to eat 

 more of it when they are pregnant than at other times and also to eat it for a few 

 days after the birth of the baby (aCewa women) as it is thought to be a lactagogue. 

 Certain side-dishes, such as the slippery leaves, thelele, are suitable to eat with it. 



The true host when offering nsima to his guest shows courtesy by referring to it 

 deprecatingly as gaga. 



(c) Porridge made from milled meal, mgayiwa. 



In institutions and in increasing amounts where fine meal is procurable, it is 

 being used for porridge. The method is the same as for gaga. As the meal has 

 had no soaking to soften the grain and to start off" the various biochemical break- 

 down processes, it needs a good deal longer cooking than either nsim,a or gaga. This 

 point is not always realized and hence there are justifiable complaints of the in- 

 digestibility of the product due to insufficient cooking. Because of the large amount 

 of indigestible bran present, larger weights of maize meal are needed to satisfy the 

 the appetite than of flour. 



(d) Gruel for infants and invalids. 



Gruel is fed to babies from birth and is given to the aged and the sick. A 

 handful of flour is put into boiling water in a pot on the fire. The mixture is well 

 stirred and after a considerable range of time of boiling (1-10 minutes), the pot is 

 removed and stirring continued for another five minutes. The consistency is 

 adjusted by adding more water or flour as the case may be. A very watery gruel 

 is given to young babies and progressively thickened until it reaches the consistency 

 of the porridge eaten by an adult. 



Cooking of the Various Fractions of Maize Separated During Pounding. 



The difl*erent parts of the grain are prepared by the women during pounding 

 and in consequence are almost exclusively eaten by them, the girls who help them 

 and the young children who stay all day in the villages. 



(a) Cingowe, mangungu. 



The whole grains with bran removed, picked out by hand after the first 

 pounding are boiled until soft. Salt, sugar and occasionally groundnuts, 

 beans or tomatoes may be added. They are occasionally cooked with milk 

 instead of water. 



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