The Epic Lunch

Sundays are slow in Haiti. Patrick, the American who operates this place on a tight schedule with high expectations for timeliness and following rules, says that on Sunday he lets Haiti be Haiti. That means there’s tons of time for relaxing, and doing laundry, and talking, and reading, and church and … cooking. At about 10:30 Patrick came over and invited Corey and me, the first 2 volunteers he saw, to come over to his family’s house across the street for dinner. I though 10:30 seemed a bit early, but was eager for something new to do. A former LCS student and his mother and sister were visiting, and they had brought all the makings for a feast. At 11 when I came over they were starting to slice meat. Now, I have to note that they were essentially filleting the meat – in their hands … moving the knife through the meat and toward their hands. I’ve watched my mom slice carrots toward her thumb enough times to know that such things are possible without amputating a finger, but this was terrifying. Over the next 4 and a half hours I watched the meticulous preparation of about seven different dishes. There was no food processor or blender or garlic press or pre-packaged, trimmed meat, or bottled salad dressing, or minute rice or microwave. They worked on a countertop that was about 2 square feet, and cooked on a tiny stove top. And they never sat down. Meanwhile, the kids and I played a few epic games of UNO, the adults talked about life in Haiti and the US, and another family stopped by in their most perfect Sunday best on their way home from Church. When it was finally time to eat, 12 people sat down for a feast that was described to me as the food that many Haitian families would eat on Christmas and Easter put together. I apologize to all my Haitian people reading this who probably want the actual names of things – but I’m still struggling to pick up names of unfamiliar foods on Kreyol. There was a brown rice fried with some kind of pork and peas. There was beef that was seasoned with lime and boiled then fried. That part I didn’t really understand. I tried a bite after it was boiled and it was delicious. After frying it … kind of leathery. But I digress. There was a lettuce salad and carrots and beets with a citrus vinaigrette. There was a spicy cole slaw. There was fresh squeezed juice from a tropical fruit called a grenadian. There were fried plantains. There was some kind of root – taro maybe? – that was ground into a consistency resembling hummus, then deep fried. Are we noticing a theme here …. Fried. A lot of oil, and a lot of frying. Anyway, it was an absolutely beautiful meal for its deliciousness, but even more for the love and care with which it was prepared. Let’s just say I was not hungry for the community dinner at 6.