Look what I found!

So I went to the supermarket the other day and found Maska Chaska crackers!!! These were my favorite in the villages of India. Of course there they cost something like 40 cents and here it was a buck, but I still bought a couple. Really made me happy. All the cookies and crackers I've found so far are the same ones they sell in India at double the price, of course. Aside from these packaged snacks, Tanzanians munch on casava chips, which aren't bad. We used to order them at a Indian restaurant back home and here its sold on the streets. Nice to see how they are REALLY supposed to be eaten, with your hands while you walk, not in a plate with silverware while you sit.

After I found the Maska Chaskas, I went for a walk in the city centre and came across a sidewalk vegetable market. I was too scared to take my camera out for fear of having it stolen(I think everyone I have met has told me their story of getting robbed. I would die if my camera got stolen!) Anyway, I was walking through the market when I had to do a double take. I found sitaphul!!! I think the English name is custard apples, in Hindi its sitaphul, and in Swahili its tope tope. I quickly paid too much and bought 3. I first ate this sticky, sweet fruit when I went to India in 2006 with my mom. She loves these things and at the time I had never had them before. So when we were in India, at my grandfather's house, she bought many. I remember we were sitting outside and my mother was soooo happy to tear one open. She gave me some to eat, I took a bite, and said no thanks. Sitaphuls have a very unique, acquired taste and require some effort to eat because of all the seeds. So I didn't enjoy them at first, but my mom kept buying them and then before you knew it, I acquired the taste and loved them. I have yet to seen them sold in the states. I didn't once think about finding them in Dar es Salaam so when I did boy was I thrilled! So for 3 mornings in a row I started my day off with a sitaphul.

There was only one man selling them in that market, but I hope to find more in the bigger market this weekend and I'm still on the hunt for more Tanzanian snacks. Until then I've got the Indian goods and the sitaphuls, custard apples, tope tope (whatever you want to call them) to keep me munching.