Last spring I made friends with a wonderful Burundian woman in Nouakchott. She invited me over to her house and cooked chai and chapati for me. When I asked her grown sons if they love their mom's chapati as much as I did, they didn't know what I was talking about. My friend laughed and said, "Chapato doesn't know chapati." Moorish people are called "chapato" in Pulaar, and since her son's father is Moorish, she was having fun with words. I told her sons that they were missing out. East African chapati is one of my favorite foods!
I was pleasantly surprised last week to discover a Moroccan version of chapati, called msimn, at a Nouakchott cafe. It was a little tough, square, and needed more salt but it was close enough to the real deal. It is freshly made by a woman every evening and served warm. It is served with Moroccan soup (harira) and the waiters only knew it as "the bread that comes with soup." I passed on the soup, preferring instead to eat mine with a nice cup of espresso. I will definitely be going back for more soon.
Maybe chapato do know chapati after all!
No comments:
Post a Comment