"Let them eat cake" - that Austrian-born bubblehead Marie Antoinette said this when told that the French peasants were starving and had no bread. Right?
Well, it's a funny story, but it turns out that historians all agree that she never said it. She may have been the Paris Hilton of the 18th century, but she's officially off the hook on this one.

I'm definitely not tempted to say that the average Burkinabé just needs to eat cake. But the fact remains that I have discovered neeré powder can be made into a really tasty pound cake!
Yesterday, I followed a normal recipe that included butter, eggs, sugar,vanilla and cinnamon) and then substituted neere powder for a quarter of the wheat flour. It took a bit longer to cook than usual, but turned out very moist and rich. It was eaten up within the day and everyone wants me to make another.
This time I'll get brave and replace half the flour with neeré powder.

Still no internet at home or access to my email Curses!

Here's what the people of Burkina Faso eat as a last resort: Neere powder cakes. I mentioned it a post or two back and some people that read about it were very curious.
The neere tree(or Locust Bean tree in English) seedpods are gathered and opened. Inside are the small black seeds that are saved and fermented to make the popular soumbala seasoning that goes in almost every Burkinabé sauce. But surrounding these seeds is is a sweetish yellow powder. This is removed, crumbled and pressed firmly into a half a gourd. Then it is popped out of the mold, retaining the dome shape. There's no other ingredients to these "cakes"- not even water and there's no cooking involved. The powder is said to be rich in vitamins A, B and C. I certainly hope it is, because a lot of people are using this a filler in their diet these days. Rice and other grains have gotten so expensive, even city folks are going back to the "wild" foods from out in the villages.


One "cake" costs about 6 cents US (25 fcfa)- quite a good value if you are really hungry


How does it taste? I kind of like it. I think it tastes vaguely like chestnut flour. The texture is a bit creepy, though. Kind of like biting into sandy styrofoam. Valentine spit it right out. Lucky we can still afford rice!


Anything interesting happening soon-ish? Funny you should ask. Yes! It's once again time for the Winyé Mask Festival! I will be taking off on Saturday morning for Boromo and coming back Sunday. Knowing me, I'll manage to pack lots of adventure (more like disaster, but hope springs eternal..) into my short stay. The kids will be coming along for the fun, as will neighbour Tony, his daughter, a friend of Valentine's and some of my pals from the US Embassy, including the Ambassador and her husband. Should be fun!