During lunch time, at the clinic where I serve, I (Maggie) eat routinely with four of my coworkers. They each bring their lunch from home – injera (Ethiopian spongy bread) wrapped around wot (stew) which fits the square little Tupperware perfectly, and even stays in the shape of a square when dumped out. Surprising to me, instead of each eating their own lunch from home, they grab one dinner size plate and in sequence dump their cubes of injera/wot on top of each other forming the “Leaning Tower of Wot”. Then they eat collectively, sampling and sharing everything. It is a letting go of what is theirs, and a welcoming in of friendship and fellowship.
In Ethiopia, food is always shared, and typically eaten like this from one large platter without the use of cutlery. Even strangers will be invited with a simple “Enebela!” (let’s eat!). To me it is fun and new and means simple clean-up and virtually no dishes but to Ethiopians the tradition is much more deeply rooted, and follows their saying: “those who eat from the same plate will not betray each other.”
During lunch hour I am typically the recipient of the gursha. The “gursha” is a traditional custom that Mark and I initially found quite peculiar. En route to Ethiopia we read about it in a culture book, and were curious yet nervous about the moment when we would experience our first gursha and how we would respond. Gursha is when another person who is dining with you, unrolls a strip of injera, wraps it around a tasty bit of wot and then feeds you directly by hand. It is the final breakdown of the notion of personal space! The trick is to take it without letting your mouth come into contact with the person’s fingers and without letting the food fall. One gursha is considered unlucky so it always repeats. I think Mark and I each received our first gursha from our homestay sisters. Since then I have been a regular gursha receiver and while it is still slightly peculiar I quite enjoy it. I haven’t yet mastered the fine art of wrapping and dipping my injera properly to soak up the spicy wot so when my work colleagues feed me a bite of wot which they have personally selected it is much more delicious that what I have been feeding to myself! Some days I receive so many gurshas that I don’t even need to eat on my own. Not only is it tasty but it is also a sign of acceptance, like a hug between friends. It’s a simple way to say I appreciate you.
A friend once said: “If you bring me to an Ethiopian meal, you are friend enough that I will gladly feed to you my first mouthful of food. If I am lucky you will feed to me your last — and if I am not, I have still profited the messy wonder of an Ethiopian meal.”
– Mark & Maggie Banga
Comboni Lay Missionaries serving in Awassa, Ethiopia
