No Rice

After we left this summer we heard from Ngone's family that there was no more rice in Senegal! Due to shortages some Asian countries banned exporting it. The people of Senegal drastically altered their diet to eat couscous-based or potato-based meals instead. The Serere people - a large ethnic region which includes Ngone's village - traditionally ate couscous-based meals, so this was in a way like a return to that traditional diet. But for a couple decades now they have been accustomed to eating rice at lunch and couscous at dinner.

Rice and many other foods have increased dramatically in price over the past year.