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Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Cactus Fruit aka Beles or Prickly Pear

Reportedly helpful in treating diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity and hangovers. Cactus fruit is also touted for its antiviral and anti-inflammatory properties.

This is the beautiful, delicious cactus fruit, known in Tigray as beles (pron. bell-less).  

Also high in fiber, antioxidants and carotenoids.

While filming in the Agamé region I have found that there is nothing more refreshing when spending the heat of the day lugging gear around than taking a break and enjoying a fresh ripe beles.   It is sweet and light and juicy and fresh.   And portable!   
  
Desertification and water scarcity are agricultural challenges throughout the region but cactus fruit is versatile, hearty and it thrives in both the rocky soils of north east Tigray and the vertisols of the lowlands.   The dominant variety in the local market has a yellow pulp and peel.

In 2006 Jacobo & Tegegne found that in Tigray "an estimate of 105.26 metric tons (of cactus fruit) are consumed daily from June to August in the three most important urban centers, a volume higher than orange and banana."  

 Remarkable  numbers considering that cactus fruit was used exclusively as  livestock fodder  for many years.   In the last decade it has become increasingly fashionable to snack on.   Restaurants and stores have started creating and selling different  cactus based products  like:  cactus fruit juice, cactus fruit marmalade and even cactus fruit salad.

Harvesting cactus fruit on some of Mama Buzu's property in Adigrat

When I was just starting  Good Evidence  I visited different community based organizations in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, filming with some and chatting with others, trying to determine whether an organization like Good Evidence and the work that it could do would be of any value.   One non-profit I filmed with (but which I unfortunately was not able to put a video together about because of audio problems) is the REMARKABLE community based organization known as Mums for Mums.   Based out of Makale, they're engaged in some innovative, inspiring community led work and you can read more about them here.   If you are in the area, I suggest popping by to see all that they do!

It was a few years ago that I visited Mums for Mums and I have fallen out of contact with the crew there, but they used to have a public awareness nutritional program through which they spread word about the high nutritional value of cactus fruit.   They also provided  facilities  for participants to  experiment  with different cactus recipes and they published a beautiful little cactus recipe book, available to the public for a small donation.   If you like cactus fruit, it is worth the donation!  

Here is a sample recipe from their booklet:

Cactus Fruit Juice Recipe

In Tigray and in the Agamé region there are seasons when there are  lots  of tasty fruits available.   There are mangoes and papaya.  Oranges and bananas are widely available.   In the highlands there are apples, apricots, almonds and plum trees that have been successfully planted.

Agamé, the land of plentiful fruit! 


Monday, August 19, 2013

Agamé ‘Tej’ or ‘Mes' - a delicious honey wine! ... And a bit about Sabagadis.

delicious honey wine called tej or mes
 Tej in Amharic or Mes (meh-uhz) in Tigrinya is a popular honey wine that is brewed throughout Ethiopia and Eritrea.   FYI, for the purposes of this post I will refer to this delicious drink as mes.

Mes is flavored with the  powdered leaves and twigs of Gesho  (Rhamnus prinoides) which is a species of buckthorn and is a  hops like bittering agent .   It is known to have a deceptively sweet taste that masks a  high alcohol content , a percentage which varies greatly according to the length of fermentation.   Mes is usually made in batches at home and methods of production vary from region to region and house to house, so you will not really know what you are getting into till you taste a mixture.  

Rhamnus prinoides
If you do not know someone who has brewed mes recently but want to give it a try, fear not!   Many Ethiopian restaurants serve it these days and in Ethiopia there are whole bars dedicated to mes, just ask for  a "tej bet" which literally means 'house of tej'.   Remember, tej is the Amharic word (national language) for mes (provincial, Tigrinyan language).   So if you are after some mes it should  not be hard  to find.   

Ethiopian Animal Horn Cup

A great improvement from the old days, I would say.   Before the 19th century mes was a drink reserved exclusively for  royal families .   At that time it was customary to have a servant whose sole responsibility at banquets was to look after the mes.   The servant, after presenting the mes, would hold out the  hollow of his hand  and the receiver would fill it with wine and watch the servant drink the wine before taking a sip himself,  a custom which was considered to be a  provision against poison .   It was also customary for the royals to drink the mes from cups that were carved out of  animal horns


Honey wine's name "mes" / miys
Leslau, in his Comparative Dictionary of Ge'ez, relates mes to the Arabic mata, which means "mix well," and with the Old South Arabian myt, which means "wine."  It seems quite likely that Ge'ez borrowd "myt" and transformed it into "mes," thus making the history of "mes" easier to trace than the history of "tej."


In 1877 a Frenchman named Emilius Cosson observed:

The Abyssinians hold to the ancient rule which forbids the mixing of cups and council together, and it is not their custom to discuss any serious subject while drinking tedge (tej/mes); things which would give grave offence, if said before drinking, are accepted as merely banter under the genial influences of the mead; chaff and jest are therefore freely indulged in at these feasts. This custom, however, renders it a very difficult matter to induce an Abyssinian to talk seriously, as he is sure to try to put off the trouble of so doing by sending for the tedge horn, after the arrival of which, it is useless to try to make him talk sense. 

For a more extensive history of mes drinking customs check out Harry Cloman's article on the University of Pitsburgh's website.

Mes ready for a party.
A rounded vase-shaped glass container called a berele (which looks like a florence flask) became the vessel of choice to drink mes out of in the 19th century.   It's a clever design, intended to help you keep out dust and flies by just laying your thumb over the spout.   A portable, secure, fashionable beverage holder that became perfect for parties.  


"To drink tej is the highest bliss of some Abyssinians; it is one of the main objects of their existence" - Montagu Wellby 1901


I recently learned that it was a member of the House of Agamé that democratized the drinking of mes.   Sabagadis (pron: Sah-bah-gah-dis) is a celebrated ruler from the  House of Agamé .   He governed a vast area from Tigray and Semien throughout all of Eritrea.   He is also the one who boosted the importance of Adigrat by making it his capital.   Anyway, at the time of Sabagadis' reign mes and a specific traditional Agamé dinner dish called "tihlo" were still reserved exclusively for royal households.  


Sabagadis is said to be the last successful ruler to peacefully unite Eritrea and Ethiopia.

Sabagadis held strong beliefs in the equality of all people.   That belief affected his governing style and policies which included a change to this custom of controlled food consumption.   He believed that  all people  should enjoy  all food  and nothing should be reserved exclusively for the royal court.   So he symbolically invited the public to eat tihlo and drink mes together with the royals at a great big feast and the royals ate injera with the people.   From then on the female household heads began brewing mes for weddings, naming ceremonies, religious holidays, and other celebrations.   Mes became the go-to drink enjoyed by all on special occasions.

Traditional Ethiopian Beehives:

  
I personally love the mes from Adigrat, Ethiopia.   I always ensure I have a glass of mes whenever I'm in town.   The honey from the Agamé region is legendary.   

Thursday, July 18, 2013

The Queen of Sheba, The Kingdom of D'mt and Sabean Kingdom : Agamé (part 2)


Salomon de Bray, 1657
The Queen of Sheba is known to Ethiopians as Makeda and I will likely interchangeably refer to her as Makeda and the Queen of Sheba throughout this post

In Ethiopian tradition the Queen of Sheba would have reigned around the time of the Kingdom of D'mt and she is said to have  hailed from the Agamé region  of Ethiopia born to the  Irob people .   The Irob people are an ethnic group who occupy a predominantly highland, mountainous area in northeastern Tigray by the same name. 

There has long been an argument over whether the 'real' Queen of Sheba  either  lived and reigned in Yemen,  or  lived and reigned in Ethiopia.   Those conflicting theories are starting to be challenged though.   While in conversation in Adigrat I frequently heard that there are reasons to question whether her kingdom might have stretched across the two territories.   There are  similar cross Red Sea working theories  for where "The Land of Punt" was located.   Excavations do suggest a connection between the two peoples, there is a smattering of Sabean pottery in northern Ethiopia and Sabean script written here and there. 

 It has been suggested that one specific site currently being excavated may be the  ruins of a massive underground residence of the Queen of Sheba .   A group of archeologists have begun uncovering the ruins in Gulo-makeda which is a district found right next to Irob.   The district's name is derived from the Queen of Sheba's Ethiopian name, "Makeda".   There is evidence that  a sophisticated community of people have been residing in Gulo-makeda for 3,000 years .
 
grounds of a church in Gulomakeda
Still shot from documentary footage
Access to the site is protected both by an old church in town and the Tigray Tourism office who you have to notify of your intent to visit.   It is  an active archeological site after all and in my opinion that only added to the excitement.   It was wonderful to visit a site off the beaten path.   Deep down in the ruins there is  a clear engraving of a cross with ge'ez symbol meaning "sa"  which the priest tells me he believes is more proof it was the Queen of Sheba's residence.   There are working theories that what has been uncovered so far is a storage and living room and that the compound is  actually quite vast .   
  

In 2008 a group from the University of Hamburg excavated underneath Dungur Palace in Axum (west of Agamé) and found the base of a much earlier structure they believe may also have been  a residence of Makeda's .   Dungur Palace has been locally and popularly known as a palace of Makeda's but the visible ruins most people visit had been dated at a much later time frame than when Makeda lived.   Who knows what a wealth of discovery lies beneath Dungur

Inside Dungur Palace in Axum
If you randomly ask in the Agamé region about Makeda you are likely to hear many stories of her.   The claim to be from the Solmonic line through the son of Makeda has been a  centrally important part of Ethiopia's feudal history .   Governors in Tigray often claimed to be descendants.   Descent from Solomon was practically seen as a  prerequisite  for the position of Emperor in the country.   One of the reasons Emperor Menelik married Empress Taitu was because she hailed from an aristocratic family that was related to the Solomonic dynasty.   Haile Selassie claimed a connection, although I have been told that his connection is often seen as a bit sketchier than other rulers.   Emperor Yohannes claimed Solomonic blood in a couple of ways, one was through his father's grandmother, the other was through his mother's mother who was from the aristocratic line of the  Shum  of Agamé, the House of Agamé .   These details led great credibility to his rule.   

Makeda is said to have given birth to her son Menelik on the banks of the Mai Bela river.   The Mai Bela river was located in Asmara and it was filled in during 1936-37 in order to create a major traffic route, now called Mai Bela Avenue.

Emperor Yohannes

The strong widespread belief that The House of Agamé came from the Queen of Sheba's line  quite certainly helped preserve its long legacy of influence   in the region.   The House of Agamé was simultaneously seen as  a threat  to every ambitious heart wanting to rule large sections of the country and  a House to align oneself with , marry into or claim connection to (even in the most remote way) in order to ensure public opinion was on your side and you retained your privileged position for as long as possible.   The public's commitment to members of the House of Agamé remained so strong throughout the many generations that even in  1936  there was a recognition that it would not be a good idea for Mussolini's troops to slight the family because they had 'exercised command for generations' and had too much 'authority and prestige'.*     Bizunesh Atsbeha  would have been a little girl around then and her mom and dad, Kassa and Atsbeha would have indeed still been fairly influential in the region at that time. 
 
It is not only the feudalist history in Ethiopia that has been shaped by the stories of Makeda, she is also a heavyweight in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.    The Ark of the Covenant coming to Axum is tied to her story and the story of her son  .   The Kebra Negast or the The Glory of the Kings is a 14th century textual account of the origins of the Solmonic line in Ethiopia and it is considered by many Ethiopian Christians and Rastafarians to be an inspired and a reliable work.   As Edward Ullendorff explained in the 1967 Schweich Lectures, "The Kebra Nagast is not merely a literary work, but—as the Old Testament to the Hebrews or the Qur'an to the Arabs—it is the repository of Ethiopian national and religious feelings."   The story of Makeda and how the Ark of the Covenant  came to Ethiopia has been described as  the center piece  of the Kebra Nagast.   The Ark itself is considered to be so central in the Ethiopian Orthodox faith that it is actually believed  a church is just a building and not really a church  unless it has a replica of the Ark, an item called the tabot  A tabot that was brought into the  monumentally important  Battle of Adwa is said to have helped the Ethiopians win against the Italians.   A win that decisively ended any European power's dream of colonizing the country. 

* thoughts about how the Agamé people and the House of Agamé dealt with the Italians invading their land in the 1890s and the Italian occupation in the 1930s deserve a separate post.  

02/19/16 Correction: A previous version of this blog post incorrectly labelled a depiction of Emperor Téwodros II as Emperor Yohannes.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

The Queen of Sheba, The Kingdom of D'mt and Sabean Kingdom : Agamé (part 1)


The next couple of blog posts will be about the Kingdom of D'mt and the Queen of Sheba.   If you have never heard of the  Kingdom of D'mt , you're forgiven!   Not too much has been written about D'mt and quite frankly that's because there just isn't that much known about it yet.   I learned of and became intrigued by the Kingdom of D'mt when I heard about  the historical D'mt sites dotting the country side around the city of Adigrat  that archaeologists have yet to really document.   We do know that the Kingdom of D'mt dates way back to  1000 years before Christ  which makes it the earliest  known  kingdom to rise to power in Ethiopia. 

It is worth noting that "The Land of Punt" the Egyptians referred to 2,500 years before Christ is often ascribed (at least partially) to the north of Ethiopia, but its exact location has apparently not yet been satisfactorily determined. 


It isn't really clear  how or when the civilization ended and when it became the Aksumite kingdom . The Sabean Kingdom had some influence on the region although the full extent of its influence is unknown.  There is a belief that the Kingdom of D'mt and the Sabean Kingdom might have even  merged  at some point, but IF they did, it certainly did not last too long, a century at the very most. [1] 

Yeha is a small town in the north of Ethiopia that is believed to have been  the capitol of D'mt .   In town there are ruins of a beautiful tower  built over 2,600 years ago  known as the 'Temple of Yeha'.   It has been studied somewhat and is described as being in excellent condition considering its age.

British archaeologist David Phillipson attributes its "excellent preservation" to two factors, "the care with which its original builders ensured a level foundation, firmly placed on the uneven bedrock; and to its rededication -- perhaps as early as the sixth century AD -- for use as a Christian church."
Temple of Yeha
Great care taken in the construction

Built over 2,600 years ago

Length of temple.. and a beautiful view.

Entrance to Yeha compound (new)
 During the time of the Kingdom of D'mt we know that farmers were tilling land, crops like teff had been domesticated (I wrote about teff and a wee little bit about its history here: http://jhodgesagame.blogspot.ca/2013/06/injera-teff-and-ethiopian-highlands.html) and blacksmithing skills were in use and being developed.  

 
 The Sabean people who moved to Ethiopia  seem to have brought with them some extra sophisticated blacksmithing skills and they are believed to have pretty heavily influenced the Kingdom of D'mt's surge in blacksmithing.   In March of this year I had the opportunity to visit an  ancient iron forging site  where a scattering of iron and pottery can still be found all over the ground - all these many years later!   It is a site easily accessed off the main Adigrat - Addis Ababa road, just north of Idaga Hamos.   It is  not yet a properly documented and protected site  and it is unoccupied so kids seem to currently enjoy hanging in and around it.   It was pretty dirty inside when I visited, there was trash scattered about and a distinctly nauseating smell of urine.   Having said that, there were also symbols on the walls inside that were  clear signs of the D'mt kingdom  and it was pretty exciting to see a historical site which doesn't yet really officially register in the academic historical conversation about the Kingdom of D'mt.   There are plans to study the site in the near future. 
Still shot from documentary footage: pottery shards in front of the blacksmith site
I don't know what my assumptions about ancient historical sites in Agamé were up to this point, but it was surprising and remarkable to me to freely wander through SUCH an old site which is  so accessible  and is as of yet  undocumented  and  unprotected .

But then I heard from community members in Adigrat like the  legendary english teacher Tadesse Tefari  that the kids who play in the country side around Idaga Hamos (a town just south of Adigrat in the Agam
é Region) have discovered caves  full of ancient inscriptions and paintings .   An adult also accidentally fell into a cave full of paintings recently.   It is believed there  is an extensive network of tunnels and caves in the Idaga Hamos area  with these writings and images.   All of which have not yet been properly documented, cataloged or studied.

What I hear over and over from my friends in the Agam
é region is that it is a district crammed with historical sites.   Only a  portion of which have been cataloged .   An even smaller portion is accessible to the public in any informed manor.  

There are great hopes that much more will be learned as archaeologists explore the many sites scattered throughout the north of Ethiopia.  

A new university in Adigrat has plans to attract archaeological students from near and far to further grow their local documentation efforts.  


Next up, all about the Queen of Sheba (aka Makeda) and her connections to the Agamé region and House of Agamé ... 

Further Reading
There are some international academics currently working in these geographical areas. 

Monday, June 3, 2013

Injera, Teff and the Ethiopian Highlands.


 Injera is a spongy flat bread that is a central part of Ethiopian cuisine.  It's actually used in Eritrean, Somalian and Yemeni dishes as well but it is Ethiopian food that has emerged as a trendy cuisine in the west and  it is definitely Ethiopian dishes that pop culture associates injera with .  If you didn't already know, injera - and especially injera made from teff - is a  really healthy bread to eat !  

Teff
Teff has the highest content of calcium in the world of grains.  Actually it leads the grain world for calcium content by a wide margin.  A cup of cooked teff offers  123 mg of calcium  which is about the same amount as you would get in a half cup of cooked spinach!

Teff is also high in 'resistant starch' which is a type of dietary fiber that can benefit blood-sugar management, weight control, and colon health.  It’s estimated that 20-40% of the carbohydrates in teff are resistant starches. 

Teff [Eragrostis tef] is the only fully-domesticated member of the genus Eragrostis (lovegrass).

Believe it or not teff is also a  excellent source of vitamin C, a nutrient not commonly found in grains .  Teff WAS long believed to be high in iron, but more recent tests have shown that its iron content comes from soil mixed with the grain after it’s been threshed on the ground – the grain itself is not unusually high in iron.  So the  iron content will depend on where  you buy your teff or injera from.  Tef grains are reported to contain 9-11 percent protein, an amount slightly higher than in normal sorghum, maize, or oats.  Samples tested in the United States have consistently shown even higher protein levels: 14-15 percent.

Teff is actually an annual grass, a species of lovegrass, that is native to the northern Ethiopian Highlands.  Since teff’s bran and germ make up a large percentage of the tiny grain, and it’s too small to process, teff is always eaten in its whole form.  It’s been estimated that Ethiopians get about two-thirds of their dietary protein from teff.  Many of Ethiopia’s famed long-distance runners attribute their energy and health to teff .


Harvesting teff in Ethiopia
Currently, teff accounts for about 25% of all grain production in Ethiopia.  Farmers in Australia and the United States have recently started to experiment with  growing  teff in their own regions.  It is an extremely quick growing plant.  After planting, hay harvest can occur in as little as 45 days. 

Today, teff is moving  way beyond its traditional use .  As mentioned above it is a healthy, gluten-free grain, it also has a  mild flavour  and has proven to be a versatile ingredient for many products.  It can now be found in pancakes, snacks, breads, cereals and many other products.  

  • Teff is the smallest grain in the WORLD. 
  • Three thousand grains of teff weigh just one gram (1/28 of an ounce). 
  • Just one pound  of teff grains can grow an acre of teff, while 100 pounds or more of wheat grains are needed to grow an acre of wheat.



A Wee Bit of History:
Ploughing in Tigray. Etching from 1868.
Ethiopians have been growing, harvesting and eating the delicious teff grain for thousands of years.  Between 8000 and 5000 BC,  the peoples of the Ethiopian highlands in the province of Tigray  were among the first locales to domesticate plants and animals for food  and teff was one of the earliest plants domesticated .  If you've been to the highlands of Ethiopia or somewhere near  Axum or Adwa  you'll have an idea of why it might be that the grain wasn't traded internationally for years.  The highlands are notoriously difficult to navigate.   


Making INJERA
When making injera the  tef flour is mixed with water and allowed to ferment for a few days .  This fermentation is a bit of a delicate process and is temperature and humidity sensitive.  Traditionally the batter prepared is cooked either on  a wide specialized circular electric stove or a wide circular pan made of clay  using fire. 



Traditional Injera Recipe:
1 1/2 cups ground teff (180 g)

2 cups water


  • Mix ground teff with the water and let stand in a bowl covered with a dish towel at room temperature until it bubbles and has turned sour. This may take as long as 3 days!
  •  Heat a large frying pan and pour in enough batter to cover the bottom of the skille. Spread the batter around immediately by turning and rotating the skillet in the air.
  • Injera is not supposed to be paper thin so you should use a bit more batter than you would for crepes, but less than you would for a flapjack pancakes.
  • Cook briefly, until holes form in the injera and the edges lift from the pan; Do not let it brown, and don't flip it over as it is only supposed to be cooked on one side.
  • Remove and let cool. 
TIP: Place foil between successive pieces so they don't stick together.

Injera is spread out on a large plate, placed between the guests  for all to share the food from the same plate  and chosen dishes (like doro wat or alicha) are ladled on top.  Additional injera is served on the side and guests use the injera to scoop up their food.  


A more ancient tradition is for  guests to gather at low-sitting table  like the one pictured in the traditional icon painting style, below.  


Did you know?  There are traditional 'lunch boxes' called agelgil which were specially designed to carry injera and the ethiopian cultural cuisine.  

A type of Agelgil


Links for further reading: 
 As Americans embrace Ethio­pian cuisine, its farmers grow more teff: http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-07-29/lifestyle/35487820_1_dukem-tibs-ethiopians  via Washington Post.

Health benefits, cooking tips and recipes, historical/cultural facts and more: http://wholegrainscouncil.org/whole-grains-101/teff-and-millet-november-grains-of-the-month   via Whole Grains Council.
 
The nutritional promise of teff and some explanations: http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=2305&page=222    via National Academies Press.

All about teff: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eragrostis_tef   via Wikipedia.