The Secret Lives of Volunteers

Foreign volunteers in Tanzania have a dirty little secret they don't want you to know about -- they are obsessed with food. Believe it or not, every volunteer whom I have met who has spent more than three weeks in country has confessed to having a list of foods that they intend to eat when they return home. For some, it is a mental list. For others, it is a journal entry. (In the interest of total disclosure I must admit that I fall into this category.) For one individual who shall remain unnamed, the list went beyond a mere listing of food to cover the restaurant at which the foods would be consumed.

My list is considerably shortened from the one I had a month ago. In fact, it is limited to:

• tacos (if you are going to have cheesy burgery stuff, have something with sour cream and refried beans too)
• (Ben and Jerry's) ice cream
• salad (garden, Greek, cucumber -- I don't care, as long as there are vegetables)
• watermelon, blueberries, cherries, and apples
• miso soup and sushi

The first three on my list are pretty universal. In fact, tacos and ice cream are surprisingly popular. The fruit is less so, and the Japanese food is limited to my list.

But the funny thing is that I don't really crave anything. The food has been extremely tasty -- even the goat innards soup was OK. I don't want to say that I am oblivious to the charms of a well-cooked hamburger smothered with sauteed onions and a semi-melted slice of Emmenthal cheese, but it is not my obsession.